first time ever posting on reddit, that’s how stupid this whole thing is 😭 so i’ll just start from the beginning.
i recently got a job at a local small coffee shop, which getting the job itself was already a pain. the shop is run by a husband and wife, and the husband is the one who interviewed and hired me, and scheduled my first day of training.
well, i show up for training and the wife is there and she basically gives me an impromptu interview and kind of un-hires me, saying that they like to vet their new employees and make sure their good fits for the job and that they’re reliable, and also mentions randomly that they’re “very big” on not coming into work sick, and that if you’re sick just stay home and rest and they’ll find coverage for you (this is important for later on) which all of that sounds fine and good, except i was already interviewed AND hired by the husband so i was super confused why she was backtracking what her husband did.
fast forward a few days she does get back to me and rehires me essentially so i start my training. i pretty immediately get put on closing which was very overwhelming but they’re EXTREMELY short staffed so they wanted to give the other baristas a break from constantly closing, to give perspective there’s only 2 employees there besides me, apparently someone had quit right as i was hired, but even then they were short staffed. when they were fully staffed they had 6 baristas, which they never told me how bare bones their staff was when i was interviewed and hired. the 2 baristas themselves shared how rough it’s been and how overworked they were and how happy they were for me to get hired, and i felt so bad for them because i could tell how exhausted and burnt out they were.
but back to the story, i had made plans to be out of town for a week for a birthday trip so texted the wife to let her know i was taking that time off (which i did shortly after i was hired so it wasn’t spur of the moment) and she thanked me for letting her know and told me to schedule off through the app, which i do and it gets approved. also something random but also VERY important, i stopped at a starbucks one day and ended up getting into a convo with a barista who used to work at my coffee shop and she shared that she was FIRED for getting covid basically, saying she went to the hospital from it and the husband and wife said they’d send her flowers (but never did), and never put her on the schedule after that and ignored all her texts and calls. which made me think back to what the wife said during our interview about “not coming into work sick” so i assumed maybe that barista got all the employees sick and that’s why they’re so “big” on that rule, but i didn’t know them well enough to make any judgements so far.
so i’m just enjoying my time off for my birthday when one morning the wife randomly starts calling me and texting me to call her back, saying that she “didn’t know” i was taking all those days off and that she could approve mon-thur but not fri-sun essentially. and i was so confused because i had the aforementioned convo with her on taking those days off so i quote replied my message where i mentioned the exact days i was taking off and said to her “sorry i missed your call, these are the days i took off” to which she only responded “ok”. i was so confused how she could “forget” so quickly, especially when she already approved my days off, but i chose not to stress about it while on my trip and to just talk to her in person when i returned to work to clear any confusion.
so you’re all caught up for what’s going on right now, i was supposed to return to work the other day but i started feeling ill while on my birthday trip, so ill that i was worried it was contagious, and i remembered what the wife said about not coming into work sick and protecting our customers and fellow employees from illness so i called the wife and told her i was feeling ill, and if she wanted me to come into work or get tested to see if it’s contagious, to which she IMMEDIATELY goes into this rant about “our main concern is reliability and you ACTUALLY making an effort to come into work” but then tacked on a little lip service saying at the last minute ” oh and we care about you being ok too, that’s what’s most important,” after basically calling me “unreliable” and accusing me of trying to get out of work. i was so confused because i was doing EXACTLY what she told me to do, which is NOT go into work sick. and she goes on to say that yes, she would like me to get tested and to let her know my results.
so i go to urgent care as soon as i get off the phone with the wife, right as they’re about to close because i didn’t want to wait until the next morning in case i wouldn’t be able to come into work, that way they’d have time to get coverage. the doctors do their tests, even going as far as doing a chest x-ray and an EKG, because they were concerned by my shortness of breath and almost fainting just from taking deep breaths for them. turns out i do have a viral infection and bronchitis, and they give me a work excuse to take off the next few days. i send the wife my work excuse and tell them when the doctors said i can come back, barring i feel well enough. NO response from her. it’s been over 48 hours and still no text from her or the husband. tomorrow is the day i’m supposed to return to work if i wake up feeling well enough, but honestly i’m unsure how i should feel or if i even should return to work after how she treated me. im so sad about this because i’ve ALWAYS wanted to be a barista and the coffee shop is so cute and the customers are so sweet and friendly, but ive heard way too many stories from the two current baristas there and from multiple people who used to work there, a lot of them saying that management is just not good, that they really overwork their employees, and that it’s a “negative work environment.”
thoughts?