r/youarefired • u/Both_Maintenance_824 • 1d ago
Lunatic Boss Fires Me After 2 Days
I recently moved to a new state and have been actively looking for work for the last few months. I saw on Facebook that this brand new, hasn’t even opened yet, family owned bar and grill was doing walk in interviews for all positions. I decided to apply for bar tender as I’ve been one for the last 10 years. I walked in and interviewed with the owners, a husband and wife, and they hire me on the spot. They tell me they own a hardware store and they’ve never owned a restaurant before but that they hired a GM to actually run the restaurant for them. That made me a little nervous, obviously, but I wanted to give them a chance, I was desperate for a job anyway.
They also told me they were sending me and a few other employees to a bartending school in another city about an hour away and that we will be meeting our GM there.
Okay. 🤷♀️
The bartending school was three days. The GM didn't show up until the LAST DAY and was TWO HOURS LATE…with his 2 yr old child… like what?
After the class, the GM told us we should expect the restaurant to open in a month and sends us home with menus to study. And for the entire month leading up to opening week, there were no additional training sessions or meetings.
Fast forward to THE DAY BEFORE THE GRAND OPENING, he sends us our schedule to which I see that I’m only scheduled for ONE DAY. Cool. 😐
So I arrive on my first day TEN MINUTES EARLY (cuz don’t ppl typically do that on their first day??) The GM immediately gets annoyed and tells me I'm not supposed to be there early because we're not allowed to clock in before our schedule time and then says “But it’s whatever, you're already here, just clock in." Okay then…
So I start bartending.
This man critiques EVERY. SINGLE. THING.
At one point he got upset because I was drinking WATER and tells me I'm not allowed to be seen eating or drinking behind the bar and that I need to put my water bottle in my locker. I have worked in restaurants/bars for over 10 years, I've literally never had someone get angry at me for drinking WATER. Whatever. I put it away.
The entire shift continues like this. Just nit picking everything I’m doing. Telling me things like “You’re pouring the beers too fast” or “I would add an extra ice cube to that drink” At this point I’m just trying to get through the day.
Later on in the night I ask him if he can walk me through the closing procedures since that’s what I was scheduled to do. He ends up handing me a checklist that was very vague and said things like: "Step 1. Stock Supplies." Okay… what supplies?
I ask him again if he could please walk me through the procedures so I could get a visual on what I’m supposed to be doing. He gets annoyed and says “just close the bar.” So I clean. I bus tables, stack chairs, fill the ice bin, stock, sweep, mop, etc. i follow this stupid checklist as best as I could. I ask him if there's anything else he'd like me to do before I leave.
He says, "Yeah, it looks like you missed a few things."
I apologize and ask what I missed.
He says: "I honestly can't tell exactly what you missed because I'm running on three hours of sleep. But I'll text you later and let you know once I find out.”
????? So I clock out and leave.. and I never end up getting that text lol.
The next day, he calls me asking if I can cover a food runner shift because someone couldn't make it in.
I tell him I haven't received any food runner training because I was hired as a bartender. But that I don’t mind coming in to help out. (I could use the extra money anyway)
So I come in and immediately notice that the menu had been changed. Particularly the names of all the food items. Weird but okay I’m there to help.
At one point the GM, who is also the cook, hands me a burger and says: "This is for Table 7”
So I bring it to table 7 and the customer tells me that this wasn’t the burger they ordered. So I apologized and bring it back to the GM. And this man immediately starts blaming ME for HIS mess up. He says, "Did you not double check the ticket before you brought it out?"
I explain that the tickets dont specify whats ON the burger
It just said "THE WRANGLER BURGER."
And he was like “how do you not know that this isnt the Wrangler Burger??” And I’m like how am I supposed to know what the wrangler burger is when 2 days ago it was called something else??
He starts raising his voice and says:
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR EXCUSES. IT'S YOUR JOB TO DOUBLE CHECK THE TICKETS BEFORE YOU BRING THEM OUT." At this point I’m done arguing so I just apologize and go back to running the food.
Five minutes later…
HE SENDS ME HOME.
I had only been there for TWO HOURS. A SHIFT THAT I WAS COVERING FOR SOMEONE ELSE!!
Later in the day he sends me a text message basically saying that they're letting me go because they hired way too many people. I was like umm? Didn’t yall just pay a crap ton of money for me to go to this bartending school?? I can’t believe that a brand new business would let go one of their only bartenders with experience?? Like thats such bad management. And I found out later that not only did I get fired, but like 20 other people did too all on the same day?? I ended up sending the owners a text message thanking them for giving me the opportunity to work here and that I was shocked to receive a text message from the GM that I was being let go. The owners had no idea. They were like “we sent you to that bartending school because we were expecting long term employment with you. We had no idea you were being let go” I then told them I wanted to give my feedback as an employee about my experience working with the GM because I felt like there were things that he was doing that they should know about. (Cuz idk if I was a business owner I would personally like to know if the person I left in charge was a lunatic right???) But unfortunately they left me on read and I never heard back. So… whatever I tried 😂 All I can ask is wtf just happened 🤣😭
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u/steppedinhairball 1d ago
That's what happens when the GM is someone with zero GM experience. It's a big step up from being a cook. So many details that GM knows nothing about. Relax, keep looking for a job and watch the place struggle.
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u/Both_Maintenance_824 1d ago
Thank you for this. I’m not going to lie it definitely made me a feel a little self conscious after I found out I was being let go. 😅 like am I bad employee for showing up early and asking questions???
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u/steppedinhairball 19h ago
He's in over head, is drowning, but won't ask anyone for help and is trying to hide the fact he's in over head. Not your problem anymore.
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u/FunnyExcellent707 1d ago
The place will be out of business soon - or have a new manager.
You could apply if you are interested in running the place?