“I managed, scheduled, and hired for ‘a fast food place’ in a good neighborhood. This kid came in for an interview in a button-up and tie. I was liking him and wanted to know if he had any extracurriculars so I could make sure neither of us was wasting our time. I hired him on the spot.
He came in on his first day, looked like his mom dropped him off. Ok fair enough, first job whatever. She sat down without ordering and watched him walk to the back to do computer stuff. I went back to the front to work and she was still there. I went to check the lobby about 30 minutes later. And she was still there. Eventually, I got off, and a couple of hours later, I get a call from my co-worker asking about the new kid. I figure it was about his timecard or something. No. The woman was still there, the manager wanted to know if the kid was special or something. He was not, wouldn’t have mattered anyway besides accommodating him.
I got to work the next day and answered the phone. The woman wanted his schedule. I said I couldn’t give it out and he needed to ask for it or come to the store. She argued with me for a couple of minutes, but I absolutely refused to give out his schedule.
He came in about an hour later to get his hours. I had to pencil him in because I had the entire schedule already booked out for the week. She tried to take it from me. I snatched it and tossed it on the (employee) counter and told her in the most ‘I’m being polite but back off’ voice that she was not allowed to look at our schedules because she was not an employee and that it was protected communications. She huffed, but I still gave the kid his schedule. I didn’t see her for a while, great.
About two months later, she called the store to tell me to cut his hours because he was ‘too busy’ now. I called him into the office while I wrote schedules for the next week and asked him if he wanted his hours cut. He had no idea why I would ask to cut his hours. I explained his mom called and he looked at me with a 1,000-yard stare.
He said, ‘I just turned 18. Schedule me 40 hours a week, please. I get out of school at 11:00, so I can be here at 11:30.’
I scheduled him for 38 hours, and of course, the mom called and tried to yell at me. I explained I was not her child, or a child at all, and would not be yelled at. Also, that her adult child asked for full-time work. And lastly, I did not under any circumstance owe her any explanation for how I do my job. She called two rungs up the ladder and spoke to the franchise supervisor. He told her if she was so concerned about his work life to fill out an application.
Three and a half years later, the kid became the new manager.”
