This is a job at a casual dining establishment. My colleague is driving me nuts but there seems to be no recourse for it. UK btw
Let’s call my colleague Sarah. Sarah is a salaried worker while most of the others are zero contract but she’s technically not above us in any way, just acts like it. Here are some of the things she’s done just recently:
-Left me by myself during the lunch rush while another colleague was on a break to manage FOH to go on a half hour smoke break. I was literally having to run from the pass to take out food to diners, back to the till, and making coffees at the same time, with a massive queue. She comes back for ten minutes then disappears somewhere again once the other colleague is back. Smoke breaks aren’t a part of her contract
-Leaves 15-20 min early every day but reported me for arriving 5 minutes late
-Reported me for not saying good morning to her happily enough
-Eats off of customers plates BEFORE they go out
-Signs off on things she didn’t actually do on the task sheet, but told others to do
She’s very two faced, and gossips with everyone about everyone else. And is very friendly with the manager and constantly reporting back to them. Everyone is waiting for her to leave the entire shift since she only ever opens, yet she expects everything to always be perfect when she comes in when there’s 10x more things to do on a close than when she opens as we are often busy until the very last minute
Honestly, she is making me dread coming into work, but the spot I’m stuck in at the moment for uni has very few students jobs and I desperately need the money. Is there anything I can do or am I just fucked?
Having no experience in the service industry I don’t have great advice so I’ll just say I’m sorry you’re going through this and I hope it gets better.
In gigs where politics matters more than output or social skills it can be hard to instigate change.
Is eating off of food a reportable offense to a health agency? That seems illegal or it should be.
It’s awful. She calls me “flower” and refers to workers she can boss about as “good girls” yet pretends she’s the only one who actually works in the place. Wow I needed that vent
Honestly not sure how I’d be able to prove anything so far as reporting goes
If she can report you for being 5 minutes late, what stops you from reporting her when she leaves early? I’m not criticizing you, but rather genuinely asking what’s in the way.
Her best friendship with the manager, mainly
That is hard. If the manager is likely to side with her, then that limits your options considerably. In that case, if you truly need this job, then put your head down, persist, and let this delightful woman be wrong.
“Sure.” And then don’t do it. Over and over.
I’m sorry that you’re dealing with this. It’s not you; it’s them. I suspect you’re wonderful and I’m sorry that your employer doesn’t recognize that.
Peace.
My wife hates been called “luv” mainly old dudes that think they are been nice, so she calls them luv back. Maybe someone needs to be greated every morning with with a nice big smile and a good morning flower.
Also if the getting left on your own for a smoke break when busy happens, just go for a smoke break with her, or be on your phone and say something like “I don’t know where Sarah went she just disappeared, oh wait I’ve found her outside having a smoke break, do you want me to tell her to come back inside”
As it’s a uni job it’s now your mission to wind her up as much as possible, don’t worry about bad references or CV gaps if anything goes wrong.
Also look up constructive dismissal
For these things I don’t think you have to prove anything, just a report to your govs food agency could prompt an inspection - or so I think.