The Daily Groan (A thread to ease your pain) - The 3rd!

Work's been a major pain in the ass lately. The GM where I work hunted me down after I'd left to rehire me, because the restaurant almost had to shut its doors from me leaving: they had to drag in the district manager to work there personally, and were still forced to mostly close for lunch for the months I was gone, costing them more money than I can even fathom. I come back for the offered raise and promotion, and they set themselves up for failure again with my employment by forcing me to do an absolutely insane amount of essential work. I know I'm a work dog, but give a guy a break, here! Having a handful of people that the store can't function without if they all take the same few days off just isn't sustainable.

They've also instituted an "on call" system that drives me and my coworkers nuts. We're a bunch of back-of-house assholes, not paramedics! I hate having to squirrel one or more days of my week away just in case I get called in, and then I don't even get paid for being stuck waiting at home if they end up not needing me. Throw everything about restaurants in America into the sun, seriously.

That’s absolutely wack to have an on-call system for restaurant workers. I know everyone’s got it tough right now trying to keep their businesses afloat but that is … uh, not the way. Gross. Sorry to hear it, Page. Funny that they’d so clearly recognize your value and SEEM for a moment to be treating you better with the promotion and all, but then immediately go back to treating you like a resource to be extracted to its maximum value for them at all times.

I saw Portugal just passed a law making it illegal for your boss to text you after hours. Every time I see labor law things like that, or like the discussion around shorter work hours / 4-day weeks, I can’t help but imagine how my work would probably just be like “neat” and completely ignore such things. Some of that is out of necessity. Our schedules have never been defined by normal work hours. A lot of time the when and how-much of our working is defined entirely by the biological schedules of animals.

There was a time I only got a night off (night, because we had to be totally nocturnal to catch birds at night)… when the moon was full and it was clear. Under those conditions we couldn’t sneak up on birds.

This week I had to leave town kind of on the fly because we finally got the ok to do so. It’s… a little like being on call, I guess? I often wake up not knowing whether or not to expect to be hopping in a car and leaving town that day. It’s happened more than usual this year. But a lot of time it’s hard to avoid and we all understand the need for flexibility in a job that depends on animals / weather / coordination with a LOT of people.

But man, a restaurant just doing that because they’re basically understaffed and need to be able to cancel their employee’s time off at any time? Fuuuuck that.

I got my covid vaccine on Tuesday. yesterday I decided to replace the plaster (hygiene... woo) and realised I forgot to tell her I was allergic to flipping latex.

I had a rash all over my upper arm. TwT

I rip those bandaids off almost immediately, but something in them (I don’t think it’s the latex) really bothers my skin a lot. mine was on for no more than 20 minutes and I had red marks that I still can see six days later!

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Originally Posted by Who-Is-Page

I hate having to squirrel one or more days of my week away just in case I get called in, and then I don't even get paid for being stuck waiting at home if they end up not needing me. Throw everything about restaurants in America into the sun, seriously.

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You might want to look into labor laws, depending on where you are, the type of work you're doing, and how restrictive the 'on call' is. If you aren't allowed to leave a certain area and have to be there right away, they might have to pay you for it.

It all depends on if it's considered a "reasonable restriction on the employee’s activities."

If they aren't willing to pay for your time stuck at home when 'on call' then they can't reasonably expect you to stay home or within range of the location.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Who-Is-Page

They've also instituted an "on call" system that drives me and my coworkers nuts. We're a bunch of back-of-house assholes, not paramedics! I hate having to squirrel one or more days of my week away just in case I get called in, and then I don't even get paid for being stuck waiting at home if they end up not needing me. Throw everything about restaurants in America into the sun, seriously.

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Yeaaaah seconding Jakkal on the labour laws thing, this all sounds extremely sketchy and like you may be entitled to some pay for being stuck at home. My old retail job had an on-call system but you had to actively write down if you wanted to be on call a certain day and from what time you'd be free.

Speaking of labour laws, me being a freelance and therefor my own boss means I get a bit of leeway in breaking labour laws on myself. Cause who's gonna sue me? ME? And hell if I haven't taken the opportunity. The other day I did a 22 and a half hour work day (27 counting the transit times) from two separate gigs I lined up back-to-back. Hard labour too, being a technician. It wasn't really just for the money, I was gonna say no to the first one until I found out my friend specifically requested me for it as an example of a "strong lighting tech". Flattering, hah.

I am... definitely sore and tired now, but bouncing back. I'll sure enjoy getting the money from it, especially if I'm gonna manage moving this month. Kinda wish I didn't need to agree to stuff like that to get by in this economy though.

I've been pretty emotionally disconnected both from my friends and myself in terms of identity and spirituality - which sucks because before I got into live events fall was my strong season for that. But that happens every year, busy season in my industry brings out the work-only side of the machine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jakkal

You might want to look into labor laws, depending on where you are, the type of work you're doing, and how restrictive the 'on call' is. If you aren't allowed to leave a certain area and have to be there right away, they might have to pay you for it.

It all depends on if it's considered a "reasonable restriction on the employee’s activities."

If they aren't willing to pay for your time stuck at home when 'on call' then they can't reasonably expect you to stay home or within range of the location.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by irritatedandroid

Yeaaaah seconding Jakkal on the labour laws thing, this all sounds extremely sketchy and like you may be entitled to some pay for being stuck at home. My old retail job had an on-call system but you had to actively write down if you wanted to be on call a certain day and from what time you'd be free.

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I've skimmed over my state's labor laws and unfortunately they're entirely within their rights to do this. Florida's notoriously bad to work in as a "fire at will" state with no break laws, which can result in some pretty horrific working conditions. (I've seen people work triple shifts, from 6am to after 11pm, with a single break in the day for comparison; I've also had the displeasure to regularly work 7-10 hour shifts with no breaks myself.) So while being on-call is annoying and restrictive, because they've never formally set their boundaries on it in writing that I could pull up and utilize as evidence there's really no case to be made--they also ONLY commit to saying things through word-of-mouth and group chats that exist outside of formal company records, like on GroupMe. It's one of the biggest problems in kitchens in the US: they're always breaking labor laws or doing stupidly dangerous and unethical things, but it's functionally impossible to prove (or the company just factors the fines into their yearly budget) and they fire anyone they're suspicious of for reporting them or complaining. C'est la vie.

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Originally Posted by Kisota

I rip those bandaids off almost immediately, but something in them (I don’t think it’s the latex) really bothers my skin a lot. mine was on for no more than 20 minutes and I had red marks that I still can see six days later!

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I still have a prominent bump. It's been 4 days.

Work has been... hellish lately. I don't really feel like going into detail, but I really don't think I can handle it--either the more unpleasant parts of the work or certain aspects of my work--anymore. Working at a grocery store seems more appealing right now; it seems simpler and like I'd have to keep track of fewer things myself. And they're paying better, to boot.

This job needs someone who can wear two different hats at once. I don't think I'm that person right now.

It really boils my blood when people who -

Are not therians
Belong to no therian community
Aren't educated on Therian topics in the slightest

Try to assert themselves with authority on topics they couldn't be any more ignorant to.

I really wish mainstreamers would keep their nose in their own business and leave us the hell alone.

Lyc