Right Working Romantic Related Learning Friendly Healthy Legal Inspirational Unfiltered

FIRE AT WILL!

, , , , , , | Working | January 27, 2023

My uncle used to be a general manager at a fast food chain in a large metropolitan area, and he has many stories from decades of working with them.

This particular story takes place around 2006, shortly after [Uncle]’s assistant manager leaves the company to be with her son in England.

[Uncle] is ready to promote one of the shift managers from within when the district manager tells him that another manager is transferring to his store and that he does not need to promote anybody.

The new manager arrives a couple of days later and proves to be a headache for [Uncle] almost immediately. She is extremely toxic and almost never speaks without yelling. Constant complaints come in from the other workers about [New Manager]’s toxicity, and numerous write-ups appear on several employees’ files, the majority of which [Uncle] decides to throw out due to them having bogus or false reasons.

On [New Manager]’s fourth day, [Uncle] comes in and notices that the shift manager he originally intended to promote prior to her arrival is not there.

Uncle: “Where’s [Shift Manager]?”

New Manager: “Oh, her? I fired her.”

Uncle: *Taken aback* “You what?!

New Manager: “I fired her.”

Uncle: “What do you mean, you fired her?”

New Manager: “I. Fired. Her.”

Uncle: *Sigh* “We need to talk. Right now.”

[Uncle] drags [New Manager] to the office. She has a smug grin on her face the whole time, to [Uncle]’s irritation.

Uncle: “[New Manager], what the f*** is going on?”

New Manager: “I told you already, I fired [Shift Manager]!”

Uncle: “I understand that you fired her. Why did you fire her?”

New Manager: “Because I felt like firing her.”

Uncle: “Very funny. Tell me why you actually fired her.”

New Manager: *Smugly* “Because I felt like firing her — that’s why!”

Uncle: *Facepalming* “Jesus Christ, [New Manager]. You cannot just fire my employees at the—”

New Manager: “It’s called at-will employment. I can fire anyone here at any time I like for any reason or no reason. I could fire [Shift Manager #2] for being a [Local NFL Team] fan if I wanted to! I could even—”

Uncle: “Enough. I know what at-will employment is, but it only works if you follow—”

New Manager: “Nope. I can fire every employee in this store just for the h*** of it if I want to. The law says I can. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

She crosses her arms and smirks triumphantly at [Uncle], who rolls his eyes.

Uncle: “You know what? There is actually one thing I can do. You’re fired.”

New Manager: “Wait, what? You can’t fire me!”

Uncle: “Actually, yes, I can. Like you said, [New Manager], at-will employment — I can fire you for any reason at any time. And I do have a very valid reason in this case. I have three, in fact: toxicity, insubordination, and willful violation of the company’s termination policy. Now, as I was going to tell you before you interrupted me twice, you cannot just fire people at the drop of a hat here at [Restaurant]. You have to follow the company’s established protocols. And no, at-will employment does not override a business’ termination protocols. You of all people should know this, [New Manager], because you were sent here in the first place for wrongfully firing someone at [Other Location], and now that you’ve done it again, it’s cost you your job.”

New Manager: “But—”

Uncle: “And before you argue that I’m wrongfully firing you, consider the fact that not only were you fired for three very valid reasons, but you were already on your last chance when you arrived not even half a week ago. That was a chance you were extremely lucky to have gotten at all considering that violating termination policy is normally fireable on its own. Go clean out your locker. You can drop off your uniform tomorrow when you pick up your final paycheck.”

[New Manager] stormed out in a huff. [Uncle] called [Shift Manager] and told her she was not fired and could come back the following day.

He got a call from the district manager later that day asking how [New Manager] was doing and told her what happened. The district manager laughed and said that she wasn’t at all surprised that [New Manager] wasted her last chance as quickly as she did and that she wouldn’t be trying that experiment again anytime soon.

[Uncle] formally promoted [Shift Manager] the day after that, and then he handed the reins to her when he retired twelve years later. [Shift Manager] is still there to this day, as friendly as ever, and always greets my uncle when he stops by for lunch.


This story is part of the Readers’-Favorite-Stories Of-2023 roundup!

Read the next story!

Read the roundup!

And Then You Called The Police, Right? RIGHT?! Part 2

, , , , , | Right | January 27, 2023

I worked at a fast food restaurant. We had this person who would always order like six sandwiches plain and then come back HOURS later to say they were cold — a few of the sandwiches missing, of course — and demand new ones.

After a few months of this, my manager told the woman she wasn’t welcome anymore, so her husband launched a f****** trashcan over the ordering counter at the poor thing!

People act wild when they think they’re above the establishment they’re in. Just don’t come here anymore!

Related:
And Then You Called The Police, Right? RIGHT?!

Two Too Much, Part 3

, , , , , | Right | January 25, 2023

This happened to a coworker and me a few weeks ago at our fast food job. I had finished my shift a while ago and had stayed to eat some food before I headed home. When I was ready to leave, I decided to go to the bathroom first. I got in, and almost immediately, someone else (who I found out later was my coworker) went into the only other stall.

The time between me finishing my food and me finishing up my “big business” was a grand total of three minutes.

Enter the entitled customer. She didn’t wait even a few seconds for a stall to become available. She tried my stall door and then the other when mine didn’t open.

Customer: “Hurry up, girls! Other people have to use the toilet, too!” *Bangs on the doors* “COME ON! HURRY THE F*** UP!”

Me: *Purposefully being loud with the toilet paper dispenser* “Ma’am, I’m almost done! I’ll be out in a minute!”

Customer: “WHAT THE F*** ARE YOU GIRLS DOING IN THERE, DRUGS?! PROBABLY F****** SHOOT’N UP WITH NEEDLES, YA F****** DRUGGIES!”

During her tirade, the other stall had become available, and I was exiting mine when I saw she was getting up in [Coworker]’s face. [Coworker] was just trying to wash her hands and get out of there.

Customer: “You girls took way too long!”

Coworker: “Sorry, ma’am. The stall is available now, though, so please stop yelling at us.”

Customer: “THIS IS A PUBLIC BATHROOM! NOT A PLACE FOR DRUGGIES LIKE YOU TWO TO HANG OUT! OTHER PEOPLE HAD TO USE THE TOILET!”

Coworker: “It’s not like this is the only bathroom around…”

Customer: “And where are these other bathrooms? I only see two stalls!”

Coworker: *Calmly* “If you had to go desperately, the men’s room has a stall and toilet, or there’s a public restroom at the gas station right next door.”

Customer: “I am a woman, and I am eating here, so I will use this restroom! You f****** methheads should not have been in there so long while I was waiting!”

Me: “Lady, I had been in there at most two minutes before you came in and she—” *points to my coworker* “—came in after me! If you have to go so bad, why don’t you go use one of the two stalls that are now available instead of wrongfully accusing us of taking drugs?”

My coworker and I leave and I go report what happened to our female manager.

Me: *Voice cracking from anxiety* “I just wanted to let you know, [Coworker] and I were just in the bathroom, and this lady came in, and apparently, we took too long so she accused us of taking drugs. [Coworker] told her where more bathrooms were, and I told her we had gotten in there right before she did, but she didn’t like that, so I think she’s gonna come out yelling.”

Sure enough, the moment I get done saying that, the customer comes out holding up two fingers.

Customer: “SEE?! TWO MINUTES! THAT’S ALL IT F****** TAKES! TWO MINUTES!”

My very petite but feisty manager speaks up.

Manager: “Excuse me?! I didn’t realize there was a specific time limit on how long someone was allowed to be in a public bathroom! You’re being ridiculous!”

Customer: “They were in there for more than the two minutes it should have taken them! They must have been doing drugs and that is unacceptable!”

Manager: “No! What is unacceptable is accusing my employees of taking drugs just because they didn’t conform to your stupid bathroom beliefs! Please leave!”

Customer: “I WANNA SPEAK TO THE MANAGER!”

My manager tugs at her shirt, which is obviously very different than mine.

Manager: “You see this shirt?! I am a manager, and I’ve asked you to leave! Now get out!

Customer: “WELL, YOU’RE FAT AND UGLY!” *Storms out*

I’m really glad that our managers look out for us and have our backs against crazy people like that!

Related:
Two Too Much, Part 2
Two Too Much

I’d Like The Foot-In-My-Own-Mouth Combo, Please

, , , , , , | Right | January 24, 2023

I am serving at the counter at a burger place. Some parents are arguing with their teenage daughter as they approach to order.

Teenage Girl: “I don’t understand! I’m the one going to college. Why can’t I decide what college I want to go to?”

Father: “Because we’re the ones paying. If you want to go to art school and ruin your life and end up like this poor girl here—” *gestures at ME!* “—then I certainly won’t bankroll it.”

He then orders with me while I recover from his blatant rudeness.

Father: “…and I have a coupon for those three combos.”

Me: “That coupon has expired, sir. That’ll be $24.97.”

Father: “It expired yesterday! C’mon! I know you have a button there that can override coupon expiry dates.”

Me: “We do indeed have the ability to still accept expired coupons at our discretion.”

Father: “So…?”

Me: “So, that will be $24.97… sir.”

Father: “But that’s the same as before!”

Me: “Because I’m the one deciding. If you want to go around insulting fast-food clerks, well… I certainly won’t bankroll it.”

The daughter snort-laughed while the father stared at me with cold dead eyes and paid full price.


This story is part of our Highest-Voted-Stories-Of-2023-(so far!) roundup!

Read the next Highest-Voted-Stories-Of-2023-(so far!) story!

Read the Highest-Voted-Stories-Of-2023-(so far!) roundup!

Single Patty, Single Brain Cell

, , , , | Working | January 20, 2023

I go to a popular fast food chain for lunch. This chain used to have a double burger with two meat patties, but now they only have the single-patty version. You can make a special request for an extra patty to make your own double burger, for a small price.

I put in the request for an extra patty but do not get it; my burger is only the standard single-patty version. I go to the cashier to complain.

Me: “Hello. I ordered an extra burger patty on my [burger] but did not get one. Here is the burger I got.”

Of course, I took a bite of my burger before discovering that it only had one patty, so there is a bite missing.

Cashier: “I can’t give you a replacement; you’ve already eaten your burger.”

Me: “I took one bite and realized it was wrong. I did not eat all of it.”

Cashier: “That’s definitely a [burger], so it’s not wrong.”

Me: “It is wrong. It was supposed to have two patties, but it only has one.”

Cashier: “We only have the single-patty [burger] now. We stopped doing the double [burger] a few weeks ago.”

Me: “Yes, I know. But I ordered an extra patty for my burger. You can see that on my receipt and on the wrapper for the burger.”

I show her both, which both clearly say, “[Burger] plus extra patty”.

Cashier: “We stopped doing the double [burger] a few weeks ago, so [burger] only comes with one patty.”

I asked for a manager then, and the manager understood my complaint and gave me a replacement burger that had two patties and was correct.