Servers Fired Via a Note From a Cowardly Manager

If you have worked in a restaurant for a long period of time, there is a real good chance that either you or someone you know has been “let go” in an unfair manner. This business will chew you up and spit you out and too many managers don’t give a rat’s ass about your employment. It has happened to me twice; once when working at VYNL here in New York City. We all suspected for weeks that the restaurant was shutting down, but even when we asked point blank about it, they lied to us and said it wasn’t closing. A couple of weeks later, we were given two days notice that we were all out of work. (Fuck you, John.) The other time was when I was working at an unnamed restaurant here in the city that fired me for blogging while I was working there but they were too afraid to admit that was the reason they were letting me go. (You can read about it in chapter 6 of my book!) In both cases, the managers and owners were cowards. Well, a woman named Destinée has come across a manager named Larry who puts the Cowardly Lion to shame. She posted on Facebook her story of how servers at her job found out they were no longer employed:

The new John Daly steakhouse in Conway, AR apparently finds this an appropriate way to fire employees. Weekly, we receive our schedule via a post on groupme from an employee in store that takes a picture for the manager and posts it. The other day we received 2 pictures. The schedule, and another one of a small yellow note that reads this: “if you don’t see your name on the schedule, some unfortunate cutbacks have been made. If you have any questions call me Saturday after 10am at the store. Larry” this picture was sent for the manager, on groupme, via another employee. No reason, just because managers play favorites. A total of 6, yes 6, waiters and waitresses were let go from John Daly steakhouse via this meaningful note. An excuse of “we had to make cuts because we have too many servers” was made. While a brand new training waitress employee sits at the table beside me. Politics and favoritism is the epitome of this place. Don’t do it. Just don’t.

That’s right. Larry, of John Daly Steakhouse, didn’t have the courage to tell six people that he was firing them. Larry just left a note for someone else to take a picture of so it could basically be texted on his behalf. That’s some low-level, shady as fuck, gutless bullshit right there and I am going to call Larry out:

Dude, really? I bet you’re the same guy who breaks up with a girlfriend by text message or email, right? If someone gave you the responsibility to manage a restaurant, that means that you are expected to be a mature individual who handles uncomfortable situations with emotional intelligence. Firing people with a fucking note is not emotionally intelligent. I’m not even going to get into the “favoritism” claim, because I don’t know anything about that. (Not like favoritism would be a surprise coming from someone who fires people in this manner.) Man up, Larry. No matter what the “financial cutbacks” were you should have had the decency to speak to those six people and tell them to their faces that they would be losing their jobs. It’s nice of you to let them call you with any questions on Saturday after 10AM, but at that point, who cares? They’re unemployed! Their questions are going to be like, “How small ARE your balls?” and “Do you KNOW how big of an asshole you are?” I’m sure these six employees were the same ones that you were asking to come in last minute to cover a shift or maybe you told them to leave early when it was slow and they did it, because it’s part of being a server. Well, guess what, Larry. Part of being a restaurant manager is treating your staff with respect and you failed. Hopefully, this public shaming will make you think about your actions the next time you have to let an employee go. In the meantime, I have a note for you:

Good luck to Destinée and all the others who lost their jobs. I hope they soon finds a place to work where management treats them with respect and decency, because even though we are “just servers,” we are entitled to that, especially by our bosses.

Discussion

  1. Chris
    • Marsha
  2. Jas
  3. Chris
  4. Destinée
  5. Mark W
  6. JDS coworker
    • Marsha
      • Marsha
      • KDP
  7. Destinée - edit in case anyone was curious
  8. FELLOW WAITRESS
  9. FELLOW WAITRESS
  10. JDS Worker
    • The Bitchy Waiter
    • KDP

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