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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/Darthvalgaav on 2024-06-28 01:13:42+00:00.
This story is a bit of a long one and goes back to when I worked at a casino. For anyone out there that thinks it would be a great job, well, I can tell you right now its not as glamorous as it seems. Especially when you are working in the kitchen.
Now, a little backstory so you all can get the whole picture. When I started working at this location I was young, still in college, and working two part-time jobs. At first, it was just ok. I had been hired on as a steward which is just a fancy term for dishwasher which wasn't too bad as it had been the same job I had at the last restaurant I had worked at. However there were a few differences. I won't go into too much detail and name all of them, just the ones that are important to this story. The first one, and the one I liked the best, was that since there were so many restaurants and the stewards were all in one department we were shuffled around every day. One day you would be working in the steak house, the next the buffet, then the Italian, the sandwich shop in the bingo hall, and so on. This meant that you were always working with other people, interacting with them, and gave a change of scenery. I was told I was odd for liking this, but my counter was that if you did end up working with someone you didn't get along with then it would only be a while till you worked with them again. The second was that this place hated unions. Twice a year there would be a meeting that everyone had to attend where they would make these long presentations on how evil and manipulative unions were. Also there would be signs all along the employee hallways with anti-union propaganda.
After working for the casino for some time, my boss approached me asking if I wanted to be bumped from part-time to full-time. I said yes as the benefits were really good. Not only did I get medical and dental insurance, but I would also be getting access to their lawyers as well as a few other things.
I guess it was a good thing that I did because, a few months later there were some major shake-ups. I didn't know what caused it, but most everyone there hated the new changes. For one thing, the sick note policy was canceled. Meaning, if you were sick it wouldn't matter if you had a note from your doctor saying that you couldn't work. If you didn't show up they docked you a point. This resulted in cooks and stewards coming in, vomiting on the floor and in the trash cans because they couldn't afford to lose a point as it would count against them when it came time for raises. Another thing they changed was that they were cutting the number of full-time employees. I was safe, along with everyone else who had that status, but if any of us left that slot would not be filled. There would only be two full-time employees per department.
Speaking of departments, that leads me to the next big change. Technically, the stewarding department would be disbanded. This meant that, while our supervisors would still be there, it would be the chefs and managers of the restaurants that would be in charge of us. This also meant that we would no longer be moving around!
I was sent to the steakhouse and, thankfully, I had two great female coworkers. In fact, we were so good that we were called AAA as all of our names began with the letter A. As we worked there, I began to plan moving up within the casino. I knew it would be difficult, but I had a dream of buying my families cabin from my parents and living up in the country while I finished college. Sadly, on my first attempt to becoming a supervisor failed and I ended up training the person who did get the job. I didn't complain, I just took it as a sigh that I needed to up my game.
Now, here our story really begins. See, our head chief was being transferred to the Italian restaurant and the assistant chief was taking his place. Meaning we were going to hire a new guy. Lets call the new guy Kevin.
When Kevin first came in, he seemed ok. Not great or awful. He was just there and we had no real reason to talk most days as we were usually pretty busy.
Then, maybe a month after Kevin started working there, I had my first real interaction with him and it, well, was something. It was at night with the dinner rush just starting to pick up and I told my coworkers that I was going to fill up my water bottle before it happened. They said ok and that they would begin doing the same once I got back. But before I could leave the steakhouse to go to the breakroom Kevin called out to me.
Kevin: OP. Where are you going?
Me: Just getting a drink before we get busy. I told the girls.
Kevin: Then why aren't you using the waitstaff drink fountain?
Me (blinking and confused): We were told when we started that staff are only supposed to get drinks from the breakroom.
Kevin: Don't give me that! I see the waitstaff getting drinks there all the time! You are just going there to waste time. I'm going to have to write you up for this!
Me: Wasting time? The breakroom is just down the hall. In the time we've spent having this conversation, I could have gone done there, filled my bottle with ice, gotten my drink, and gotten back here!
Kevin then opened his mouth, but before he could say anything the head chief caught sight of us standing there and came over to see what was going on. Before I could open my mouth, Kevin spoke up explaining the whole thing with a superior look on his face. That however faded when the chief spoke.
Chief: Kevin, OP is right. Employees are only supposed to use the drink fountains in the break room. *Sigh* I'm going to have to talk to the waitress supervisor about this. OP, go get your drink. I need to talk to Kevin in private.
So I did. After that, I was pretty much confused by what just happened. At first, I was willing to give Kevin the benefit of the doubt believing that he honestly didn't know about that rule. That maybe chiefs and supervisors were allowed to use the waitstaff station, assuming that it applied to everyone. However, when I brought this up to my coworkers they said similar things happened with them. That he had pulled them over for a minor infraction of the rules and when they just said they were sorry he let them off with a warning. So they suggested that he was just 'marking his territory' and would have gone easier on me if I hadn't questioned his authority.
It was after that, however, that I began to notice things. Firstly, the waitstaff was no longer talking with Kevin as they were pissed off at him for getting the crack downs at their station. It was during this time that I began to realize just how often he hung out with them. He was also always calling over my coworkers, asking them to help him with a job like peeling potatoes for hours leaving me alone. What's more, whenever I stopped to speak with one of my supervisors (who happened to be a young woman) he would yell at me to get back to work. Slowly I began to suspect that he had other intentions.
These suspicions were later confirmed during that summer. For those of you who have never been in a professional kitchen, it can get hot. And in the summer, it can get really hot and the odors can sometimes overpower you. On this day, I was working at one of our massive sinks scrapping off the remains of perch and giving the pans a deep clean when Kevin called me to the office. Now this was odd as I had only ever been called to the office to get my ten cent raises while getting a performance evaluation and neither of those were to happen until January.
Curious I followed him to the small room where he gestured me to enter first. I did, finding a woman I had never met before sitting at one of the desks there. When I entered, she looked up from her work to give me a curious look that said 'Hello? Can I help you?' You know the look.
Then Kevin spoke as he shut the door, walking in backwards as he did.
Kevin: Op, you stink!
Woman: Excuse me?!
At this Kevin jumped before turning around. The woman was looking at him with a rage while Kevin looked lost. It didn't take me long to realize that he didn't know she was in there.
Kevin: Sorry, I mispoke. I meant he smell bad. We're getting complaints about his BO.
Now, like I said, the room was small. So small that I felt cramped being in there with two other people. With the way we were positioned, I was pretty close to the woman who was growing more annoyed.
Woman: I don't smell anything. Sir, would you mind if I get a little closer?
I said it wouldn't be a problem and allowed her to get close enough to sniff me. She did it maybe two or three times before pulling away.
Woman: I don't smell anything.
That's when I spoke up.
OP: Look, if someone said I smell then I'm sorry. But I'm working over greasy sinks full of chemicals to clean off pans with fried perch on them in a room that feels like a hundred degrees. And on top of that, the aprons we are given are not the best.
To emphasize my point, I gestured to my shift which was wet and full of bits and pieces of fish.
Woman: I see. I'm going to have to take a look at those and see if any need replacing. OP, how about you cool down for a bit in the breakroom. Kevin, you stay. We need to have a talk.
After that, three things happened. The first was that the stewards got new aprons which made all of us happy as they hadn't been replaced in years. Second, from then on if Kevin wanted to talk to me about an issue another staff member ha...
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