Hello! This is my first ever post to Reddit as I’m usually just a viewer, but I honestly need opinions on this and if I should try to take some kind of action against it. I’m adding a little backstory so this makes some more sense, sorry if it’s a bit messy!
This Saturday I was scheduled 11-7, my usual hours, and I have no issues with that, but I come in early, which has never been an issue with my manager in the past. She lets me clock in an hour or two early, then I usually get to clock out a bit earlier as well, which I’m grateful for! But I was scheduled with the assistant manager today, and everything went smoothly and was like any other shift I’ve had. I’ve only been working at Subway since the beginning of September; it’s also my first ever job, so I’m not well versed in all of this just yet. Around 12-1 p.m. I went to the bathroom as I discovered that I had started my period, which isn’t ideal because I struggle with intense cramps that can cause me to be slower than I normally would be. My assistant manager was very understanding and reassured me that I was doing the best I could.
Around 1:30-2:00 we had a rush and had another worker that came in. I excused myself to the bathroom, which nobody seemed to have an issue with. My pain was worse, and I was beginning to get light-headed, but I tried to push through. My assistant manager left at 2:30, leaving me with my other coworker by ourselves. I usually am on top of prep and such things, but I will admit I was slower than usual, but I still did the dishes and all of that. My coworker was up front helping people as it was around 4:00 at this point. I didn’t want to go announce to her in front of customers that I’d be going to the bathroom again, so I just excused myself to it. For ref, my location is attached to a Dunkin and a gas station, so I went to the gas station and used the bathroom. I was gone for at most 10 minutes.
Around 4:30 I texted my manager asking if I could leave around 5 or 6 as I did come in early that day. I’ve done this multiple times before with no issues. She texted back in a way that was unusual for her: “You were scheduled 11-7. That is the shift you are supposed to work. Your team needs you to do your duties.” Now that is reasonable. I had no issues with it other than the pain I was in that I had explained to her in my message beforehand.
I helped my coworker after seeing that message, just deciding to push through the few hours I had left. After I had helped with the small rush we had, I went into the back and sat down for at most 5 minutes due to me being lightheaded. No phone in hand or anything, just sitting there for a moment. That is until my manager walks in, which is normal as she drops by time to time during certain shifts. But she had this look on her face as if she “caught me in the act,” which was very strange. I felt like my mom had caught me doing something I wasn’t supposed to do, but I brushed it off and went back out to help my coworker. I see the manager go over to the gas station side, which I didn’t think anything of until I watched her come back with papers in hand, which threw me off as I had a feeling I was going to be in trouble for something.
I went into the back to do the prep as I had it sat out earlier, but she stops me and tells me she has papers for me to sign. I immediately knew that I was written up. For what? You may be asking. Well, for three different days, including this Saturday and past shifts.
The first write-up was her claiming that I left an hour earlier than scheduled on a past shift, in which I promptly told her that she was mistaken and I was scheduled 10-4 not 10-5 that day. Her response was the most condescending tone I think I’ve ever experienced, talking to me like a toddler that didn’t know anything. I told her “it was on the schedule that I was 10-4”. Her response being “no you were 10-5, it was never 10-4 you’re wrong”. Luckily I had that schedule saved on my phone and I showed her. Well, she took that off of the write-up then proceeded to tell me that on that shift I still didn’t complete my work (finishing all of the dishes and prep) and told me that I left everything a mess. There were two other people on at the time and I wasn’t going to stay over my scheduled time as I get picked up from work and can’t just stay.
The second write-up, it was for me calling off of a day that I didn’t have a ride, and it was also hours that I had told her that I wouldn’t be able to do. Her reasoning for this was that I called off over something not reasonable and that I didn’t find coverage…none of us have ever had to find our own coverage any time we have called off. Nobody knew that we had to do that, so that was another surprise to me.
The third write-up, for this shift that I’ve spent rambling about, I was written up for apparently not doing ANYTHING at all. She told me that I didn’t prep nor help, which is completely incorrect. Yes, I sat down a few times during my shift, but I still tried to pull my weight as much as possible. This is my only shift where I didn’t do everything before others could, but I still washed dishes, prepped veggies and sauces along with serving customers. Now, if it were only that, I might not be as bothered as I am, but it isn’t just that. She claimed that someone (the manager of the Dunkin that can’t mind her own business, most likely) told her that I kept “disappearing” all day. She claimed that I went into the walk-in too much, and that I was also being written up for HIDING in the bathroom. I went to the bathroom three times that entire shift, and the longest I was in there was 10 minutes, I was also wrote up for clocking in early which has never been an issue in the past and she even encouraged it. It was bad enough hearing all of this. BUT it gets worse. She did all of this in front of her FATHER that she hired after me and is magically the shift lead (I only work one day a week now because she gave him all of my hours). And she also did it in front of the Dunkin manager, out in the open.
I know a lot of people will have their opinions on how they would’ve handled this, but I’m a very shy and self-conscious person. I was embarrassed enough after all of this, and having grown adults witness it, I’m not outspoken and I have this tendency to let people walk over me. I hate that, but I hate confrontation. After all of this, I thought it was over. I was embarrassed and on the verge of tears from the embarrassment and anger I was feeling as my other coworkers tell me I’m always hard working. But to put the cherry on top of everything, after her “talk” with me, she decided to tell me, while in front of these people, that all women have, in her words, “lady problems” and that I can’t act like I’m the only woman in the world with them and that that basically it’s not “that bad”.
She then told me that her father would be my coverage if I still wanted to leave early, and I accepted that because she had single-handedly made me completely hate my job today. I’ve had bad days of course, but I was also told that if I were to be written up one more time, I’ll be fired.
I have a few questions on this whole situation:
Why would she wait to give me three write-ups from different shifts all at once and not inform me about them when it happened? I feel like if I knew most of these things, I could’ve prevented at least one.
Is there anything I can actually do about this? I don’t know everything, but I don’t think she should’ve done it all with an audience, along with one of my write-ups being about me going to the bathroom. Is that allowed? I could understand if I was going over and over very frequently, but three times on around a 6-hour shift with the issue I was having doesn’t seem excessive to me.
And finally, should I just start applying to other jobs? I’ve asked people about this, and they have told me it sounds like she’s just trying to fire me quickly and that there’s no reason to deal with this, but I’d appreciate more opinions on this.
So sorry for this long rant, but it honestly ruined my day, and I’m at a loss. This is my very first job, and I don’t know what to do.
