18-year-old creamery employee gets fired for 20-year-old manager's mistake, gives away heaps of free ice cream before leaving: ‘It was their lucky day!’

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Jun 24, 2025 1:00 PM EDT

I scream, you scream, we all scream, when we get fired for ice cream! Haha Okay, sorry, I had to, it's a rant from a teenage ice cream shop employee! I mean, retrospectively, they're an adult now. But back when they were working their first job ever at an ice cream shop, they gathered some workplace trauma that never left them and taught them the harsh reality that many places employee toxic management. 

 

They were just doing their job exactly how they were trained to. They requested time off and were approved. However, upon returning, a new policy was put in place that royally skewed them over. All of a sudden, it was no longer the manager's job to schedule employees properly, it was up to the employee themselves. But guess what? They didn't even give this employee time to work out that new policy. They fired him on his day back. So you know what he did?

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  • Cheezburger Image 10520691200
    via Unsplash+ (and Katie Smetherman)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "It’s on the house!"

    When I was 18 my first job was at new ice cream place that's known for making and mixing their own ice cream in shop, very popular at the time. (not sure if they still are I haven't had it since this incident 11 years ago)
    via Quirky-Fix9203
  • My manager was only two years older then me and everyone that worked in the store was relatively young so you can imagine the politics and the way things where ran, lots of favoritism and what not, I
    via Quirky-Fix9203
  • informed my manager four weeks in advance the dates I needed off as I was going on a trip for my birthday, put in the request and got it approved.
    via Quirky-Fix9203
  • Everything went as planned, enjoyed my couple days on vacation and my first day back there was a weird feeling in the air like something was gunna happen, little did I know it was to me.
    via Quirky-Fix9203
  • We had a staff meeting the day I got back which seemed to be centered around this new rule that even if we got time off and it was approved we where responsible for making sure our shifts where covered, at this point I KNOW they weren't
    via Quirky-Fix9203
  • talking about me because I gave him FOUR weeks notice that I wouldn't be here for those three days, the. Akes the schedules a week in advance so he had plenty time to figure it out.
    via Quirky-Fix9203
  • The meeting ends and me and one other person where scheduled to open, I notice that a new person and my manager stayed behind as everyone else left but figured he was training, my shift was going well until about around the time I needed to go to lunch, a family of
    via Quirky-Fix9203
  • 6 people piled into the store and I began taking their order, out to the corner of my eye I see my manger in the doorway of the connecting back room giving my the "come here" finger, I apologize to the customers and tell them give. E a sec I gotta grab
    via Quirky-Fix9203
  • an ice cream flavor that wasn't out from the back, I get back there and say what's up I got a big family I gotta finish then need to clock out for lunch which he saw, what the h..I could be that important they he had to interrupt,
    via Quirky-Fix9203
  • well it was him firing me for not having those three days covered, I couldn't believe what I was hearing, basically he said I was being let go because even though I had gotten approved for the time off I needed my shifts covered,
    via Quirky-Fix9203
  • I didn't understand why I was even on the schedule to begin with if I had sent in the time off and told him four weeks in advance to avoid this situation in the first place! I knew he had messed up and probably forgot as I had seen him do that in the past, he told
    via Quirky-Fix9203
  • me to finish up with the family and I could leave, I was beyond ped but put on my fake smile and went back to finish helping out the family, and wouldn't you know it, it was their lucky day! They
    via Quirky-Fix9203
  • all got upgraded to extra larges, with any mix in's completely free! All 6 of them, on the house compliments of my manager who just fired me, I clocked out, collected my tips from that overly happy family and have not been back since.
    via Quirky-Fix9203
  • In hindsight I should have probably made a bigger deal cuz he is the one that messed up, but the look on his face when I gave away all that free ice cream and told them to thank him for it was priceless, plus that job sucked
    via Quirky-Fix9203
  • Cheezburger Image 10520724736
    via Unsplash+ (and Jeswin Thomas)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Sarge504 As a retail manager, the ONLY time we ever ASKED an employee to cover a shift was if it was a last- minute change after the schedule was posted. It wasn't usually an issue, anyway, as we had a strong management team, and we already knew which employees wanted extra shifts. I would have been fired if I required an employee to get someone to cover their shift.
    via Sarge504
  • redditavenger2019 Filling the schedule is a manager responsibility. Never let a manager pull this on you. Ask to see the written policy.
    via redditavenger2019
  • Lylac_Krazy YOU get a free half gallon, YOU also get a free half gallon, repeat as necessary. DO you want toppings with that?
    via Lylac_Krazy
  • necronboy I know of a person who in a not-to-dissimilar situation said to their manager... "I'll go back out there, but they're gonna get our new phlegm flavor, made while they watch for that personal touch." That was their last day in hosbo.
    via necronboy
  • BabyBearBennett So they changed the policy and announced it after your leave. Then they had the audacity to fire you for not following policy retroactively? Wow. Just wow!
    via BabyBearBennett

  • That's right! He gave away heaps of free ice cream as his last hoorah sticking it to his manager. And everybody loves free ice cream! 

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