Don’t Mind If You Do
I was already there 3 hours past the time my shift was supposed to end—along with everyone else who was on my shift. We were all very irate and tired. I get that you often have to stay late when you work in food service, but everyone from the next shift was already there and there was zero reason for us to be there for three extra hours.
Finally, someone asked to go home. What happened next is burned in my memory. In the middle of the restaurant floor, the managed absolutely lost it: “JUST BECAUSE YOUR SHIFT IS SUPPOSED TO END AT 10 DOESNT MEAN YOU GET TO LEAVE THEN. I TELL YOU WHEN YOU GET TO LEAVE. YOU ARE ALL JUST NUMBERS ON A SPREADSHEET TO US, WE CAN REPLACE YOU IN A HEARTBEAT IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE HERE!”
So, I dropped all the tip money on the table in front of her and said, “Replace me then”. Found out later that they lost nearly half their staff that night because most others followed my lead. There was a huge football game the next day right across the street and they got to deal with that with no servers. I went to the game and had the time of my life.