'We do things my way now': Entire fast-food restaurant quits to protest entitled new manager

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jan 14, 2024 3:00 PM EST

Hire a new manager and let her run the night shift on her own terms… what could go wrong? Turns out, almost everything, according to one of the workers, u/packrat2488. 

Night shifts at fast-food restaurants can be wildly unpredictable. Usually, there's a steady stream of people until about 2 AM. Then, from 2 AM to 5 AM, there's almost no one around, so the workers have a few minutes to catch their breath, take a break, and then start cleaning up the place. These hours in the middle of the night can be nice and peaceful. However, for the rest of the time, there will be partiers in the drive-thru. There are a lot of people who leave a party and decide to stop for a few fast-food burgers before heading home. Sometimes these partiers are nice, other times they're annoying, but either way, they have to get their food out. 

In addition, night shifts are notoriously understaffed. The OP of this story explains the way they'd schedule the positions for the night. They write that a manager would usually take on the window positions in order to deal with rowdy customers. However, upon hiring a new manager, this woman decided she wanted to do things her own way. She was definitely under the impression that managers just hang out in a back room and watch TV for a whole shift. She's not entirely wrong… but they do perform some work during that 8-hour shift. Truly, what was she thinking? 

You can read this amazing story below---it has a surprise ending that you'll never see coming. Next up, this employee started timing everything after their micromanaging boss accused them of "cheating the company." 

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  • 01
    ster Will Com www BELARRY Op 'Karen has finally realized that things have gotten WAY out of control' CINE CA
    via Tim Cooper on Unsplash
  • 02
    Try to be lazy and get me to do your job, I'll let you fail. XL OC This happened 2 decades ago. Some background: My first job was at a fast food chain. I worked hard, impressed the store manager and got myself promoted. At the time, I was still 17. So, I was promoted to "Team Leader", with implication that I would get promoted further when I was older. I was still in high school, so I worked the evening shift which started at 4 and ended at 12. The evening manager was a good guy who also worked
    via u/packrat2488
  • 03
    store manager position at a different location. Since they needed a manager (and I wasn't old enough) they hired a new manager who I'll call Karen. So Karen is hired and starts shadowing the current night manager learning the ropes. After 2 weeks, he departs and she is now set take over. That's where this story really starts.
    via u/packrat2488
  • 04
    I normally get in around 30 minutes early. One of my responsibilities is to make a position chart (which tells the workers where they are working that night). I need to hand it off to the manager for approval before posting it. As I arrive, I notice one of our night shift workers is already there. We'll call her Jen. She is sitting in the lobby crying and being consoled by other employees. I always found her to be a bit manic, but she was a nice girl. She had a rough home life, so I didn't hold
    via u/packrat2488
  • 05
    Come to find out she had just had a large fight with her mother, which ended with her getting kicked out. So, she is effectively homeless. Good reason to be upset. I ask her if she needs the night off. She says no, she needs the money. I can't disagree and head off to get started.
    via u/packrat2488
  • 06
    For the night shift, the night manager typically runs the drive through register after day shift leaves. There are a few reasons for this. First, this means that the manager has control of the drawer (and money) for the entire night. This eliminates the possibility of employees having short drawers. Second, this also puts the manager as the person interacting with the customers. I lived in a college town so drunken guys drive through all the time and just want to chat up the pretty face behind t
    via u/packrat2488
  • 07
    So, given what I now know, I make up a position chart and place Karen on the register and Jen on a fryer where she can get help if she can't focus. I walk to the office to hand off the chart to night manager and was surprised that he wasn't there. He normally is in at least an hour before shift to make sure everything is ready. That's when I remembered, this will be Karen's first night alone. I groan inwardly. This is
    via u/packrat2488
  • 08
    gonna be a "trial by fire" kind of night. The day manager is there but no sign of Karen. It's now 10 minutes to shift and even day manager is wondering what's up. I fill day manager in about Jen, show her the chart and ask if it looks good. She agrees, and I said I'll post it for now and Karen can sign it when she gets in.
    via u/packrat2488
  • 09
    I had just finished posting the position chart when Karen shows up looking frazzled. She heads for the office without a word to anyone. Meanwhile people start getting into position and ready for the shift. A few minutes later Karen walks up, pulls my position chart and replaces it with a new one. Again, she walks off without a word. According to the new position chart, Jen is working
    via u/packrat2488
  • 10
    the drive through and Karen is working... nothing. Her name isn't there. She has another employee working 2 positions and the whole shift working effectively one person short. ? I head to the office where Karen and day manager are talking and ask for some clarification. I explain there must be a mistake.
    via u/packrat2488
  • 11
    Karen: No, that's right. Me: But you're not in a position and *worker* is working 2 positions... Karen: Well how am I supposed to be in charge if I'm in a position? Dayshift and I just stare at her blankly. Dayshift: You need to be in position. You are accounted for in the labor calculations.
    via u/packrat2488
  • 12
    Karen: Well, I have 6 years of management experience and I have never needed to fill a position to get the job done. Things are gonna change around here. We do things my way now. Now, she just spent the last 2 weeks shadowing a manager that walked her through every step of the job. She KNOWS she should be in position and why. This shouldn't even be a question. She just wants to spend the shift sitting in the office and everyone knows it.
    via u/packrat2488
  • 13
    At this point, dayshift manager and I are sharing horrified glances at each other. I tell Karen that she'll need to go get people moved around if that's what she wants, because it's her plan. She gives an exasperated sigh and heads that way. I turn to dayshift and plead with her to call the store manager and let her know what's going on. She agrees. I head back to the line and start working. After short time later, dayshift pulls me aside and says that the store manager said it is Karen's shift;
    via u/packrat2488
  • 14
    The shift proceeds to implode in a spectacular fashion. Less than an hour in, the employee working 2 positions is so far in the weeds that orders are taking 3 times as long to get out. The drive through is backed up and the guys stuck at the window waiting are trying to flirt with Jen, who is having none of it and getting more annoyed by the minute. As the wait gets longer and longer, the people are becoming more and more irritated as they get to the window and they are taking it out on Jen.
    via u/packrat2488
  • 15
    Things are starting to get out of hand and Karen is nowhere to be seen. I go to the office to let her know we need help and find her watching a portable TV. I start to tell her what's going on and she cuts me off. She tells me get back on the line, do my job and stop bothering her. I was about to try and explain when I just thought, "You know what, screw that." Cue malicious compliance. I turned, walked back to the line and watched the situation unfold.
    via u/packrat2488
  • 16
    30 minutes later, a car at the window is giving Jen an earful about how long she has been waiting. She calls her worthless and Jen goes off. She takes the large strawberry milkshake next to her, chucks it at the lady and calls her a fat ugly c***. The lady and the inside of her car are covered in pink goo. Everything went so silent you could hear a pin drop. Then the lady starts screaming. Jen closes the window on her and walks calmly to the back. The lady peels around the front
    via u/packrat2488
  • 17
    and comes in the front door screaming for a manager. I go and knock on the office door. Karen appears looking and annoyed. She tries to snap at me, but I tell her she has a customer at the front asking for the manager. Karen rolls her eyes and heads towards the front, oblivious to the storm that is waiting. I went and found Jen huddled in the back crying again. I tell her to get herself together and head back to the front when she is ready.
    via u/packrat2488
  • 18
    I head to the line where the now purple faced lady is screaming at Karen about dry cleaning and upholstery cleaning and "I want that girl fired." At this point, I can see that Karen has finally realized that things have gotten WAY out of control. She is trying to calm the lady down, but she is having none of it. Eventually, Jen comes back to the line and lady starts in on her again, calling her all kinds of nasty things. Karen just stood there and let the woman berate her. Jen just kinda deflate
    via u/packrat2488
  • 19
    Watching her crumble like that just broke something in me. I walked over to Jen and said, "Just quit. You're better than this job. And you can do better." She looked up at me for a moment, then smiled. She lifted her chin, walked to Karen said "I quit", handed her name tag to her and walked out. Karen started apologizing to the lady who now seemed slightly mollified. Then, Karen started bad mouthing Jen to her. Saying how she was a terrible employee and how we were all happy she was gone. That's
    via u/packrat2488
  • 20
    2 other employees walked out right behind me. We all met with Jen in the parking lot and went to an IHOP where we sat and speculated on how Karen was getting along. Jen told me that was the first time in her life anyone had ever stood up for her. The next day, I got a call from the store manager asking for an explanation. Apparently, Karen had struggled the entire night with service. Afterwards, she had been there most of the night trying to clean and prep for day shift and had done a poor job.
    via u/packrat2488
  • 21
    given the store manager was that Jen and I had planned everything with the intent to set her up because we didn't like her and wanted to see her fail. Karen had basically blamed the whole incident on Jen and I. The store manager told me she was investigating to get all sides of the story. So I told her. A few hours later, she called again and informed me that Karen was no longer employed and asked if I would be coming in that night.
    via u/packrat2488
  • 22
    I asked if Jen was getting her job back. She said no. The whole shake debacle wasn't something she could overlook. I said then my answer is no. She was surprised. She tried to negotiate with me. I told her my price was Jen getting her job back. She said she couldn't do that. And that was that. If you're wondering how Jen turned out, I married her. We are very happy and have 4 children.
    via u/packrat2488
  • 23
    TLDR; A new manager tries to change things to give herself an easy do nothing job. When I tell her it will backfire, she tells me to go back to work. I do and everything goes down in flames. She tries to blame me and gets fired anyway.
    via u/packrat2488
  • 24
    EDIT: Wow! Just wow. I wrote this while I was on break at work. Saw a few upvotes then drove home. And now it's just gone crazy. I tried to thank as many people as I could but I know I missed some. I showed it to my wife when I got home. I thought she might cry but she didn't. She says it was one of her darkest days, but it ended up being one of the best of her life.
    via u/packrat2488

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management boss workplace-stories jobs manager job malicious compliance bosses work coworkers customers malicious-compliance-reddit drive thru karen manager food service workplace malicious compliance reddit fast food karen
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