SILVERDALE, WA, UNITED STATES - 2022/06/19: An Olive Garden restaurant in Silverdale. Darden Restaurants, Inc. which owns Olive Garden and other restaurant chains is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter 2022 earnings on June 23. (Photo by Toby Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
An Olive Garden manager got the boot after demanding employees show proof of their time-off requests. The woman sent a lengthy message to staff about their alleged “staggering rate” of callouts.
She introduced a new policy: no more than one callout in 30 days, or you’re fired. She demanded in-person proof to verify callouts and bragged about her commitment to the job–even through a personal injury. And the former manager directed the written message at “ALL Team Members.”
“Our call-offs are occurring at a staggering rate. From now on, if you call off, you might as well go out and look for another job. We are no longer tolerating ANY EXCUSE for calling off. If you’re sick, you need to come prove it to us. If your dog died, you need to bring him in and prove it to us. If it’s a “family emergency” and you can’t say, too bad. Go work somewhere else. If you only want morning shifts, too bad go work at a bank. If anyone from here on out calls out more than ONCE in the next 30 days, you will not have a job.”
Olive Garden said “aht, aht” and cut the manager loose in response. It’s unclear how the manager’s supervisors got ahold of the manager’s text. The story was first reported by KCTV5. A media relations representative for Olive Garden’s parent company, Darden, confirmed to KCTV5 that the manager was fired following the message.
“We strive to provide a caring and respectful work environment for our team members. This message is not aligned with our company’s values. We can confirm we have parted ways with this manager,” the rep said.
Despite all the job loyalty the manager was bragging about, Darden sent her packing. But in the message, she was flexing her ‘lack of excuses’ and ‘perfect’ work attendance.
She bragged about working in a restaurant workplace while ILL and immediately after a car wreck. Though she was screaming for proof in the first half of her message, she didn’t offer any to prove her grand loyalty.
“Do you know in my 11.5 years at Darden how many days I called off? Zero. I came in sick. I got in wreck literally on my way to work one time, airbags went off and my car was totaled, but you know what, I made it to work ON TIME! There are no more excuses. Us, collectively as a management team have had enough,” the manager wrote.
The manager also didn’t specify who else on the management team agreed with her new once-a-month callout and in-person proof policy.
“If you don’t want to work here, don’t. It’s as simple as that. If you’re here and want to work, then work. No more complaining about not being cut or not being able to leave early, You’re in the restaurant business,” Do you think I want to be here until midnight on Friday and Saturday? No. I’d much rather be at home with my husband and dog, going to the movies or seeing family. But I don’t, I’m dedicated to being here, as should you. No more excuses or complaints.”
Then, she sealed her unemployment status with a lil’ jab at the ‘slackers’ she’s been alluding to.
“I hope you choose to continue to work here, and I think we (management) make it easy as we can on ya’ll. Thank you for your time, and thank you to those who come in every day on time and work hard. I wish there were more like you,” the manager wrote.
Well, thanks to her communication skills, sis got her weekends back with hubby and doggy!
