A restaurant bar employee recently shared a frustrating workplace experience on Reddit’s r/mildlyinfuriating community, detailing how a coworker’s chronic lateness resulted in disciplinary action against them rather than the tardy colleague. The post highlights broader issues around workplace accountability and management practices in the service industry.
Chronic Lateness and Shift Adjustments
The original poster explained they work double shifts on Fridays and Saturdays at a restaurant bar. Their relief for their only Saturday break is “chronically late,” prompting management to adjust the coworker’s start time an hour later. Despite this accommodation, the tardiness persisted.
The poster wrote, “My relief for my only break on Saturdays is chronically late; we even adjusted her in time an hour later to help her get in on time, but she’s just as late to her pushed back shift.”
The Incident That Triggered the Write-Up
Recalling a specific Saturday, the employee described leaving for their scheduled break after confirming with two remaining customers — older women who were wrapping up their drinks — that they didn’t need anything else. The employee informed their manager and clocked out for break.
They explained, “The other week, it’s about 15 minutes past when I’m supposed to go on break, I’ve only got a pair of older ladies at the bar who seem like they’re wrapping up. I tell them I’m about to go on break, and I ask them if they want anything before I leave, and they decline and say they’ll check out with me. We do that, and I tell them the next bartender will be in soon, but she’s running late. I tell my manager I’m going on break, and I clock out.”
Escalation and Customer Confrontation
Upon returning from break, the employee was called to the office where the general manager was preparing write-up paperwork. The coworker had arrived 30 minutes late to her already-adjusted shift time.
The poster noted, “The managers checked on the two ladies at the bar about 10 minutes after I left, and they were still sipping their cocktails and didn’t need anything.”
When the tardy coworker finally arrived, drink tickets for the dining room had piled up. While she worked through the backlog, the two women ordered another round. The coworker told them she would help after catching up, to which one woman responded bluntly: “If you weren’t late, you wouldn’t be so backed up.”
The situation escalated quickly. The poster wrote, “My coworker is confrontational with them and tells them they don’t know why she was late and to mind their business.”
An argument ensued, a manager comped the women a round, and they ultimately left a 1-star Google review.
Disciplinary Action Against the Wrong Employee
When management reviewed the incident with the original poster, they were shocked to discover they were the one being written up. Management reportedly blamed the employee for disclosing the coworker’s lateness to customers, holding them responsible for the negative review.
The poster stated, “They figured the whole thing was my fault for disclosing that my coworker was late and was the person responsible for the 1-star review. I wrote in the write-up comment that I feel I’m being written up for another employee being late, but they have their minds made up, so it’s still in my file.”
Ongoing Policy Changes
Following the incident, the employee reported new restrictions: they are now required to stay at the bar until the coworker arrives, regardless of how late she is, and must still return from break at the originally scheduled time — even when the bar is empty.
They wrote, “Can’t wait to find another job that pays enough to quit this corporate nonsense.”
Poster’s Response to Criticism
Anticipating common responses, the poster addressed several points in their original post:
“To those who say I should quit: I’d love to! However, I never get home past 10 pm and make pretty good money for my area of the country, so while I could have another bar job by the weekend, I’d rather not get home at 4 am or take a pay cut if I can help it! To those who say leaving the bar unattended is a great sin: sorry I didn’t make it clear that management was keeping an eye on the bar; they just do a mediocre job of it. To the few weirdos who seem mad at the concept of a bartender: I’m sorry!”
Community Reaction
Commenters largely supported the employee, criticizing management’s approach to the situation.
One commenter wrote, “Bad management is so good at running off good employees. All they have to do is deal with the chronically late person, but instead they are making accommodations for them… They see it’s hurting their business but can’t do anything to control the other bartender, so they’re piling on you. Find another job ASAP and leave them high and dry.”
Another noted, “Did you at least get paid for staying late every day? Even if you did and they docked him [sic], it is still bad policy to allow this since they would be paying you time-and-a-half but only docking him straight time.”
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the events described in this post. The details above reflect the account shared by the original poster on r/mildlyinfuriating.
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