Alright I know what I'm about to write may sound silly but it's a true encounter. Last Monday I started working the Breakfast Shift (4:00 A.M.-12:00 P.M.) with one Monday off--this past Monday. Any who,just before opening for the breakfast crowd, my boss corralled everyone into the lounge and held a staff meeting saying he appreciated that everyone remembered to dress festive for the holiday season and then got on to the boring business and finally onto compliments,comments,suggestions and complaints. Well it seems that an elderly couple took offense to the way I was dressed. What was I wearing? A Knee length red and green Santa dress that had a flared skirt and loose top and a pair of non-slip boots with jingle bells on the laces. Any who, this elderly couple seemed to take some offense to the way I was dressed claiming they could see my 'breasts straining against the fabric of my shirt' and they could see my panties every time I bent over and they were thoroughly disgusted but that wasn't their only complaint, their second complaint was about the bow that held my hair back. It was a red,gold,white and green bow that was a gift from my dad a few years back that went with the outfit I was wearing, apparently it 'offended' their sense of sight,their third complaint was about the bells that were on the laces of my work shoes, the very SAME bells their previous server had on their shoes offended their ears and they would appreciate it if I removed the bells from my shoes before serving them and their last complaint and the last thing that offended them was the way I said good bye. We were asked NOT to say Merry Christmas as some do not believe in Christmas or Celebrate it so we say 'Have a safe and happy holiday season.' Now this couple has been in before and been served and cashed out by me before and I've said 'Have a safe and Happy Holiday Season' To them as they left earlier that day but apparently they didn't like it this time round and wrote a long detailed letter to my boss asking him to 'remove the tramp in the red and green outfit from the floor before she attracts unsavory clientele to this restaurant.' I'll be honest, I'm round about a medium B cup there's no way my boobs were straining the front of my shirt. So After reading the complaints, I was handed down a six week suspension from work pending a Review Panel Meeting in the New Year. I still get my Bonus but I'm not to show up for work until I get a letter in the Mail from Corporate stating when the review Panel will conviene and where. So should I have been suspended from work when I was wearing the exact same type of outfit the other servers were wearing and saying "Have a safe and happy holiday season"?
I know but I'm not in a union so I've no one to complain to about unfair treatment.
Okay, that has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. If I were you, I'd try to find a new job. If your boss is going to screw with you like that when he himself should have seen your outfit was perfectly fine, he doesn't seem like the type you want to work for anyway.
Actually, it remind me a little bit of a customer that supposedly complained that I had called her fat at the reastruant I'd been working at for nearly two years. Specified my name and eveything. The only thing was, I wasn't even working the day she said I did it, but I still got fired, even though I had no idea what my boss was talking about.
Sometimes customers seem to get on power trips. They just like to screw with people, becuase they know they can just get away with it.
Blades, hon, you have every right to be upset about this! Your boss is being a jerk! There is listening to customer complaints, and then there is just being a jerk, and my friend, the company was being a jerk.
Keep your chin up, hon, and here's hoping you can find a better place to work soon! That group doesn't sound like people I would ever want to work for.
Yeah, that's not right. My friend's mom went through a similar situation while working as a Macy's clerk. She was overwhelmed by so many customers demanding service at once, and accidentally gave the wrong customer the wrong item she ordered. Instead of taking it up with her or the manager, she contacted their global hq. Needless to say, she lost her job because of one idiot.
The same happened to me at the school paper. I lost my position because some blonde idiot said bad things to my editor that were not true (or she misinterpeted it).
So, I know what you're going through. I'd recommend ya start looking for another job soon if he's gonna suspend you over a he said/she said incident when what you describe is far from trampy, and the other workers were saying the same.
yeah I remember when we had an elderly lady come in complaining because we weren't watching her grandson while he was outside. Okay we have it posted on the building that if children are NOT enrolled in our daycare program, and if they are outside, then they are NOT our responsibility and that parents are leaving the children at their own risk. When I tried to explain that we were not a licensed babysitting service, we were simply a recreation facility for kids and adults to come and hang out, she got on the phoen to myboss and tried to get me fired by saying that I had told her 'we weren't a *explicative word* babysitting service.' I never curse around children, and we had about 30 children inside playing with only myself and one other employee (a cashier who was ordered not ot leave the register unattended), and countless other people playing around outside. Thankfully while my boss attempted to take the woman's side, I had the cashier as well as my supervisor who defended me so I didn't get written up.
WHAT THE HELL! reading your situation made me want to write a nice nasty letter to the old cronie/farts and tell them to come out of the dark ages! if they can't stand women showing anything above their ankles they should move their saggy arses to another country where its considered modest to wear head to toe coverings. i'm in australia and this sort of thing you could take to the discrimination board but i don't know what steps you have in your place of residence. personally, if i was well off enough, i'd love to hit them up for defamation on your behalf but i'm sorta a sad sack for the pockets :)
Don't bother,my dad's friend who's been in Law Practice hit my boss with a lawsuit for wrongful suspension of employment. Needless to say my other three employers got the same complaints two weeks apart from the same couple and told me not to let them two old crones get to me, they'd been in another restaurant I work at and specified my girlfriend deliberately threw food on their laps and bitch slapped the old lady. Only problem with that story was my girlfriend was in the hospital having her tonsils out! Right after I got word that I was suspended until further notice my second job's boss called my phone and said he'd received a complaint from the same two customers that were in for breakfast at my first job and he'd just dismissed it as an act of malice. I had all christmas and this past week to mull over things and after telling my dad about it he said 'M'dear, he aint worth joining your hubby in the hospital over! Quit while you have your health!'
I mulled it over during the holidays and called my boss and said 'Unfortunately the working environment in your establishment is causing an already diseased heart to have further complications. You are the ONLY restaurant in town that still allows smoking to continue and that is making it very difficult on my health. I have enough trouble breathing with bronchial asthma and it's just getting worse and worse each day. I've thought it over and see there's no other option but to say I quit. My health is more important to me then $5.50 and hour. I've worked more over time and extra shifts but I haven't reaped the rewards of a bigger paycheck and you refuse to give me a raise or the extra cash I've earned so don't expect me into work on Friday the 16th as I've just given you notice I quit! Put Savannah in my place she hasn't worked at all since she started. She comes in, hangs up her coat and goes to the kitchen for a pot of Earl Grey Raspberry Tea and scones with Strawberry Jam then sits down and does nothing but eat and drink tea while other waitresses bust their asses waiting on HER customers.' He called this morning at 5:00 and screamed 'Where the hell are you? We're backlogged and short handed! Get your ass into work! I don't pay you to lay in bed all day long!' Hmmm is it me or did I not tell him I quit? I have enough problems of my own to worry about.
Ahh the pleasure of calling up the ass who suspended me unfairly and saying 'I QUIT for health reasons' is THE best feeling I'll ever have in my life! Man it felt good! Four years of having to hear the doctor say 'Keep up working at this pace and you won't live to have a baby! You KNOW you were born with a heart problem! Why keep working at the same stressful place?' Why? Because SOMEONE has to pull in money! My husband's been in the ICU at the hospital since the day before Christmas Eve and hasn't yet woke up. His brain waves and heart rythms are normal,his sugars are normal, his blood pressure is normal but no one wants to tell me WHY he hasn't woke up yet. It's all 'Sorry ma'am we can only give out pertinent information to family members only. We can't tell girlfriends or fiance's about what's wrong with him.' Girlfriend? Fiance? I'm his freakin WIFE you can TELL me about my HUSBAND'S medical problems since I AM his family now and have been since July!
Ugh don't remind me about KIDS! Just because the restaurant has a kiddie menu and kid safe zone, people seem to think that it's OK to open the door to the Kid Zone and leave their kids there with money and go shopping. Hello? Rule #1 clearly states: No child is to be left unattended in Fun Zone due to Health and Safety Regulations all Children are to be monitored by an ADULT to prevent any undue injuries. Meaning? KID ZONE IS NOT A DAY CARE CENTER! DON'T LEAVE YOUR DAMNED SNOT FACED RUNNY NOSED LITTLE BRATS IN OUR CARE AND GO SHOPPING!
now that you are free...go throw some rotten fruit at the old farts.
I'd love to but I've other things to occupy my time. Ie part-time school and full time being by hubby's hospital bedside. I'll post about that.
Mkay, that's stupid.
The baddest mammajamma of Mars!