You Can’t Fire Me; I ALREADY QUIT!

I worked as a hostess during college at a big chain restaurant that had a huge staff. My location was the management training location for our region, so we had a lot of new managers cycling in and out. Most of them were promoted servers or bartenders from different locations and had no management experience prior to this.

I never loved working at this location as a lot of the new managers were on a little bit of a power trip (kind of comes with the territory as new managers), so after a year of being berated for issues that were completely out of my control, I finally got a new job and put in my two weeks. I handed it directly to our general manager, thanked her for everything, and was set to leave on good terms with the company.

Fast forward two weeks. I received a notification that my schedule was set for the following week. I called the restaurant and reminded the on-duty manager that I was no longer an employee and they would need to put someone else on to fill my spot. They apologized and moved on.

Another two weeks passed, and I got the same notification. I once again called the restaurant to remind them. They apologized again. Before I hang up:

Me: “Make sure you make a note of this because I’m going out of the country next week and I won’t be able to call if this happens again.”

They agree and we end it there.

This is where it gets dramatic. I’m on vacation in Spain, and I get a string of angry texts from a new manager at the restaurant reminding me that I’m five minutes late and that if I don’t arrive in the next five minutes, I’ll be written up. I text back.

Me: “Sorry, I know you’re new, but I put in my two weeks over a month ago. I don’t know why I’m still on the schedule.”

New Manager: “Although that may be the case, it is absolutely unacceptable that you are missing a shift you are scheduled for, and if you don’t come in, you will be written up and in bad standing with the company.”

Me: “I am out of the country. I’m sorry for your situation, but I am no longer an employee and there is nothing I can do to help.”

I then received a string of at least fifteen messages back to back. And let me tell you, they were the most unhinged messages I’ve ever read. They went from calling me unprofessional to an arrogant brat. Mind you, I never worked with this woman; she started after I left. She accused me of lying and being lazy, saying that if you quit a job you need to give notice and I should be ashamed of what I have done to the restaurant.

Of course, I took screenshots of the conversation and sent them to one of the other managers. Last I heard, [New Manager] was suspended and then demoted back to her original position at a different location. It was definitely for the best.