Hi all. Just StarMan here with his annual post. Wanted to have a wee vent and run by you guys what I've done and get your opinions.
I was a Bar Manager at a suburban bar for over 5 years and my mother was General Manager. Half a year ago we were taken over by a company that did not rehire 80% of the staff and - on their takeover - swarmed through the place with new staff and made us feel as though we were being raped.
Their Operations Manager made my Mother feel unwelcome in an establishment she's run without any support from previous owners (as in they didn't spend a cent - she had previously spent all her time keeping the place afloat) and - despite all their efforts to push her round - she held her ground. It might be worth mentioning we also lived on site.
She was asked to move out recently because the flat would be demolished as part of their major renovations. We of course obliged.
They have over the past two months spent big money gutting and refurbishing the old bar. It is an impressive effort and the new bar has reopened. But! A fortnight ago, on the verge of the new bar reopening, my mother's job was 'disestablished'. She worked her guts out for them 24/7 and they discarded her once they'd mined all the info they wanted and just prior to the new bar reopening. The aforementioned Operations manager has now assumed her duties, so her job and role has not been disestablished at all.
I mulled over what I was going to do and considered resigning, given the way she had been treated. I opted to stay after soul searching and being told by the owners our roles were separate and they couldn't afford their top heavy management. They had a vision, they could see me having a future with them etc.
Well... two days in the new bar and I see there was no way she was going to be running the new establishment. Their style will push people out with some pretty stringent policies (given the area and local clients). Even some of their staff made thoughtless remarks about my mother not getting to see the new bar while making the sign of the cross with their hands.
I woke up on Friday thinking about my poor pay, the stress they've put us through and their priding themselves on their lack of conscience and callousness. I went in, got my stuff, handed my keys in and walked.
It was a bit on the rash side but ... damn them. Especially when a personal grievance is being put forward against them. They wanted her gone since day one so they could make room for "the better people". A lot of the people there are friends and today I hear tradesmen with paint on their hands have been turned away by new security on the door which is madness given the volume of tradesmen that frequent the area and the nature of the suburb - lower to middle class.
I just think for me to have worked there I would have to have become one of the cronies... but I just don't have the stomach for it.
Anyway that's my rant over. Time to start again... I had a bubble living and working there but I'd always said I didn't want to be behind a bar in my 30s and I'm 29. These guys and renowned for being ruthless so I think this could be a blessing in disguise.
I was a Bar Manager at a suburban bar for over 5 years and my mother was General Manager. Half a year ago we were taken over by a company that did not rehire 80% of the staff and - on their takeover - swarmed through the place with new staff and made us feel as though we were being raped.
Their Operations Manager made my Mother feel unwelcome in an establishment she's run without any support from previous owners (as in they didn't spend a cent - she had previously spent all her time keeping the place afloat) and - despite all their efforts to push her round - she held her ground. It might be worth mentioning we also lived on site.
She was asked to move out recently because the flat would be demolished as part of their major renovations. We of course obliged.
They have over the past two months spent big money gutting and refurbishing the old bar. It is an impressive effort and the new bar has reopened. But! A fortnight ago, on the verge of the new bar reopening, my mother's job was 'disestablished'. She worked her guts out for them 24/7 and they discarded her once they'd mined all the info they wanted and just prior to the new bar reopening. The aforementioned Operations manager has now assumed her duties, so her job and role has not been disestablished at all.
I mulled over what I was going to do and considered resigning, given the way she had been treated. I opted to stay after soul searching and being told by the owners our roles were separate and they couldn't afford their top heavy management. They had a vision, they could see me having a future with them etc.
Well... two days in the new bar and I see there was no way she was going to be running the new establishment. Their style will push people out with some pretty stringent policies (given the area and local clients). Even some of their staff made thoughtless remarks about my mother not getting to see the new bar while making the sign of the cross with their hands.
I woke up on Friday thinking about my poor pay, the stress they've put us through and their priding themselves on their lack of conscience and callousness. I went in, got my stuff, handed my keys in and walked.
It was a bit on the rash side but ... damn them. Especially when a personal grievance is being put forward against them. They wanted her gone since day one so they could make room for "the better people". A lot of the people there are friends and today I hear tradesmen with paint on their hands have been turned away by new security on the door which is madness given the volume of tradesmen that frequent the area and the nature of the suburb - lower to middle class.
I just think for me to have worked there I would have to have become one of the cronies... but I just don't have the stomach for it.
Anyway that's my rant over. Time to start again... I had a bubble living and working there but I'd always said I didn't want to be behind a bar in my 30s and I'm 29. These guys and renowned for being ruthless so I think this could be a blessing in disguise.
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