When an employee has a reasonable medical need to sit down once in a while, managers should never make a big deal about it.

What would you do if you had to sit down for a few minutes each shift due to back problems, but your manager said she would fire you if you did, and demanded that you use your lunch break to sit instead?

That is what happened to the guy in this story, so he went on his lunch break. Within moments, a huge rush of customers entered the store, and he just watched his manager scramble to help everyone while he relaxed.

If she had just been reasonable and let him sit for a moment while it was slow, this could have all been avoided. Read through the full story and see if you think she learned her lesson.

My manager told me to take my break, so I did.

I currently work at a Mexican chain in Australia.

Why do some managers hate training their employees?

A few months back, we had this really bad manager who was doing a placement at our store while her store was undergoing repairs from flooding. She’s the type of person who looks down on you because you’re a worker and she’s a manager.

When I first started, I did an opening shift with her. I hadn’t done one before, and I kept asking questions, which she kept getting annoyed at, and kept acting like I should know what I was doing and kept leaving me alone.

Yelling is not a good way to manage.

She belittled me for not getting the meats out ‘on time’, AKA, two minutes past opening. She yelled at me because I didn’t put coriander in our salsa when we were out of coriander.

She yelled at me for putting too many beans on one burrito despite me following the build guide. She had been yelling at me and treating me really badly all day to the point I’d almost walked out and left her, but I kept my cool.

Employees are entitled to breaks, especially if they have a medical need.

Now I’d like to add, it’s well known in the store that I have hip dysplasia, which in turn really hurts my lower back, so I have to sit down for a few minutes and rest it, afterwards I’m usually fine.

It’s on my file, and the store manager has always been fine with it as long as it’s not during a rush. That day was an especially bad day, so after around five hours on my feet, my back was really starting to ache, so I asked her if I could sit down for a few minutes to rest as the busy period had passed.

As the manager, she should know this.

Manager: Why? Cant you just work?

Me: I have hip dysplasia so I just need to sit for five minutes, [store manager] has always been fine with it.

Manager: That doesn’t even make any sense. No you can’t sit down.

To be fair, he should try to sit down during his breaks and lunch.

Me: I’m in a lot of pain, all I need is five minutes, I’ll come back out if it gets busy.

Manager: No, I don’t pay you to sit down. Go take your break instead (30 mins) and don’t come back until you’re done complaining.

Maybe she shouldn’t have sent him to lunch.

So, I made myself some lunch, and sat down in our dining room. About five minutes later, the busiest rush of a lifetime came through the door.

We were still a reasonably new store and the hype was high, so I’m talking a line going out the door and it kept growing. My manager’s face turned white as she started serving people who are ordering large amounts of food per person.

He is just rubbing it in her face.

She gave me these looks of distress asking for my help with her eyes. Cue, my malicious compliance.

I sat back on my phone, looking as relaxed as humanly possible, taking very big and dramatic mouthfuls of my food while watching youtube very loudly.

Telling customers this is very unprofessional.

I had customers ask me if I could hop back behind the counter, but I simply said ‘I’m sorry. My manager sent me on my break and said not to come back until I’m done complaining about my back problems, and I’m still very sore.’

She stares daggers at me, but I just kept eating my lunch. Customers start getting angry at her for not moving fast enough to keep up with the demand, but she knows she can’t blame me because of what she said earlier, so she just keeps apologising.

While this must have been satisfying, she will undoubtedly think less of him going forward.

She was running around the back to get salads from the fridge, swapping meats around, getting new sauces, basically things that a second employee is meant to be there to help with, all while customers kept complaining.

I just sat and watched, smirking as she clearly regretted not just letting me sit down for five minutes, otherwise I would’ve been there to help. When the rush finally ended about 40 minutes later, I clocked back on and said:

Being proud of not helping customers is not a good look.

‘Thanks for the extended break. My back feels so much better now’. Which incited many glares in my direction.

I didn’t have to serve even one of the probably 40-50 customers that came through the door.

It is surprising that she treated him better after this.

She treated me better after that and is now always her kindest self when she’s around me, so I call that a win. Luckily, her store was repaired and she went back there.

People said I was a jerk for this, but I don’t care. Next week will be my final shift at that store, and I’m very thankful I’ll never have to be under her management again.

If she had just treated him properly from the beginning, this could have all been avoided. It is a little hard to believe that she became a better manager because of this, though.

Check out what the people in the comments have to say about what happened.

What she did may have been illegal.

Some jobs require a lot of standing, but certainly not all of them.

He really shouldn’t have done this.

Managers like this are infuriating.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a cashier and manager who came together to help a truck driver from another country.

This person absolutely loved the story.

When you treat employees poorly, don’t expect them to go above and beyond for you. She had every opportunity to do the right thing, but refused.

Of course, he shouldn’t have been unprofessional with the customers, but that is a secondary issue.

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