When I was a teen working at Canes, I vividly remember management asking a guy to come in on his day off at 8am(mind you, employees normally got there around 930 or so to open) just so they could fire him. He had worked the night before and was looking rough but always eager to pick up an extra shift. All for $6/hr back then. Hope he’s doing well.
Had something similar happen when I was a kid working at a local ice cream and coffee joint. Manager called me in on my day off, I wasn't driving yet and my parents were at work so I rode my bike all the way there just to have them sit me down and fire me. Had to ride my bike all the way home while crying. They closed down within the year, fuck them.
Custard shop for me. Called me 15 minute before I was going to go in for the day. “It’s raining today so we won’t need you to come in. Actually we don’t need you at all, so you’re all set.”
The saddest part, the person calling me was 1 of the 2 assistant managers who were in college. The mid 40s FT Manager woman made the college guy(s) call people to fire them instead of her doing her job.
I think one of the worst was a specialty burger spot. They basically hired a bunch of people on with the intent of weeding out everyone through firing them until they had one or two remaining. I made it through the interview and came in for the training with like 7 other people which took about 4 hours. Got my shirt and everything, the next day they call and are like "We've decided to let you go, we would appreciate if you brought back the shirt." Suffice to say, it's buried in my clothes somewhere. If I were older and wiser I would have demanded they pay me for the 4 hours of my life they wasted.
The shitty boss from the pizza place that I mentioned in a comment elsewhere on this thread hired me and someone else at the same time. She was let go about two weeks later. I was too young and naive at the time to realize that hiring two people and only keeping the best one was his plan from the start. If I'd known that at the time I would have started looking for another job right away.
The ethics of it is questionable at best since it's taking advantage of people who want/need a job to rely on. I really hope they wouldn't do something like that to a parent who was trying to support their family. If I knew a location was doing that, I wouldn't give them business. To be fair, that location was also closed the last time I was in town, not sure when it closed, but it was also a little satisfying.
Agreed, but the standard rule when opening a new restaurant is to hire at least 125-150% of what you think your eventual needed staff level will be. You’ve got to assume you are going to get ghosted by a few, and some just aren’t going to cut it. You’ve never want to go into an opening short-staffed. At first, you just have to throw bodies at opening honeymoon volume, then figure out who’s worth a shit.
Totally different ethics once you’ve got a solid team and established rhythm.
This wasn't a newly opened restaurant though, it was already established for at least a few years and already had a regular staff. They were looking to hire on a couple more people for the on season and again, hired a bunch with the intention of firing most. I've worked at a lot of restaurants, that's the first and only time I came across that tactic.
I worked as a sous chef at a restaurant where they provided me with 3 nice cotton chef coats with sailor knot buttons and my name and title monogramed on them. I quit after 3 months because the chef was an alcoholic who drank on the clock while I did his job. About a week after I quit my checking account was debited about $300. I called my bank and they told me it was a “payroll reversal”. The SOB’s had charged me for the coats by taking the money out of my check retroactively.
I was fired because I refused to work the day before Thanksgiving when I specifically told the manager and the scheduling manager that I had classes, I had a Calc test. They didn't call the college, just assumed I wanted the day off.
Neither of them called me later to fire me. They made my sister, the shift supervisor who also told them I had classes.
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u/R3353Fr4nkl1n Jul 12 '25
When I was a teen working at Canes, I vividly remember management asking a guy to come in on his day off at 8am(mind you, employees normally got there around 930 or so to open) just so they could fire him. He had worked the night before and was looking rough but always eager to pick up an extra shift. All for $6/hr back then. Hope he’s doing well.