She’ll Probably Run Into This Problem Vegan And Again

I own a restaurant. Recently, we’ve had a HUGE uptick in delivery orders, so I’ve been hiring delivery drivers for the past month.

Saturday is the first day for one of these new hires. She’s twenty-two, in town for college, and seemingly a nice girl. Six pm rolls around and she shows up for her shift. She’s there for maybe ten minutes when the first delivery order comes in: steak and two vegetables, plus a salad and a chicken wrap.

The food is done, and it’s boxed up and put on the counter to be taken for delivery. [New Hire] just stands there looking at it, so the other driver picks it up and heads out.

While [Driver] is out, we get another order: four deluxe double bacon cheeseburgers, two family-size fries, and four 2XL milkshakes. The food hits the delivery counter, and again, [New Hire] is just sort of standing there looking at it.

General Manager: “What are you waiting for, [New Hire]?”

New Hire: “I can’t deliver that; it’s got meat in it! I’ll pick up the next vegan meal that comes in.”

Mind you, a solid 80% of our menu is meat. We’ve got some salads and some sides, and we do serve Impossible burgers and meatloaf, but most of the time, those get ordered along with other items that do contain meat.

[General Manager] called me, and I came up front. He explained the conversation he’d just had with [New Hire]. I confirmed with [New Hire] that she refused to touch any orders with meat in them, and then I sent her home. She won’t be on the schedule again. [Driver] and I handled the deliveries for the rest of the night.

Sorry, lady. You can’t expect to be paid to just stand by the bar for five hours a day.