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'I went on foot': Fast food worker without a car sent home to shave, takes his time

Most entry-level and low-paying jobs have the uncanny ability to be consistently and overly pedantic about employee appearance. Especially when you're not even customer-facing, it's hard to believe that it's not more about their control over you than the actual appearance.

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Posted by Brad Dickson
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  • 1
    "I never heard about it again."
    Via Keren Fedida
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  • This worker shared his experience from back in the day when he used to work at a fast-food joint. With an impending visit from the top brass, his manager insisted everything be perfect for a health inspection. The worker's 5-o'clock shadow was deemed to be an imperfection, and he sent the worker home to shave. The worker complied but took as much time as he could possibly manage to go home and shave, taking some time to chill with his roommate before heading back just to make his boss really suffer. When he returned, the top brass had arrived and the worker's boss was furious, but the boss would soon realize their attempts to make an example of the worker were ill-advised…

    There's something to be said about the conclusion of this story about how nepotism shouldn't give workers special privileges and about how this worker should not have been made untouchable just because he knew the top brass. Still, there's also something to be said about power-tripping managers in petty positions of power who need to learn not to abuse their staff just because they think they can.

  • 2
    Posted by u/DixonFuego Tell me to go home and and shave? No problem! Hello compliant friends! Obligatory, just read a post and it reminded me of my own! Back in 2010 I moved out of my folks place to a neighboring town and got my first real job working for the hamburger emperor. About halfway through my eleven month stay, working in only the kitchen, we had a semi-suprise manager (aka Big Boss) visit. It was about an hour drive so we we informed they were 'on the way'.
    Via u/DixonFuego
  • 3
    This was a very small town, and on most days I would ask my roommate to drop me off or I would simply walk the thirty minute it took to get from one end of the town to the other... little foreshadowing happening... On the day of note, I had been dropped off for my shift around noon, as I was usually scheduled for lunch rushes. After working for about two hours the news came in and suddenly nothing is clean or good enough. Now I've heard fastfood health inspection horror stories, and I have none
    Via u/DixonFuego
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  • 4
    Lower management (here by Little Boss) was just looking for anything and everything, and in their triggered state wasnt afraid to split hairs. And in my case, hair was their primary focus.. see my adolescent hormones had the audacity of finally mustering up enough facial hair at 19 that one could reasonably call it a "five- o-clock shadow", without being (completely) laughed out of the room. Knowing full well my ride situation, but obviously not thinking about it, Little Boss requested that I go
    Via u/DixonFuego
  • 5
    I SAID YES SIR! And off I went on foot. After walking home for about fifteen minutes I texted my roommate who promptly picked me up, I shaved, we got lunch and then we drove around another fourty minutes of me on the clock while we did dumb college kid stuff. After about 90 minutes to two hours, my roommate dropped me a block away and I walked back in.
    Via u/DixonFuego
  • 6
    Little Boss was 1. Flying around trying to make everything look seamless while being scrutinize by Big Boss. None of my peers noticed much, they're all keeping their nose down as to not be singled out and get made an example of for Little Boss to save face and look good. You know how these things go. With all eyes on us Little Boss just started laying into me, I wasn't 100% confident here or even remotely cocky, I just calmly stated its a thirty minute walk both ways and I was prioritizing havin
    Via u/DixonFuego
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  • 7
    Big boss asks Little Boss what's up, inquiring towards the situation at hand. Before turning away Little Boss mumbled something to me about how I need to be more 'upfront' about things and can't just 'take off' for two hours without telling anyone. Lol They both went into the tiny office and I never heard about it again.
    Via u/DixonFuego
  • 8
    With the high turnover rate these places have a reputation for, there were only a couple of people left who even remembered... Big Boss is the one who got me the job!
    Via u/DixonFuego
  • 9
    Contrantier He is fully aware of your ride situation but lied that you weren't up front about it what a ant 379 Reply Share MistraloysiusMithrax It's more a situation of "do what I want, not what I say." You see this a lot in retail and restaurant management, as well as any person who conflates authority with "getting their way without having to communicate well." 119 Reply Share
    Via u/DixonFuego
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  • 10
    Contrantier He is fully aware of your ride situation but lied that you weren't up front about it what a ant 379 Reply Share MistraloysiusMithrax It's more a situation of "do what I want, not what I say." You see this a lot in retail and restaurant management, as well as any person who conflates authority with "getting their way without having to communicate well." 119 Reply Share
    Via u/DixonFuego
  • 11
    CoderJoe1 Two hours was shaving it close. Reply Share 106 Just_Aioli_1233 Barely enough time for one movie Vote Reply Share
    Via u/DixonFuego
  • 12
    dataslinger Big Boss is the one who got me the job! Nice twist at the end. 59 Zoreb1 Reply Share Spoiler: Big Boss was his dad! 13 Reply Share
    Via u/DixonFuego
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  • 13
    DixonFuego OP He was a client of my brothers, brother did something finance/morgage related, some kind of morgager. Big Boss thought I was awesome, though. There was no obvious reason. Vote Reply Share
    Via u/DixonFuego
  • 14
    slackerassftw Last place I worked, we had to be very careful about telling someone to go home and shave. Had someone figure out that according to personnel rules if a supervisor told them specifically to go home and shave, they could do it on the clock. That led to a lot of 2-3 hour shaving trips. It didn't take them long to fix the rules. Vote Reply Share
    Via u/DixonFuego
  • 15
    Shadow Dragon8685 That time was on the clock, right? Because you were instructed to alter your personal appearance by the boss, on an immediate basis; ergo it's a work function. Reply Share Vote DixonFuego OP straight, imo the only way to make it truly malicious! Reply Share Vote
    Via u/DixonFuego
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  • 16
    vampyrewolf Ah yes, the fun of being half sasquatch. My grandfather shaved twice a day... first thing in the morning to start his day, and right before bed because my grandmother insisted. 5 o'clock shadow like sandpaper.
    Via u/DixonFuego
  • 17
    If I only do a 2 pass shave, I get the same. So I pretty much permanently have 3 or 4 days of growth going. Goatee in the summer, full beard in the winter. Back when I had to be presentable for surprise meetings I kept a couple disposables and supplies in my backpack. Vote Reply Share
    Via u/DixonFuego
  • 18
    rideoutthejourney You also shaved off a good chunk of your work shift that day Reply Share 18 Correct Advantage_20 Sounds like little boss has a bit of a hair trigger temper. 6 Reply Share
    Via u/DixonFuego

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malicious compliance food service service Horrible Bosses fast food service industry

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