17-Year-Old Bakery Worker Learns of Friend's Passing Before Shift, Cruel Manager Refuses to Give Her Leave

Author image for Ally Perry
Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Aug 5, 2023 8:00 PM EDT

One of the most traumatizing experiences at work is being visibly upset on the job. It's happened to most of us at some point, for reasons both big and small. Bad news can be a pretty common culprit, and having to put on your moneymaking face while reacting to something like a death is nothing short of hell.

Still, there are some horrible managers out there who have inexplicably made their employees try to do this. It is something that one Redditor had the misfortune of experiencing when she was a teenager. Explaining to r/MaliciousCompliance how she had learned of a friend's death the night before a shift, her boss still expected her to turn up and serve customers. In response, they were faced with her grief.

It's no surprise that her fellow Redditors sympathized with her, and many had similarly shocking stories about callous management expecting them to work through such events. No amount of short staffing makes this OK. 

Advertisement
  • 01
    Rectangle - r/ r/MaliciousCompliance u/TheLowCalHalzone • 11h Don't think a 17 year old girl crying at the counter is a good look for your company... S
    via TheLowCalHalzone
  • 02
    Font - Minor TW: brief mention of drugs and death. Background: Back in highschool, I worked for a bakery that's popular in my area. Overall, it was a really good job! I liked the people I worked with, I love baking and the food was great, a really good gig for a highschool job. My bosses tho, they were hit or miss. They simultaneously tried to be our friend and boss, and randomly would be total AHs, with no heads up. But for the most part they didn't bother me too much and I made do.
    via TheLowCalHalzone
  • 03
    Font - One night my senior year, one of my best friends ODed and passed away. I was of course, inconsolable. The next day I had a shift. I called my boss to let them know I couldn't go in, but it was a day he decided to stick to his guns and be a jerk, telling me I had to come in, no one could cover, even after I explained what was happening. Why didn't I quit? I should've, but I was in shock and a kid and it honestly didn't even enter my mind. I went the other way instead. Said “fine, I'll be t
    via TheLowCalHalzone
  • 04
    Font - Triviajunkie95 10h Vote I'll never forget having to finish a restaurant shift after hearing that one of my favorite coworkers was found alone in his house after a heart attack. ... I was snotty wailing. I was told to get it together even though I was BOH. I hated that manager. Fuck you Mark.
    via Triviajunkie95
  • 05
    Font - encryptoferia 10h Vote I'm sorry for laughing at you in my imaginary world, a crying shop assistant, just standing there sobbing, and imagining all the customer coming in just to feel awkward when trying to finalize the purchase. Also it's a bakery, usually kind of warm with a fresh baked bread smell, like the contrast would feel too weird lol. sorry for your loss. TheLowCalHalzone 10h Vote OP Exactly! Such opposite vibes were happening. It's okay, it was a while ago, and honestly I could
    via encryptoferia
  • 06
    Font - ranchspidey 9h G 4 Vote ↓ I'm so sorry for your loss, losing someone you care about is always hard, especially when it's someone you spend so much time with. ... When I was a HS senior, I was doing all of my classes over at the local community college along with about 20 other kids from my high school. Well, one of my HS classmates committed suicide one night, and the next day we had a history class where about 5 of the 20 students were from my HS. I'm super grateful that the professor un
    via ranchspidey
  • 07
    Font - Unfortunately, that next morning my dog decided he was going to eat an entire bar of Ghirardelli dark chocolate despite being a little 10 pound boy. So I'm at the vet for an emergency visit with my hyperactive poisoned puppy, absolutely bawling my eyes out over my friend/classmate dying the night before. The nice lady next to me offered me a packet of tissues and was very concerned about my dog, and I awkwardly told her he would probably be fine, I was upset for an unrelated reason. Very
    via ranchspidey
  • 08
    Font - trash_bin_84 8h Vote I had a friend pass from suicide in February of 2021, which was my first year of college. All of my professors understood completely. All but one, anyway. One let me take my final four days later with a different class and another gave me an extension on my paper. The third? She told me she needed to know if I was dropping her class or not so she didn't have to make a copy of the test that she didn't need to make.
    via trash_bin_84
  • 09
    Font - I'd explained my situation to her and how I was really struggling with my mental health as a result (this was also following the passing of another friend). I dropped her class, but I didn't tell her. I hope she made that extra copy and had to trash it. I get it, OP. It sucks and you never really fill that hole- you just grow around it. Fuck any person for reacting the way your boss did, and especially fuck someone in a position of power over someone else. I hope your boss gets their karm
    via trash_bin_84
  • 10
    Font - Aesient 6h ← Vote My parents came into the cafe I worked at at 18 to tell me my dog (16 years old) had to be put down asap. They organised for me to have a break to say goodbye/be there while she passed. Boss insisted I had to come back after ("we're short staffed!") 91 I was sobbing serving people, trying to make coffees and begging for the rest of the day off when Boss loudly stated "it was just a damn dog!" Several people got up and left after giving me their condolences. One of them (
    via Aesient
  • 11
    Font - 4 Vote ↓ Renikknows 7h I worked at a healthy retail food store before it was bought out by a warehouse no-bathroom-breaks-company, when my grandfather passed. Got a call from my mom, started crying and went to the team lead. I was just asked if I wanted to leave and I silently nodded yes. Guess who did not get in trouble and also got leave for the funeral? It was me! Years later at a different company, I was belittled, yelled at, got attendance points, all that jazz - because I had to lea
    via Renikknows
  • 12
    Font - SquidgeSquadge 6h Vote I was 'lucky' my nanna died at the end of my shift before I had the first 2 weeks off in my 5 year history of working at that nursing home. It was booked to see her and my mum at my nanna's place to care for her and the following week to be at home with my then boyfriend. If she had died any other time I would not have been able to grieve with my family and go to the funeral. They may have made a massive deal about giving me 2 days off but it would have hung over my
    via SquidgeSquadge
  • 13
    Font - DumahDie 4h ← Vote Ahh, reminds me of the time I rescued my mom's dog from a dog fight, rushed him to the vet, and dropped him off not knowing if he'd make it. I called my boss to ask for the day off, and he said I had to find coverage. Bruh I didn't have anyone else's numbers. So I stuffed my emotions in a mental jar in my head and went to work. At a fucking Subway sandwich shop for minimum wage. The regional manager came in at one point and made fun of me for not engaging with customers
    via DumahDie

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

boss wtf employee bakery manager job malicious compliance retail Death retail worker work mourning Reddit crying
Scroll Down For The Next Article