If a manager has to fire someone, they really need to think their decision through.

What would you do if your manager fired you in the middle of your shift, but asked you to work the rest of your day anyway?

That is what happened to the young man in this story, so he continued washing dishes for his shift, but he did them one at a time, causing the kitchen to get way backed up. When his manager said he could take any food he wanted when he left, they meant a sandwich or a cookie, but he took them literally and grabbed as much as he could carry.

I think this is all pretty funny. It seems like he couldn’t keep up with the job, so he deserved to be fired, but the managers were foolish in how they handled it. Read the full story below and see what you think.

You wanna fire me in the middle of my shift, but have me stay until the end? OK, I’ll bite.

About 15 years ago when I was about 20, I got a job at a new Panera opening in my town. I worked there exactly 5 days.

It sounds like this job just isn’t a good fit.

After 2 days of working the salad line and making sandwiches (which was honestly fun) I was told I was being moved to the kitchen.

I didn’t mind because I love to cook and bake, so I was excited…for about 1 whole minute.

Ok, I guess washing dishes is one way to get started in the kitchen.

When I showed up on my 3rd day, I get walked to the kitchen. I’m so stoked. I stop at the chef line, but the manager keeps walking.

I stop at the baker line, but the manager keeps walking. He stops in front of the dishwasher. He says I’m gonna be washing dishes for a couple days because they hadn’t hired one yet (or he quit instantly, but I’ll never know.)

He is discovering that this isn’t a simple job.

I give it my do-best attitude for 2.5 days. It’s a big pill to swallow. I suddenly realize the back end of a bakery/restaurant to be MUCH harder than I ever thought (and I’ve worked in the back prior, just not at this level before) so MUCHO PROPS to all you back-of-the-house workers.

I have always worked counters, even maintenance, but never that hard. And I started to fail because I was feeling dejected and being talked down to.

He isn’t able to keep up.

Come my 3rd day on dishes, and the last day at Panera. I show up on time, and it was a pretty busy night, so there was lots to get to.

I try so hard, but by then we’re open, so freshly dirty plate tubs are coming back in groves. Starts piling up on the counter. Then on the floor.

If I got fired, I don’t think I would stay to the end of my shift.

Halfway through my shift, my lunch is late. Before I go to lunch, they pull me into the office, and tell me they’re letting me go.

They say, “We’re so sorry to say, but we have to let you go. You’re just not keeping up. But…would you please stay and finish your shift first?”

He is getting paid, so what does he care?

I was floored. But, I did it. (Just not with my do-best attitude.) I proceed to wash 1 pan at a time in the industrial washer we have.

More tubs are piling up, my coworkers asking what’s going on (I explain and they understand and support thankfully) so even more tubs pile up, now on the floor, before I even finish the pans.

His managers seemed to be pretty chill, honestly.

Come the end of my shift, I knew my managers were gonna have to stay and wash the dishes. But they were courteous enough and told me that, as a parting gift and thanks for trying, I could take home whatever I wanted from the store.

So I did. Over $120 I think in fresh breads and pastries of all delicious varieties. I gave most of it away. Heard from a friend like a year later they were mad about that for a while, but couldn’t do anything, which got them more mad.

They can’t have expected him to give 100% when they just fired him.

It wasn’t my finest hour, but I don’t regret it one bit.

Moral of the story: don’t fire your employees mid-shift, but ask them to stay, and expect any kind of quality.

This is pretty funny. The managers really should have waited until the end of his shift to fire him. And they should have been clear that they meant that he could take one sandwich or something. Oh well, I’m sure they learned their lesson.

Read on to see what the people in this story think about what happened.

Companies are always trying to get better, and that often means firing employees.

Here is someone who did the dishes in the kitchen on a ship.

Doing the dishes isn’t easy.

I think the managers were trying to find something that he could do.

Managers should be jumping in to help.

It was a huge mistake to fire him and then let him keep working. You have to wonder what his managers were thinking.

It almost seems like they didn’t think things through at all. Did they really expect him to keep working as hard as he could even though he didn’t have a job anymore?