To want a bit of continuity at work?

[Doublevodkaredbull]

I work in a pub and have done since DD was 9 months. I couldn't go back to my old job as they turned down my family friendly request so here I am. I'm older than the other staff and the management.

Really struggling with continuity at the moment. Each manager has a different set of rules and it seems that everything I do is wrong. Manager A has a policy about bar set up which I follow, Manager B doesn't like the policy and yells at me to put it right. Manager C disagrees with them both and sends me an angry text the next day asking why I hadn't done it the way they like.

Tonight a group of young lads came in to use the toilet. They can't legally be in here this late so I stopped them and asked them to leave the premises. That's what I've been told to do. Manager B pulled me up and said not to make an issue of it and just let 7 young lads use the toilet.

Am I BU to expect a bit of continuity? It's exhausting being here and I hate working. I'm constantly being treated like a child and expected to read their minds when they change policy and rules every day. There's no way around this is there? I work hard, do what I'm asked and I'm professional.

It's the only local job that fits in with DH and DD but I just can't cope with being constantly put down because they can't decide on how things should be done.

Unfortunately the latest rule is "under no circumstance do team members have any say in how shifts are run".

[redexpat]

Yanbu. Do you say to them this is how manager x told me to do it?

[Doublevodkaredbull]

Yes but that just starts them off ranting about whichever manager it is and I'm told off like a child. As someone in their 30's I'm just finding it difficult. I do my job as I'm told to but it's still always going to be wrong.

[redexpat]

Who is above them? Can you go to them?

[DailyMailDontStealMyThread]

Sounds like a nightmare. Can you speak to one of them and arrange a meeting to sort things out, if that doesn't work then let the directors know how hard it is?

[Obsidian77]

Sounds awful. Can you request written procedures for clarification? Is it an independent or part of a chain?

[Phoenix76]

Not that it makes it right but out of interest, are the other staff treated the same way as you?

[PumpkinPie2016]

YANBU - sounds like a nightmare! And the so called managers sound useless! Having done pub/bar work, they can't continue to run a pub like that!

Is there a landlord/landlady in all of this? If so, I suggest speaking to them, explaining that you want to get on and do the job as required, but that the inconsistency and ever changing policies are making it difficult.

They should sort out their management team or they'll find themselves struggling for staff!

FWIW, I think the issue could be too many managers - 3 seems a lot to me. Too many cooks springs to mind!

[Doublevodkaredbull]

There is no landlord as it's a chain with a cycle of managers. There's an area manager but he isn't contactable and never around.

The other staff (much younger) don't seem to get treated this way but don't really try IYSWIM. They turn up and do the minimum and leave it to me.

[ZilphasHatpin]

Get a phone only for work, turn it off when outside of your working hours. Do what asked on any given shift. You get paid whether it's right or wrong for the next manager. Let next manager rant away (youre getting paid to be there, if they want to pay you £7.50/hr to rant at you rather than let you work that's their choice) put "right" what they tell you to (you're getting paid either way)

Basically, in your shoes, with no solution in sight, I'd decide not to care, tune out to all the ranting and just say "yes sir, whatever you say sir, lalalalalalala" because either way you get paid. Or look for another job.

[ZilphasHatpin]

They turn up and do the minimum and leave it to me.

Probably because they're getting paid the minimum. You could take a leaf out of their books.

[Doublevodkaredbull]

zilph I think that's where I'm struggling too. I am not used to doing the minimum. It's alien to me. If I'm getting yelled at I try to put it right.

The too many cooks thing is right though. Too many managers in the place.

It's so bad I had to get pissed in Spoons tonight after my shift. Hic.

[ZilphasHatpin]

When I first started my job I was really keen and conscientious, I wanted the place to do well. As time went on and I realised exactly how the directors thought of me (they didn't, I am a replaceable payroll number) I stopped. I show up, I stay for the number of hours I am scheduled for and not a minute more, I leave. If my manager wants to have me re-clean something I cleaned the day before I don't care, I get paid for being there, not for what I do there. Guess what? The directors still think the same of me (nothing) and my wage is still the same at the end of the month. I'm not busting my ass for someone who would replace me in the morning without a second thought.

I am leaving soon though. There is only so long you can work under those circumstances.

[porterwine]

I worked (and lived) in a hotel with a pub attached for 10 months when I was 23-24. I had the exact same issue with the manager and deputy manager. They both had such different ways of doing things! Even down to laying the cutlery in the dining room and the positioning of the table clothes. It seemed like everyday someone would be told off for doing something "wrong" although it was what we'd told by the other manager. I was screamed at by Manager1 for putting a refund through which Manager2 the day before had trained me to do and had said I could authorise them as I'd been there a while at this point and he trusted me. Manager1 knew nothing about it and basically accused me of stealing.

It got to a point where I was shouted at once for being "obtuse" and was told to "just use your initiative" but I was so worried about doing something "wrong" that I started asking really basis questions- not because I'm thick but because one of them was never happy.

They were like it with the chefs as well. For example the chips were served in these little bucket things. Manager1 had told chefs to stop using them. So next shift buckets are gone and Manager2 flips out about how "messy" the chips looked just being on the plate and asked why buckets hadn't been used as it made it look so much neater. It was CONSTANT. I couldn't understand why they couldn't just bludy communicate with each other.

Honestly I have no real advice as this was a huge part of why I decided to leave. I'm not the calmest of people and unfortunately wasn't able to just smile through it and get my head down. I'd get so frustrated and this irritable side of me came out that I didn't even know I had! My advice would be to find something else before it gets unbearable. Hospitality really is one of the most frustrating industries to work in.