Non-manager coworker keeps directing me during shifts. Would this annoy you too?
I work at a fast food restaurant, and something happened on shift that didn’t sit right with me.
For my entire shift, I was stationed on drive-thru order taking (where customers place their orders and then pay). I would argue this is one of the most critical station especially during a busy rush.
Keep in mind that I wasn’t assigned to front counter or the dining room at any point during my shift by the manager.
Towards the end of my shift, a team member (not a manager or shift supervisor, just someone who’s been working there longer than me) came up to me and told me to go clean the dining room. Look, normally I wouldn’t think much of it. Because it is a usual part of my routine WHEN I am assigned to front counter, HOWEVER I wasn’t.
What made it feel even stranger was that they told me while the manager in charge was preoccupied, so it wasn’t like they were passing on the manager’s instructions. Even if that had been the case, the manager would usually just tell me themselves.
This also isn’t the first time. This same team member has previously told me to go clean the dining room when I was stationed at front counter, so it’s starting to feel like they’re just telling me to because it’s me. Don’t know if they have a vendetta against or what, but it is really odd to me.
To be clear, my issue isn’t with cleaning the dining room. If a manager had asked me, I would’ve just done it without thinking twice. What bothered me was another crew member directing me to do a task when they aren't a manager. It felt like they went out of their way to give me something to do just for the sake of giving me an order. It came across as a bit of a power play, and I really didn’t like that.
I have worked at quite a few other places and almost always the manager is the one who tells you to go clean dining room and sweep or whatever else concerning the dining room. Not a team member.
And if you wanted to know, I did go clean the dining room lmao, begrudgingly.