An employee who worked at a bar recently shared her frustration with a coworker who was always late on the r/mildlyinfuriating subreddit. They complained that their coworker’s repeated lateness had led the GM to fill out a write-up against them as well. In fact, they were even asked not to take break until their coworker arrived and was still expected to return from the break at the originally scheduled time.
The poster explained that they worked at a restaurant bar and worked double shifts on Fridays and Saturdays. They wrote, “My relief for my only break on Saturdays is chronically late; we even adjusted her in time an hour later to help her get in on time, but she's just as late to her pushed back shift.”
Recalling an incident, they explained, “The other week, it's about 15 minutes past when I'm supposed to go on break, I've only got a pair of older ladies at the bar who seem like they're wrapping up. I tell them I'm about to go on break, and I ask them if they want anything before I leave, and they decline and say they'll check out with me. We do that, and I tell them the next bartender will be in soon, but she's running late. I tell my manager I'm going on break, and I clock out.”
The employee said that when they returned from break, another manager was loitering near the bar. The manager then asked them to come to the office, where they found out that the GM was filling out write-up paperwork.
The poster further wrote that her coworker was 30 minutes late to her adjusted shift time. “The managers checked on the two ladies at the bar about 10 minutes after I left, and they were still sipping their cocktails and didn't need anything.”
“When my coworker finally arrived, there were a bunch of drink tickets for the dining room that hadn't been made, and while she was getting those caught up, the two ladies were still there and apparently decided to have another round,” the post read.
The poster then said that when their co-worker told the ladies at the bar that she would help them after wrapping up her pending work, those ladies bluntly told her, “If you weren't late, you wouldn't be so backed up." “My coworker is confrontational with them and tells them they don't know why she was late and to mind their business.”
The post continued, “At this point, they just start arguing and yelling; a manager steps in and gives the ladies a round on the house, but they still end up leaving a 1-star review on Google.”
When they were brought in to discuss what happened with the women, they said they were shocked to learn that they were the one being written up. “They figured the whole thing was my fault for disclosing that my coworker was late and was the person responsible for the 1-star review. I wrote in the write-up comment that I feel I'm being written up for another employee being late, but they have their minds made up, so it's still in my file,” the post read.
They also wrote that this week they tried to take break on time as the bar was empty, but they have been told to stay until their co-worker arrives regardless of how late she is. Also, the expected time in from break won’t change. “Can't wait to find another job that pays enough to quit this corporate nonsense,” they wrote.
The post ended with a message for many of the readers. “To those who say I should quit: I'd love to! However, I never get home past 10 pm and make pretty good money for my area of the country, so while I could have another bar job by the weekend, I'd rather not get home at 4 am or take a pay cut if I can help it! To those who say leaving the bar unattended is a great sin: sorry I didn't make it clear that management was keeping an eye on the bar; they just do a mediocre job of it. To the few weirdos who seem mad at the concept of a bartender: I'm sorry!”
Commenters were in support of the employee, and one of them wrote, “Bad management is so good at running off good employees. All they have to do is deal with the chronically late person, but instead they are making accommodations for them... They see it's hurting their business but can't do anything to control the other bartender, so they're piling on you. Find another job ASAP and leave them high and dry.”
Another commenter wrote, “Did you at least get paid for staying late every day? Even if you did and they docked him [sic], it is still bad policy to allow this since they would be paying you time-and-a-half but only docking him straight time.”
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the events described in this post. The details above reflect the account shared by the original poster on r/mildlyinfuriating.
