'Time to jump ship': After his restaurant manager quits, business owner baffles his servers with an out-of-pocket request

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Feb 7, 2024 2:00 PM EST

Like the ecosystem of a live petri dish, there is a delicate balance of growth and decay in a restaurant. Servers, bartenders, line cookers, and managers all exist in equilibrium and when one player falls off the board, the whole system collapses. That much is clear in our next story– After a restaurant manager quit, the entire restaurant's social biome started to crumble. 

u/deviltrap is a loyal server at a restaurant in Philadelphia, however, when their manager left the building last week, things started to get out of whack. The owner decided it was time for a clean slate, but instead of building up his staff, he decided to take everyone down with the ship. Scroll onward to read more about how this business owner pulled the rug out from under his staff members, threatening their jobs and livelihood only a week before Valentine's Day. Yikes.

After this, here's another server's nightmare in the form of a nightmarish customer who perfectly embodied 'Florida man' energy.

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  • 01
    Yr/Serverlife. 19 hr. ago deviltrap Our manager quit yesterday and this in was the email we got from the owner Rant I've literally never seen this in any place I've worked. It's a week away (which seems like very short notice) and frankly I'm just confused and frustrated. (Apologies if this is the wrong sub or flair.)
    via deviltrap
  • 02
    2) I will be doing in-person individual interviews with each of you this week. Available timeslots will be listed on WhenToWork. You can request an interview time by selecting the shift and submitting a request. If you chose not to do an interview this week, that is perfectly fine, but we will accept it as your voluntary resignation with a termination date of February 12th. You may not select an interview time while you are scheduled to work. Why is this necessary? I'd like to understand each of
    via deviltrap
  • 03
    Beyond_Reckless • 18h ago And to make matters worse, you have to schedule this "Mandatory" interview on your time off. Screw that, time to jump ship. 1.7K Reply Share deviltrap OP 18h ago There are multiple employees whose schedules are far busier than mine who might not be able to make the "interview." Just insane. 4837 ↑ Share Reply
    via Beyond_Reckless
  • 04
    ducqducqgoose - 18h ago What a good idea to Valentine's Day 4 705 off the staff right before Reply deviltrap OP 18h ago lol, we've been I off for a while. The ex- manager was, and is, a massive bully to the FOH staff (who are all mostly under the age of 18) and the owners knew and didn't do until she blew up in front of customers. 347 Share Reply ↑ Share
    via ducqducqgoose
  • 05
    trailmix_pprof. 18h ago This is inappropriate and massive red flags. I can get them wanting to meet with everyone during a change in management. But they need to frame it as informational interviews, not "earn your job back" interviews. This time should be paid (are they?)
    via trailmix_pprof
  • 06
    They should also be going out of their way to make the scheduling convenient for you, such as immediately before/after shifts, or even mid-shift when feasible. And the tone is godawful. It should be framed as "hey, I need to get to know each of you and what positions or growth opportunities you're interested in, so I'll be scheduling informational one-on-one meetings with each of you. blah blah" not "sign up for an interview or you are fired". I'd do the interview to buy time. But meanwhile sear
    via trailmix_pprof
  • 07
    Stevie Rae-5 18h ago The way I read it, it says "I, your boss, am requiring you to schedule a meeting with me outside of your regular work shift for which you will not be paid and you will be fired if you don't comply." Which is, of course, horseshit. 414 ↓ Reply ↑ Share
    via Stevie-Rae-5
  • 08
    carlitospig 18h ago Pretty sure this wouldn't be legal in my state. You can't penalize someone because they don't want a promotion. 66 Reply deviltrap OP 18h ago I was looking up the labor laws in my state (PA) and I'm really not sure if this would count as forced resignation or not, due to the wording of the email. 31 Share Reply 1 Share ... ...
    via carlitospig
  • 09
    Fatefire 18h ago To bad you can't get everyone to just not go. It would certainly send a msg 479 + Reply Share prozach 18h ago Yeah like if they all presented a unified front when it comes to worker's rights and benefits. Like if they all formed a group and pooled their talents and resources to bargain with ownership/management. What would you call a thing like that? Reply ↑ Share 44 44 ...
    via Fatefire
  • 10
    No_Relationship3943 · 19h ago Is this an interview for the manager position? As of the owner could afford to lose more people Imao. Just go to your "interview" and say you have no interest and won't do it i guess ↑ 23 ↓ Reply ↑ Share deviltrap OP 18h ago Nope. According to a text from the ex-manager in the FOH group chat, it's to "prove to her why [we] want our positions." Reply 49 49 ↑ Share ... :
    via No_Relationship3943
  • 11
    prozach 18h ago "Sorry. We all have a union meeting during the available time slots. I'm sure you understand since you value our work, right?" Fin. 24 ↓ Reply Share ⠀
    via prozach
  • 12
    Imbatman7700 - 17h ago The line about voluntary resignation isn't legal. They don't get to decide your resignation was voluntary unless you actually explicitly state you are resigning. Any other situation is involuntary. The reason they word it this way is they don't want to have to answer to unemployment, but unemployment won't view something like this as voluntary. 20 Reply ↑ Share ...
    via Imbatman7700
  • 13
    deviltrap OP 16h ago I just truly have no idea what to do. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with something like this but I have no idea if/how to bring it up to anyone with the power to step in. 7 ↓ Reply ↑ Share ...
    via deviltrap
  • 14
    RedBurgandy01 . 16h ago I don't know what kind of restaurant this is, but do they really want to essentially fire a bunch of servers two days before Valentines Day? 411 11 ↓ Reply Share deviltrap OP 15h ago A pretty nice one, expensive wines, artisan food, $20 pizzas, that kind of stuff. I really have no idea what they're thinking other than the fact that they might have other people lined up to take those shifts if we lose a bunch of FOH staff 5凸 Reply ↑ Share
    via RedBurgandy01
  • 15
    berrygirl890 18h ago Yikes. I also think he's looking for a new manager with these interviews. 凸 Reply ↑ Share deviltrap OP 18h ago Oh, she definitely is. Not that anyone would take it. 46 ↓ Reply Share ...
    via berrygirl890
  • 16
    No-Train-6705. 16h ago Damage control. This is not an interviews. It is a mandatory meeting about what everyone knows about the prior manager and what they feel about the business as whole. It is 1:1 because they are afraid of what the team has to say. Reply Share 8
    via No-Train-6705
  • 17
    deviltrap OP 15h ago This honestly tracks, because the prior manager was extremely unpopular among the FOH and BOH staff and was known for being a bully to staff who are barely half her age. The business itself isn't doing that well, apparently- they've started scrambling for money making ideas in the past couple months. ↑ 5 5 3 Reply ↑ Share ...
    via deviltrap
  • 18
    Upstairs_Fig_3551. 16h ago So... everyone quitting? 47 ↓ Reply Share PM_ur_HOPESNDREAMS 17h ago Illegal - work assignment off the clock. ↑ 5凸 Reply 1 Share ...
    via Upstairs_Fig_3551
  • 19
    DebThornberry • 17h ago I think you should go. And give your one week's notice! I really like where I work but there's a million other places and I'm sure I'd really like atleast one of those. Don't power trip me... I'm practically an independent contractor and you pay me $3/hr 44 ↓ Reply Share
    via DebThornberry
  • 20
    "Sign up for an interview. or you are fired"
    via canva

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