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Just Curious (dealing with employer)

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jessica0403

New member
North Carolina. -
So to make things easier, I'll just explain the situation.
I work for a Subway in my town, just a summer job before heading back to college. Almost every employee their dislikes the place including the "owner/manager." There's too many things to comment on to show how terrible this employer is. Anyways, I've had a few problems with my employer regarding checks and misunderstandings in the past, to the point I was almost stranded on the side of the road because our checks would not deposit due to her mistakes and another time where she shoved me out of the work area. So on to my current problem. I was at work yesterday and I was scheduled from 11 am to 4 pm, a good standard shift. Nobody wanted to do dishes and my other three coworkers were on the line leaving me to do the dishes. When I say there was a ton of dishes just picture your entire kitchen sink packed times two and a half. It took me approximately an hour to an hour and a half to do all of these. By the time I finished, my employer was now at the store and the lunch rush is finished so the other coworkers were taking breaks and finishing up orders. I finish up and go to the front with my coworkers. I proceed to chat with my coworkers and put up food, etc. One coworker came off of break and another went on right before the third coworker was about to clock out (maybe 15 minutes til). My employer comes to the front and tells the coworker about to leave to go ahead and clock out early and told me to as well. I had 2 hours left my shift as well as being the last one to clock in.
Me: Me?
Employer: Yes.
Me: You do know that I was the last one to clock in, right?
Employer: Well, we're not busy and you're not working.
I was taken by her audacity to tell me I was not working since in that past 30ish minutes I had done more than my other coworkers combined. Both workers that were not being sent home had more hours than me and one of the two was actually wanting to be sent home early to take care of their sick child yet she sent me instead. I had no understanding as to why she did this and neither did my coworkers since they saw how much I had done.
Well, being a teenager, I made a post on Facebook when I got home because I was so mad that she tried to say I was not working. Basically the post was advising my friends (who are mainly around my age) to not try to work their because of what I've been through. I understand that social media is not very private BUT I have my account locked down and set so private that most people cannot find my account unless they have a mutual friend and even then they cannot see anything i post. I am not friends with any coworker or my employer online yet my employer texts me asking if I just quit my job. I told her no and asked if someone told her I did. She replied asking about my facebook post. This was a mere 20-30 minutes following the post. I took it down and did not respond to her. I went to work a few hours later to pick up my check and asked a coworker if she had heard anything (my employer is not confidential at all and gossips like a teenager yet she's 50+). I was told that my employer said she saw it with her own eyes meaning no one sent it to her. I do not understand how she saw my post without someone else showing her. Basically, I just want to know if my employer violated any laws or could have possibly done something wrong.. At this point I have three weeks until our agreed date for me to quit (due to leaving for school again) so I do not have to be there much longer.
Sorry if this is too long and a waste of time. I do not know much of the law but I like to know whether or not I am right and have an understanding of why.
 


quincy

Senior Member
You have no legal action to pursue against your employer, based on what you have said - but Subway potentially could have a legal action to consider filing against you, depending on what you wrote online about your employer.

What "dishes" did you wash at Subway?
 

jessica0403

New member
You have no legal action to pursue against your employer, based on what you have said - but Subway potentially could have a legal action to consider filing against you, depending on what you wrote online about your employer.

What "dishes" did you wash at Subway?
The only thing I wrote online was to not work at that particular establishment, nothing else.
I do not see how the dishes matter that much but it was typical stuff. Pans, containers, sauce bottles, veggie slicers, bread liners, lids, etc. It was just a ton of everything.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Thank you for answering my question about the dishes. I have eaten at Subways and all I could remember were paper-wrapped sandwiches. I forgot about the assorted metal containers. I am happy to hear they are washed. :)

Nothing posted online is really private, despite privacy settings that might suggest otherwise. It is therefore best not to post derogatory comments about your employer online if you want to stay employed or if you want a good reference when you leave.
 

jessica0403

New member
I'm young and have plenty of great references so I just want to give her a big " F You" since I only needed her for the summer job and it's almost over. But thank you for the help!
 

HRZ

Senior Member
The employer may be out of the dark ages but it's unwise to be critical of the hand that pays you, especially in forms that can be there for a long time ...never can tell what future potential employer may check your posting history and if there are red flags they may simple move to another candidate . Vote with your feet and don't go back . If you need a big F message ...write a long nasty letter on old fashioned paper ...then take it to back yard and hold a big ceremonial burning of same and move on.
 

commentator

Senior Member
You will not learn any earlier in your career. The employer can pretty much legally treat you any way you'll accept being treated. There is nothing legal or required to be fair about the way the work is distributed and the number of hours you're given. The basic work law is that they do have to pay you, at least the minimum wage for any hours that you do work. That's a federal law. The lower level the job is, the less consideration and fair compensation you are likely to receive. Only when you have moved to a more professional level can you expect any degree of courtesy, fairness or notice of a job well done.

Fast food is a notorious area where you are a nameless, faceless cyper, and they treat you as less than human. The low level managers are not themselves spectacularly professional or well trained, and they can frequently cause their employees lots of grief, all perfectly legal. The thing to remember is that you are an army of one, you are making your own work history, and you do not want some stupid small time summer job to put up any significant blocks to your future. Therefore you do not steal from the till, poison a co worker, punch out a mean manager and get charged with a felony or put up things on social media that get you sued by the company. I have actually seen all these things happen to short time summer employees, and I have seen professionals in well paid professional positions be stupid enough to blast their employer on social media to the point they were fired, in one case sued, and dramatically hurt their reemployment chances.
 

Just Blue

Senior Member
You will not learn any earlier in your career. The employer can pretty much legally treat you any way you'll accept being treated. There is nothing legal or required to be fair about the way the work is distributed and the number of hours you're given. The basic work law is that they do have to pay you, at least the minimum wage for any hours that you do work. That's a federal law. The lower level the job is, the less consideration and fair compensation you are likely to receive. Only when you have moved to a more professional level can you expect any degree of courtesy, fairness or notice of a job well done.

Fast food is a notorious area where you are a nameless, faceless cyper, and they treat you as less than human. The low level managers are not themselves spectacularly professional or well trained, and they can frequently cause their employees lots of grief, all perfectly legal. The thing to remember is that you are an army of one, you are making your own work history, and you do not want some stupid small time summer job to put up any significant blocks to your future. Therefore you do not steal from the till, poison a co worker, punch out a mean manager and get charged with a felony or put up things on social media that get you sued by the company. I have actually seen all these things happen to short time summer employees, and I have seen professionals in well paid professional positions be stupid enough to blast their employer on social media to the point they were fired, in one case sued, and dramatically hurt their reemployment chances.
Someone actually poisoned a co-worker? With what?
 

commentator

Senior Member
Well, it was actually a big dose of laxatives in the coffee pot, but there were several people who got really quite ill, and charges were filed, for assault, I believe. ( I'm kind of like that commercial where the insurance guy says, "Been there, seen it.") The saddest part of this was that this young employee was a cute, relatively bright person who just thought she was being funny. Those guys needed to "loosen up." Poor judgment early in the worklife. She didn't get approved for unemployment benefits, either.:)
 

quincy

Senior Member
Someone actually poisoned a co-worker? With what?
There was a German worker who was arrested in June after being caught poisoning a coworkers lunch. He is now suspected of killing 21 others.

And in Massachusetts, an Attleboro resident working as a janitor in the Plainridge Park Casino was charged in May with plotting to poison coworkers.

The German worker obviously took the poisoning to an extreme level but these cases are actually not as rare as one would hope. Usually they involve drinks spiked with dishcleaner and do not result in deaths, though.

The employers of these workers have not always escaped liability, either, being sued in some cases for negligent hiring and negligent retention.

Writing a nasty blurb about an employer or coworker on Facebook pales in comparison to poisonings, of course, but it is strongly advised not to do either.
 

Shadowbunny

Queen of the Not-Rights
For an interesting (continuous) read on how crazy coworkers can be, google "Ask A Manager" for Alison Greene's advice column. Makes me treasure my slightly-nutty-but-not-insane coworkers.

And Jessica, this is an amazing lesson for you about how anything you put online (or send via text) can come back to bite you. And an amazing lesson on the real world of working. You will find coworkers who don't work as smart nor as hard as you get promoted, raises, recognition, etc wherever you go. And it will sting. But it can also be an impetus to find something better.

Good luck in your studies.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Learning how to work well with others is little more than a continuation of the lessons (hopefully) learned in childhood on playing well with others.

Some are easier to play with than others. :)
 

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