The Student Room Group

Caught in the middle at work

First of all, I'm not sure if this is the correct forum to be posting this in, so if there is a more relevant one, can I ask the mods to move it? Thank you, dearies :wink:

I have been working as a waitress in a small restaurant for about 14 months. The owner is also the chef and is not able to cope with the stress of the job particularly well. He gets very fire-y when things don't go right, shouts, swears, can get quite offensive and has been known to throw things and break things (but not at people, I must stress). The place is open both days and night times and I work both, although at nights I work alone.

Mostly because of his temperament we have an extremely high turnover rate of staff. Most stay no longer than a month, but despite this there are a couple that have been working for a little while (more than 6 months, I'm the only one who has been there over a year, so I'm an old timer!) These people are getting more and more annoyed with his behaviour and I feel a mini revolt coming on. One of them recently walked out and he has barred her, told us if we do serve her we get a written warning and even told us not to buy Avon from her daughter (:confused:)

However, although he treats the rest of the staff badly I find myself being treated OK. For example, he will pull all the waitresses into the kitchen for a good shout and tell me to stay outside and do the till. I think this is partly because I have been there a while and partly because I work nights, which means I see a side of him when he isn't uber-stressed and can actually chat with him.

So the problem is that I'm worried the other staff will resent the fact that I am seemingly exempt from his rants and that should there be a time when the other staff walk out I will be torn between loyalty to them (they are much more my friends than he is) and to him. I guess I don't expect a solution to this, seeing as there isn't really one anyway. But any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Reply 1

id say dont worry its not your fault theyl know that.

Reply 2

If they're your friends, they won't resent you.

Reply 3

Make sure they recognise you sympathise with them if they talk to you about it. Not much else you can do.

Anyway, I thought all chefs were like that?

Reply 4

If you dont make mistakes/get on his nerves why should he shout at you?
Best thing you can do is give them tips to avoid i think?

Reply 5

Sounds like most chefs...

Reply 6

Tell them that even though you don't get shouted at when they are there you get it worse when they aren't!

Reply 7

I can't believe he seems to think he can stop you from buying Avon from the sacked persons daughter, does he not realise that that has absolutely nothing to do with her leaving?!

I think I would have left pretty quickly too!

Reply 8

tinkerbellejess
I can't beleive he seems to think he can stop you from buying Avon from the sacked persons daughter, does he not realise that that has absolutely nothing to do with her leaving?!

I think I would have left pretty quickly too!


I know, that was a totally dumb idea of his :rolleyes:

I have almost left so many times, but now I know its only a few months till I graduate and that they will give me an excellent reference, so I may as well stay until then.

Reply 9

LOL, I'm pretty tired so I read this as "Caught in the middle of it at work" :p:

Reply 10

Philosoraptor
LOL, I'm pretty tired so I read this as "Caught in the middle of it at work" :p:


Me too :redface: Must be that dirty mind of mine again!

Reply 11

Just keep your head down and sont get involved, if theyre your mates they will understand

Reply 12

becca2389
Me too :redface: Must be that dirty mind of mine again!

me three, but imagine if that really did happen, someone would be getting fired

Reply 13

AJ
me three, but imagine if that really did happen, someone would be getting fired


Or promoted :wink:

You guys have such dirty minds! Such an innocent topic name and all!