Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Continuing frustrations.

So I was about 15 minutes late to work yesterday. I told the manager why, or at least vaguely so; it was a good reason. This is the manager I've referred to as the high-strung little lapdog. He continued to act like an ass to me the entire night--not speaking to me, giving me the evil eye, acting like I'd done something terrible. I didn't really care; I was upset enough about the thing that made me late that I was quiet all night anyway. I had a perfect shift; no mistakes, no issues, not so much as a steak re-cook or unfilled beverage. All my customers were happy; I helped my coworkers; I was a closer and we were out the door twenty minutes after close.

Well, I was late again today. Not that late; I think six minutes. I was already in the building when I got a call from said manager wanting to know where I was! I didn't recognize the number, though; I think it was his cell phone. So I didn't answer it. When he came stomping around the corner (at this point it's 4:10), he asked why I was late. I didn't even try to give him an excuse; I said "Because I suck." I wasn't really in a mood to deal with his bipolar issues--one of the few things he did say to me yesterday was really rude and insensitive, and I guess I was still kind of pissed.

So when he snapped at me that "that's not an acceptable answer to be bringing me, you need to be on time" I just looked him in the eye and said "Okay". When he didn't say anything else, I walked away. I didn't say it with a trace of sarcasm, insolence, or anything. Just matter-of-fact. For the next thirty minutes I ran food, ran drinks, etc. ... at least as much as there was to do, considering there were three tables in the place, all of them from waaaaaaay before I was supposed to be there. After thirty minutes, I finally got my first table.

In essence, me being late caused absolutely no problems. Now, I am totally aware I should have been on time. But I don't think it warranted his nasty attitude until he left at around six. It's not like it's a regular thing. And I'm one of the better employees. Maybe I'm not the best server in the place; there are a couple of girls who have personalities better suited to the job, who I've never seen get rattled. There are people who've gotten more compliments than me; there are people who've gotten less complaints than me.

But there are people who've been late more than me, or not shown up at all, and who consistently have issues. Brainless, for one. Her work record sucks--she was calling in, coming in half an hour late, not showing up without calling, etc. Then she suddenly had to go back to Utah because her dad had a stroke, and when she comes back a month or more later she gets made a server despite the previous issues.

Anyway, I'm pissed. He'd better not have a damn attitude with me this weekend or I might snap. As it was, I talked to the GM about it tonight; I was talking to her about Brainless (more on that later), and mentioned "Hey, I don't know if (lapdog) said anything, but he's pretty pissed at me." Turns out he wanted to write me up--but that he had a freaking list of people he was pissed at, so I'm thinking GM isn't going to take it too seriously. No write-up, at least. And when I explained to her the situation yesterday, she talked to me about it and was very sympathetic.

I brought it up to her because Lapdog does the schedule--and if he decides to be a big douchehound and take away a bunch of my shifts next week, I can go to the GM and ask her to intercede.

It just really pisses me off to be treated that way by him for such a simple thing. I was a manager and I never treated my employees like that. I had to talk to some of them about being late, and there's a way to do it without being personal.

Again, I know I should've been on time--but for Christ's sake, he was acting like I'd just not shown up at all.

4 comments:

LW said...

I don't know what is wrong with some managers. It's almost like it's OK to have bad habits if that's the way it's always been. I don't get it.

purplegirl said...

Isn't that crazy? It's kind of like how smokers can go out back as much as they want, but if you don't smoke god forbid you sit down for a minute or go to the bathroom.

jacque said...

peeing is completely unacceptable! duh! smoking, good habit! peeing or pooping for that matter, bad! lol j/k he sounds like a douche! probably just trying to get a raise and doing anything and everything he can to do so! like stepping on people and pissing off the innocent. i wouldnt think anything of it personally!

purplegirl said...

I know, where do I get these ridiculous ideas that it's okay to be human?!