Isn’t it kind of crazy how many incompetent people there are in management positions?

All that goes for ALL industries, my friends.

It doesn’t matter if you’re working in a fast food joint or a Wall Street boardroom, there are going to be clueless folks!

A young waitress who works at an Italian restaurant talked about what happened at her job when all she could do was sit back and maliciously comply.

My (17 f) manager had me leave the new girl waiting tables on her own, so I took her at her word.

“I, (17F), am a waitress/server/cashier at a semi local Italian chain. (Not going to say which, but it’s considered a “specialty” of the DMV area.)

I recently had to take a month off of work for health reasons, since I was in the emergency room and then had to spend time in inpatient. While I was away, there were huge changes at my job, including new managers and two new employees.

I’ve only been working there since last June, but I picked things up pretty quickly, barring the first day I had to deal with a packed dining room by myself while still in training- I’d messed up pretty badly with the computer system and needed the Manager’s help. Still, it happens.

She met the new girl on the block.

Yesterday, I met the new girl for the first time (it was her third day, still in training.) She’s my age and a complete sweetheart, and as the dining room slowly became more and more packed, we made a great team – she got to practice working with the computers and talking to customers while I took down the orders and showed her how everything worked. It was her first time “properly” serving there, and she really did great considering that, certainly at first.

But the other two people working weren’t pulling their weight…at all…

The other two people who were working was a manager and one other hourly employee. The managers at my job will also serve and work the counters (basically, all waitresses have to do double the work, and we still get paid dirt but that’s another story.) I was running between the dining room and the counters to try to keep up (although we can only serve max two people at the counters picking up or placing orders at a time.)

It was to the point where my manager and her friend had bundled up and complained about how cold it was, while I was flushed, with my coat off, covered in sweat (cleaned myself up when dealing with the food, of course.)

In fact, they weren’t doing much of anything.

The manager and her friend were sitting down together, alternating between scrolling on their phones and talking, only getting up to answer the phones when they’d already rung 5+ times and having people wait at the counters to be helped for 10+ minutes.

It was massively irritating, but I didn’t have the time/energy to confront them.

But then came a bombshell from her manager.

About halfway through my shift, my manager told me that I can’t just go in between the dining room and the counter, and if I didn’t pick one or the other she’d withhold my tips for both, since I “wasn’t fully invested in either.” Ouch.

She gave me a choice on paper, but in reality made it perfectly clear that I was stuck behind the counter and the new girl, the trainee, was on her own. There was nothing I could really do, so I just stayed at the counter, though that was plenty slammed in and of itself, and I really, really could have used my two coworkers who were screwing around on their phones.

All she could do was go along with the program.

I didn’t have time to answer phone calls, pack up orders, check people out, and take to go orders all at once, and I had one particularly angry woman call me a “lazy *****” for leaving her on hold for about two minutes (that stuck with me.) While I was doing all this, the new girl was stuck with a packed dining room and no help.

About twenty minutes into it, my manager approaches me looking both angry and sheepish. Basically, the trainee had messed up and charged the wrong orders to the wrong cards and needed help- though the way she phrased this was, “you know, you don’t HAVE to stay by the counter the whole time, that’s not what I meant.”

I looked over and could see her friend on her phone still, and the manager herself still had airpods on and a show playing on her own phone screen.

But, hey, she wasn’t the one calling the shots, was she?

I responded in my sweetest, most respectful voice, “I’m sorry, but as we only get paid $10/hour, my tips are too vital for me to forfeit them, so I’m going to stay put.”

(Context, minimum wage is 15.65 where I live.)

She was floored and instead of helping either of us herself, waddled back to her seat and resumed her show.

Of course, I ended up checking in with the trainee and asked if she needed my help, and if the mistake was sorted out. She said that she had things back under control and a lot of the people dining in were headed out, which was great because the counter was still slammed.

And there was one last sweet detail!

The kicker? This morning apparently a customer called in and complained that “the blonde girl (me) and the girl with braids (trainee) were so busy that they were sweating, while the two other women (manager and her buddy) were sitting on their phones.”

I only wish i saw her face when she heard about the complaint.”

Now it’s time to see how people reacted.

This reader said she needs to get out of this place.

This Reddit user said she might want to file a complaint.

Another Reddit user said her workplace sounds very dysfunctional.

Some folks just have to learn the hard way.

You know that’s the truth!