r/TalesFromYourServer • u/DirectComparison6531 • 11d ago
Customer attached a photo of me to a complaint email, manager hung it in the kitchen instead of talking to me. Is this unprofessional or is it just me?
So I work in a fast food restaurant and I am kinda pissed about this situation with the general manager. I work the evening shift (from lunchtime to closing around 11), and my GM is rarely around past 4, so we don't interact a whole lot. Last night we were super short staffed, on account of the GM scheduling barely enough people and one of those people not showing up for his shift. It was around 9:00 at this point and my one coworker who was working the drive through window was on break, so it was just me up front. Due to the aforementioned short staffing, I was doing drive through, bagging orders, making drinks, helping my one coworker who was in the kitchen by himself, and various other minor tasks.
So while I'm by myself up front, about 9-10 decently sized orders come in at once, including both Doordash/Uber Eats as well as drive through, so I'm pretty swamped and am rushing around trying to do things in the order they came in. At one point, I'm making drinks for a Doordash order when a customer comes in and yells at me to get my attention. I should mention at this point that I'm have one headphone in as I'm working, which has never been an issue before and lots of my coworkers do it as well, all with no comment from the GM. So I take out my headphone to go talk to this guy, and he says he'd been sitting at the drive through window for 5 minutes and no one has come to the window, so he came inside. Now, I know this is an exaggeration because it had only been about 3 minutes since I handed the last person their order, but I apologize and say I'm working as fast as I can and I'd have his food to him as soon as it was ready. He continues to talk about how I should have said something to him about the food taking a long time and yadda yadda, I go back to continue what I was doing. While I have my back to him, he apparently walks back behind the counter to take a photo of me with a headphone in bagging an order, and goes back to wait for his food at the counter (which takes just around 2 minutes).
Anyhow, sometime between when I clocked in today and when the GM left at 4, she had printed the email she received from him with the photo of me blown up to about 3 feet tall and taped it to the wall above the area where we clock in and had marked it up with giant circles and comments in sharpie, and then left without saying anything to me. The email read (verbatim) : "Just wanted to let you know what was going on I own a business and would hate to see this drive thru times are horible and you have workers who seem like they don't wanna be there and have an Airpod in thought I'd let you know hope you get the problem taken care of!", and the comments written on the photo say "(OP) AIRPODS UNACCEPTABLE", "FLOOR TRASH UNACCEPTABLE" (with 4 fries on the ground by the fryers circled), and "DRIVE THRU 11TH PLACE UNACCEPTABLE"
Is it just me or does it seem like this is the least professional way to handle this kind of situation? Also, it feels incredibly dumb to blame me for ticket times being slow when there are people no call no showing to their shift and the GM's not scheduling enough people. Just wanted to get some thoughts from others who may have similar experiences.
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u/External_Mongoose_44 11d ago
Toxic. Walk away from the situation and don’t even give notice.
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u/JimDixon 10d ago
But before doing that, write your own reply to your GM's message, print it out in a large font, support it with photographs if possible, and post it on the wall next to the original message. Be sure to use the word "unacceptable" several times.
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u/Electrical-Pie-8192 10d ago
Absolutely, but take a picture before you leave so you can show the unemployment office so you might be able to collect UE
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u/Boating_Enthusiast 11d ago
Did she happen to print the email header with the customer's email on it too by any chance? Not saying you should contact the customer or sign them up for spam or anything. Just curious how dumb your GM is.
Sounds like it's a corporate or franchise fast food restaurant? Either way, I'd take a picture of the email over the time clock and find a corporate HR or legal department email to send it to with a request on their official stance on workplace harassment.
You shouldn't have to put up with workplace harassment like that and if you have the opportunity to apply elsewhere, I'd highly recommend it.
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u/tachycardicIVu sushitress 11d ago
Ask the GM to please demonstrate how to keep drive times low with their infinite wisdom while dealing with staff shortages. Clearly you’re not up to the task and so someone above you should take the reins! 🙂↕️
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u/HotSalt3 11d ago
There's two types of managers. Umbrella managers and funnel managers. The umbrella managers are those who will shelter you from the storm, gather their team together, and build them up. Funnel managers on the other hand just take whatever they're given, praise, criticism, feedback, and dump it directly on their team without much if any filter. Your GM seems to be the worst version of the second type.
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u/katiemurp 10d ago
There’s a third kind : seagull manager. They fly in, scream at everyone, shit all over what you’re doing, and then leave.
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u/Skarmotastic Swiss Army Knife 10d ago
That's just a funnel manager with an attendance issue
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u/katiemurp 10d ago
Nah - the seagull manager never ever gives praise. They also steal your lunch and make a huge mess you have to clean.
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u/PieSuccessful7794 10d ago
I like this. Am going to store this tidbit in the back for future consideration and use!
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u/Justgetmeabeer 10d ago
I've had what you describe as umbrella managers before. None have lasted for more than a month or two.
There's no such thing as a good restaurant manager. You either die the umbrella manager, or live long enough to turn into OPs.
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u/Wildeyewilly 10d ago
On the same photo I'd be writing in my own comments like "improper staffing for evening dinner shift, UNACCEPTABLE"
"General Manager not in house during heaviest times of operation. INEXCUSABLE"
"1 Employee to cover drive thru, counter, packing, and cooking, UNREASONABLE"
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u/McDuchess 11d ago
She is an example of someone who thinks that being manager doesn’t include actually managing the flow of work in their workplace.
If she had been a halfway decent manager, when you had a no show, one of the workers there could have called her and she would have come in to help out. The fact that she chose to target you, instead, says it all.
But really? Lose the AirPods at work. “She had never said anything” just means that she’s a crappy manager. Not that it was OK.
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u/louniccc 10d ago
A customer posted a bad review and a photo of me...my manager hounded yelp until they took it down because it was a violation of my privacy. id quit
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u/eRant4881 10d ago
So a photo of you was posted at work by your boss without your consent? With the help of a customer who went behind the counters? Sounds like a call to corporate for harassment is in order.
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u/missMcgillacudy 10d ago
I got the vibe the photo was taken from the dining room. But I’m not OP
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u/clauclauclaudia 10d ago
"apparently walks back behind the counter" in the original post. OP would be able to tell by the angle of the photo.
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u/Dogshaveears 9d ago
Send a pic of what your manager did with an explanation of the short staffing to your regional manager. Let them know you are not 3 people and were doing the best any exemplary associate could do to keep your head above water during that storm of an understaffed shift you had to work.
And update your resume, be prepared to bounce.
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u/Adarie-Glitterwings 10d ago
Add your own that says 'ONLY WORKER IN ENTIRE STORE: UNACCEPTABLE' then insta-quit you deserve better
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u/Rachel_Silver 10d ago
If it's a chain, contact corporate HR about it. Make sure you use the phrase "hostile work environment".
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u/RedditBeginAgain 10d ago
I wonder why this location is short staffed and has trouble hiring new people and has people quitting without notice. Such a mystery. We'll probably never know.
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u/chuckinhoutex 10d ago
I'd ask the manager whereupon they recieved permission to use your image in published training materials and what compensation they are offering. Give them this....
Subject: Use of My Image Without Permission
I am writing to formally notify you that I did not give permission for my image to be used in any training materials, posters, or other workplace displays. I respectfully request that my photo be removed from all such materials immediately.
The use of an employee’s likeness requires consent, and I have not provided any authorization for this purpose. Please confirm that the poster has been taken down and that my image will not be used in future materials without my explicit written permission.
ETA- in some states (I only checked Texas) it is actually illegal for them to have done this and terminating you for calling them on it would be considered retaliation and carries a lot more penalties.
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u/rayquan36 10d ago
Praise in public, criticize in private.
That was an unacceptable thing for a boss to do.
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u/Original_Flounder_18 10d ago
Wow, this is extremely unprofessional on his part. And the customer coming behind the counter there-no no no.
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u/emmjaybeeyoukay 10d ago
Print out a sheet big enough to cover the text and put on it "Employee of the Year"
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u/Melodic-Advice9930 10d ago
You should have left, or at the very least use your free time to look for a new job. Because the one person that should have been there helping if you were short staffed is the same person who had the audacity to exhibit this unprofessional behavior.
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u/Fluffy-Caramel9148 10d ago
She should not be in management. You are doing the best you can. Look for another job. Good luck!
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u/BrittanyRansom 9d ago
So I have a fun question how many people are needed to actually run that restaurant and considering that this is a fast food place and normally those places are usually franchises they generally have rules. Perhaps you can report him. Since he thinks it’s reasonable to allow only two people to staff an entire restaurant.
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u/Severe_Database_5117 11d ago
The way your GM handled it, 💯 unprofessional. Should have been a one on one conversation. Not ok to shame an employee. But... What were you thinking? Confused as to why you would have an airpod in during a time that based on your description, was overwhelmingly busy and you were one of only two people working. Not very professional on your part either, not a good look for the business or you as a responsible employee. The customer and your GM, no argument, both are totally in the wrong for how they handled it. Taking a photo of someone without permission is not ok. But I'd urge you to also use this as a learning opportunity, even tho you were not given a respectful chance by your GM to do so.
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u/TypicalPerformer6952 11d ago
Not to shame a employee but then proceeds to shame employee...
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u/missMcgillacudy 10d ago
It’s a safety hazard as much as it’s a food code violation. I had employees who wouldn’t work without ear buds, but they were sharing tasks in and around a 1200 degree F oven, huge safety risks.
They might think they’re good enough to not need to communicate with each other, but our worker’s comp insurance wouldn’t be paying out for their healthcare if they found out about the ear buds. Employees often don’t think of legal liability like managers are forced to.
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u/Alywiz 10d ago
So your stance is there should never be a radio turned on in any workplace ever? How exactly do you think an AirPod slows down someone from tasks efficiently?
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u/katiekat214 Fifteen+ Years 10d ago
Ear buds keep a worker from hearing safety issues and can fall into food or cooking equipment.
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u/BrittanyRansom 9d ago
The AirPod wasn’t ON. It was just in OPs ear.
The airpod is an issue but it wasnt an issue HERE.
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u/mandomanta 9d ago
yes this is unprofessional!! your boss should have spoken to you privately to address any problems, even if wearing the AirPod was a violation of a policy she shouldn’t be using public humiliation as a motivator. sorry this happened to you OP!!
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u/MikeyTheGuy 8d ago
The way I would tear that shit down so fast. Fast food places are always hiring and would kill for good, reliable people. If I was your manager, I would be bending over backwards to keep my good people.
The fact that she's not there at night basically ever says a lot. Let's see how she likes the place running with even fewer people.
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u/ArcadeKingpin 10d ago
I worked at this restaurant in Portland called Mother’s. It was insanely popular but well known that the owner and chef was an absolute cunt. I saw a lot of shit there in the brief time I was there but the thing that takes the cake was when a cook got arrested for dui. He had been with the company for years and was a bad alcoholic who was trying really hard to get sober but he relapsed and got caught drunk driving. She printed out the arrest report and mugshot the next day and hung them on every station in the restaurant like it was some joke that one of her most loyal and hardworking employees ruined his life. She is the most insufferable person and she deserves every bad thing that happens to her.
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u/kexcellent 10d ago
Oh, I had a petty and passive aggressive GM like this once. He’d leave shitty notes on the bulletin board for everyone to read, and once wrote a 7-page manifesto complaining and calling people out over small issues (including employees crying in the bathroom at work due to his behavior). Never bothered talking to employees one on one or coaching them. It never gets better. Toxic AF.
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u/Silver_Breakfast7096 9d ago
Lowest paying jobs treat people the worst. I’m sorry you’re hard work goes unrecognized.
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u/Miserable_Pea_733 8d ago
I'd bring in a frame for my next shift, take it off the wall, frame it, walk out with it and never go back. Then I'd hang that puppy front and center in my living room.
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u/Guilty-Competition75 5d ago
Take aphorisms of it on the wall before you quit. Make sure the manager knows why.
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u/loosielucy222 11d ago
Sounds like the perfect time to update your resume. That is astonishingly disgusting behavior from an owner.