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Thread: Work Saturday? I don't want to

  1. #1
    PhillyDancer1982
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    Default Work Saturday? I don't want to

    OK I got two new jobs, one of them being a restaurant job. Right now I am not a full server because I am a newbie who is still learning everything about the restaurant, but it is a job that will have a lot of potential once I am fulling serving the food and wine. As a result, the money's been less than stellar lately. I'm sticking with it because over time the money will get better and it will hopefully replace dancing eventually. I have a scheduling conflict with them, though.

    Last week, I couldn't dance because I was scheduled seven days in a row at the restaurant. Plus, I had my day job at the insurance office. Plus, I worked every single day the prior week, whether it be at the restaurant, strip club, and/or insurance office. But they needed me for Restaurant Week and I was happy to help out and prove myself to be a reliable worker. And I had Sunday, my one day off in over 2 weeks, to look forward to. Then on Saturday night 20mins before we all leave, one of my coworkers says, "You know you're working tomorrows, right?" I was like, "HUH????" I'd told them that I do not work Sundays(the Sunday prior was an exception because it was during Restaurant Week), because of church, needing at least one day off per week, etc. This was the first time that the schedule for that week was even posted. I asked the GM about it and explained how I'd just worked 7 days in a row and had a 5day/week day job, and he forgot about my day job and felt really bad. So he asked me to do that favor for them just once, and said that if it was really dead on Sunday, I could leave early at 8pm insteada 11pm.

    I really did NOT want to go to work on Sunday, because I was totally exhausted and my throat and ear were throbbing. But I spent money on train fare, interrupted a whole day that I'd planned with museum trips and such, and went to work. Just to see that it was totally dead, and the other 3 servers/bussers didn't even NEED me to be there. So I made like no money, stuck around just for the sake of sticking around til 8, felt like more of a pest than a help(since there wasn't enough work for all of us to do, I felt like I kept getting in the way of the others), and went home. Today, I had to go to the doctor because I've developed a nasty recurring strep infection again. I coulda used that day of rest. However, I did it to show them that I was a good worker.

    OK here's the issue. I am scheduled on Saturday night, another night that I do not work. The honest reason, is because it is hands-down the best night at the strip club and I desperately need money. I need to work Saturday to make up for all the days that I didn't dance, because I was scheduled at my other job, and as a result made less money than necessary. But I wouldn't use a strip club as my reason, instead I can always say that I have political campaign work scheduled(and yes, our political committee often has events/conventions scheduled on Saturdays). I already worked Sunday for them and it proved to be an unnecessary chore/annoyance. In fact, I was one of the only servers/bussers who worked 8 days straight AND/OR has another job or two or three, so I wonder if I have extra reason to ask for Saturday off?

    Should I call tomorrow and ask them to remove me from the schedule for Saturday? Or, would this look bad? I am very very bad at being assertive, but I have been trying to be more assertive lately. If they keep scheduling me Saturdays, I'm not gonna have enough money to make living expenses because I depend on dancing to pay the majority of the bills(hopefully it won't always be this way! :-( That's why I'm "sucking up" lesser paying jobs, in hopes they lead to better things over time). They are a cool bunch and understanding, but at the same time I feel all this pressure to prove myself to be an ambitious worker, esp since the owner seems to like me and he is kinda hard to please. What should I do?

  2. #2
    God/dess Bridgette's Avatar
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    Default Re: Work Saturday? I don't want to

    They are taking advantage of you. When you are too agreeable that's what they do. You have to say no sometimes. Tell them which days you are available and let them work with that. I've dealt with that shit in restaurants - they will work you to death if you let them. You HAVE to set limits.

    Don't give in to anymore of that "just this once" shit. It will be a recurring thing if you do. Trust me on that. There will ALWAYS be some bullshit reason why they absolutely need you that day - and they will do their damnedest to make you feel guilty for not going along. But you have to be firm with your limits.

    You do NOT have to accept every bullshit schedule they try to throw on you in order to "prove yourself". They want you to think you do, but you do NOT. If you are reliable to show up when you are scheduled, stand up for yourself a little, do a good job at work and do well with the customers, you will get promoted without having to take every shitty shift they have. In fact, in my experience, if you try too hard and accept every shitty shift they try to put you on, they will be LESS inclined to promote you or give you better shifts, because they will see they can give you all the shit and you will take it - meanwhile you will watch others who are more firm in their limits get promoted instead of you. Make sense?

    Quote Originally Posted by pheno View Post
    When you lead a nontraditional life don't try to measure it with traditional milestones.

  3. #3
    PhillyDancer1982
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    Default Re: Work Saturday? I don't want to

    Thank you for your brutally honest advice. It makes perfect sense! As far as you saying that taking every shitty shift will make me LESS likely to get promoted...yes, I've DEFINITELY had that happen before. At McDonalds, for example. At 16 yrs old, I was a great worker, worked tons of hours for a high schooler and resultingly saw my grades drop slightly, yet the 14-yr-old boy with no prior work experience got promoted to supervisor and I didn't get shit. In fact, they started me off at min wage($5.15/hr) but they hired the 14-yr-old boy and a few other young 'uns at $5.50-5.75/hr. Then at Friendlys, when I was 20 and in college. They hired me as a waitress, put me on cash register and making sundaes as part of my "training," then left me there at the cash register to rot. I never got trained to be a waitress, yet all these high school kids got hired directly as waiters and never had to train with sundaes or register. I think it's because I was agreeable to cash register, whereas all the high schoolers would bitch about how "shittier" the money was at register, as opposed to collecting tips as a waiter. As a result, I worked a shitty job with shitty hours and I had to drop a college course and retake it for $1600, when I'd only made $1000 the entire summer I'd slaved away at the Friendlys job I detested so much.

    These managers seem more workable and respectful, so I guess the answer is I should tell them "no" to Saturday? Should I call the manager tomorrow, or wait until I go to the restaurant on Wednesday to work my scheduled shift? Should I remind him of the pathetic Sunday shift I showed up for?

  4. #4
    God/dess Bridgette's Avatar
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    Default Re: Work Saturday? I don't want to

    I think I would probably go ahead and do the shift you agreed to - it can be seen as flakey if you agree to work a shift then renig. BUT then make it clear from now on what days you are available and that you have other obligations so you CANNOT come in other days.

    It might be beneficial to politely remind the manager that you can't work Sundays (or whatever day) next time you work. Don't be bitchy about it, and maybe word it like you are mentioning it early this week so there won't be an issue at the last minute next week. As if you're trying to be helpful

    If mgr doesn't agree to this when you mention it, I might respond with something like "I work 2 other jobs to make ends meet and really need a little time off each week - I am much more productive when I have a day off."

    If mgr is totally unreceptive to your scheduling needs, maybe you should look for another restaurant. These people are generally used to having to work with people's schedules because the people who work in those jobs frequently have OTHER jobs/school. If you happen to work for one who is unwilling to work with you, you might as well start looking for something else now because eventually you'll get sick of them abusing your work ethic and quit anyway - only then it might not be a nice situation.

    I'm betting though, that they'll work with you if you just make it clear that you are not available for certain shifts. And of course, after a couple months or so I'd start asking about that waitress promotion, if they haven't started you on it by then.

    Quote Originally Posted by pheno View Post
    When you lead a nontraditional life don't try to measure it with traditional milestones.

  5. #5
    PhillyDancer1982
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    Default Re: Work Saturday? I don't want to

    Yeah they're generally an easy-going bunch that is easy to work with. I might still ask about this Saturday though, simply because the manager might feel bad that I wasted all that time and train fare for Sunday. That, and I have a medical note explaining my recent case of strep, so that'll show that indeed I am overworked to the point of exhaustion and thus less productive when I do not have a day off to rest!

    The bad situation that you are describing, is EXACTLY what happened at Friendly's. They scheduled me shit hours all the time and kept me at a shit position(cashier/ice cream scooper) despite my age and experience. I told them MULTIPLE times that I had an Organic Chemistry exam each Monday of the summer(summer classes are brutal b/c it's 4months of coursework squeezed into 4 weeks), yet they would schedule me 8pm-10pm every Sunday night. I would do nearly an hour round-trip of driving for 2 hrs...that is about $10 after taxes...and it'd be just enough to perfectly interrupt my studying(I can only study best if I review the material the night before without interruptions; it doesn't matter if I study like 1week in advance, I have to review it the night before). When I told the 18-yr-old young bitch supervisor that I was quitting, she DIDN'T BELIEVE ME and neglected to tell any other managers. Then I wondered why the assistant manager asked me to write down my fall schedule one day and I was like, "Didn't D-----e tell you I quit?" So then after all that, they scheduled me a weekend day past my declared "last day." It was the only day that I was going to actually do something FUN that summer, and go to the shore...couldn't I get one fucking mini-vacation day the entire year?? I had to argue with them to remove me for that day, because I was so fed up with them at that point, that I do not think it looked very good. But they wore me out to the point of complete aggravation.

    But does it matter what kind of reference Friendly's would go? No, because it's such a crappy job and short-lived(I was there 2months), that even a good reference wouldn't look real good. Being a 20-yr-old triple major working at Friendly's would look totally terrible on a resume, because it would show that I couldn't find anything better. Obviously, it still angers me to this day that Friendly's did this. And to be honest, it wasn't just Friendlys...it was McDonalds, and Target, and even at the first strip club I worked at, where the manager scheduled me 7 lousy day shifts/week because she could tell that I was subservient. (At my first club, day shift money sucked a LOT.)

    For a time in my life, I associated with a complete loser/psycho who also still angers me to this day. One day we were arguing and he made a snide comment, "You play patsy at your job all day." That annoyed me a lot when I found out what the term "patsy" meant. I really want to change from my past, because being "too nice"/subservient is the #1 reason that I got into debt, landed nothing but shit jobs, earned nothing but shit pay, and eventually got disowned by my family and pushed myself to start dancing.

  6. #6
    PhillyDancer1982
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    Default Re: Work Saturday? I don't want to

    OK here's what happened. I went to work today, told the manager that I needed to talk to him about the schedule, then waited until he was done doing payroll/bookkeeping before I quickly approached him. I told him that I wouldn't be able to work Saturday, and he was like, "No problem! Saturday's gonna be dead anyway." Wow, I've never had that much ease at other restaurant jobs before! The manager also said that he's putting together a permanent, consistent schedule, which will make it a lot easier for me to schedule all the things that I'm doing these days around the restaurant job. Yeah, my coworkers/managers are really cool.

    I think the reason why I am so amazed that the manager was cool, is because I've taken so much shit at past jobs. Friendlys, for example. After all the shit I went through with them, I gave my notice and the 18-yr-old manager didn't even take it seriously(I don't know why, it isn't like I threatened to quit before and then didn't). When I finally got it through the managers' heads that I was quitting and had a day designated as my Last Day, they went and scheduled me for the Saturday AFTER my last day...which was my one and only day at the beach that entire summer. God forbid, that I actually wanted "A" single day at the local Jersey shore that year. I had to argue with them about it and kinda look bad, before they took me off the schedule for that day. I thought that was "normal," but I look back and see that Friendlys' abuse was about as normal as a boyfriend hitting/beating his girl to show his "true love." I shouldn't have worried so much about cancelling work on Saturday, because I shoulda known that my current restaurant(an upscale Italian place) is a lot better than the shitty casual chain restaurants I worked before.

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