Having to wait for everyone's lifts after work

[Tired75643]

I'm a team leader in a pub, I regularly work the evening shifts and have to set the alarm and lock up once everyone has finished and left. Generally it'll be me and one other member of staff at the end of the night finishing, some drive home, some (like me) get taxis and wait at the back of the pub.
Recently we've had a couple of new staff start who rely on lifts from parents when they finish, the problem is they are waiting about 20-30 minutes for them once we're finished. Both are younger girls who don't feel safe waiting outside alone, which is understandable. I obviously can't lock the door until they're outside so I have to wait with them but this is adding half an hour onto my shift when I just want to get home and go to bed, my taxi only usually takes 5 minutes to get there.
I talked to the manager about it and his answer was just tell them to wait outside and go....but I really don't want to leave 19 year old girls on their own late at night when they don't feel safe. I also don't want to be waiting at work longer than I need to, unpaid, after a long shift.
I've tried telling them when it looks like they're half an hour away from finishing so they can call their lifts but there always seems to be a delay, and there's no guarantee what time we will finish so they can't set a specific time.
AIBU to ask my manager to either sort
something out with the staff members
or let me stay clocked in until I can actually lock up and find some extra tasks so I'm at least being paid to be there?

Just re-read you get a taxi. So even better, the taxi is picking your daughter/husband/partner up on the way home, and you can't be late.

i would leave when you’re ready. They will soon get themselves sorted

I worked in pubs for years in my 20’s, so I understand that you finish once all the cleaning/closedown has been done and not at a set time.

The solution is that you tell them they MUST ring their lifts when you give them the 30 minutes left heads up.
And if they don’t ring their lifts you will NOT be waiting inside with them. You’ll be locking up and they’ll have to wait outside. End of story.

And if the pushy girl, who like’s to emotionally blackmail you into waiting inside with her, kicks up her usual fuss because she hasn’t called her parents for her lift like you reminded her to. Then you inform her that if she had called her parents when you reminded her to, then she wouldn’t be waiting outside. So lesson learnt for her future shifts.

Call parents for a lift when given the 30 mins heads up to finishing to ensure no waiting outside, OR wait outside on your own. Those are the only options.

And then make sure you follow through with it.

Actions have consequences. Don’t call your lift when told to = waiting outside on your own.

19 year old girls after hours could be vulnerable. I wouldn’t like to think of one of them being on their own when the other one gets picked up.

I would ask them to ask their parents to be there by a certain time though.

Not really seeing why there's a problem with times? Their shifts surely finish at a set time? Why do they have to call parents to let them know what time to collect them?

I think, if not in place, you need to agree a set finish and depart time, with parents waiting outside.

If the pub is not tidy and prepared for the next day, at that time, you either all go home, or you alone finish tidying and charge for your time.

But you need to throw this one back at your manager to sort it out. I'm assuming you work for a chain, which also has an HR department?

Most licensed premises only have a couple of keyholders, you can't just let anyone have a key.

Tell them at that start of their shift that you have somewhere to be by x time from now on and cannot wait. If they don't comply, apologise and leave them outside. They are taking the piss.

The fairest thing I can think to do, for them AND for you, is to tell them at the beginning of the next work week, "I can only continue to stay with you until the end of the week. Next week, I'll be locking up and leaving, so be sure to sort out your rides home by then." Surely, if they are old enough to work in a pub, they are old enough to do that!

Wait with them next time and speak to the parents collecting them! Ask them to come earlier as you’re no longer willing to wait but do t think 2 girls should be left waiting alone. They’re the parents responsibility… but I wouldn’t leave them either

I think you need to look at it the other way. If their parents pick them up and know they finish at about 11pm, why do you care enough to be there and they don't? I'm not judging the parents, hut they are over 18, old enough to work and judge when to ring for a lift.

They're adult women, not girls.

That just isn’t how pubs work.

When I worked in pubs in my 20’s, if you were working the evening shift, then the cleaning and closedown has to be done before you can go home. Some days that can take a bit longer depending on how busy the pub has been.

Bar staff would sign in and out and get paid for the hours worked. Management however were usually salaried and therefore couldn’t ‘charge’ for extra hours worked - that was just part of the job.

I'd give them a warning a day or two in advance that you'll no longer be able to wait with them. They can tell their parents to get there by X time (even if that means the parents have to wait in the car a few minutes), arrange some other solution, or just wait on their own. It's not your responsibility, and this is not a good job for them if they don't feel safe waiting outside for their lifts.

I’m the parent in this scenario. My DD is an apprentice hairdresser and works till 9pm one night a week. She has the same issues with this time being fluid. I arrive on time (unless she gets a chance to shoot me a quick text saying a revised finish time) and I wait. The longest I have waited has been 50 minutes. Yeah it’s not the greatest but I take a book and do life admin on my phone while I wait. She always tries to let me know what time she thinks she will be done

The salon she is working at is a great place for her, they treat her well and give extra training. I also know it’s not her fault if she can’t get out on time.

However her dad is not so understanding and will get really cross if he is left waiting. Maybe your staff have this scenario. Even if they do, it’s still something that they need to resolve.

You can be sympathetic and acknowledge that it’s not easy but that doesn’t mean you have to wait with them.

I’d consider waiting outside and telling their parents I wasn’t going to do this anymore, that I gave their children notice enough to get their lift on time and I’d be going home in the future.

I don't think the OP should open up any discussion with the parents. The wait staff are adults and it's for them to speak to their parents.

I agree with all the posts to go when you need to. The two girls can wait together and whichever parent shows up can wait with the other. The girls are adults, earning money and living at home. If they can’t wait for their parents they need to splash out for a cab.

I would also let your owner/manager know the update.

Hope it works out. Good luck!

I worked on a bar years ago. Sometimes I'd have a wait for my partner to pick me up. But often he was there waiting for me when I finished. I mainly worked with men at the time. Not one of those men I worked with ever let me stand outside by myself. Even if I said I was fine. They always waited until they knew I was safe before they would leave me. Yes these young women need to organise their lifts better. But I can not imagine leaving a young woman to wait late at night.

I think sometimes its the wait for cashing up. Remember working at a diner style restaurant that would take hrs to cash up. By the time it was your turn, last bus had often gone

This. I don’t understand why you think you have more responsibility for these girls than their actual parents? Lock up when you’re ready to go, they wait outside and they’ll make way more effort to get their lifts there on time.

That really.

it is to the parent to be there on time and to be sure their kid is safe. Saying that, if they don’t, it is up to you to decide to stay or not.
you are being unreasonable to ask your manager to pay for it.
i would stay until everyone is gone too.

i think the girls here are a bit taking the mick playing « I am not safe » & « I won’t make any changes, you have to protect me ». They are 19!!

If the last bus had gone, i had no choice but to ask for a lift with the Romanian guy who also worked there, at least a mile down the road so that I could reasonably walk home.

You are very kind and considerate, worrying about their welfare - too kind and obliging. Do as your manager advised, tell them to wait outside. They will then get the message that they have to organise themselves better, they are not anyone else's responsibility (technically not even their parents now they are over 18) so ought to factor in costs of reliable taxi's home instead of putting out you or their parents - or get another part time job which finishes in day time if they feel vulnerable at night.

If their parents aren't comfortable with them waiting for a taxi outside pub after work they can pick them up earlier, it's up to them to decide what to do, don't allow it to continue to be your problem.

If they were male, would you be waiting outside with them for the parents to arrive to give lifts ?

Tell them that you will be locking up, taxi, home

It is not your responsibility to wait with them

They text for a lift before the end of their shift

They are 19, not 16 !

It sounds like these staff are treating you like a parent in lieu. Expecting you to 'look after' them until you hand them over to their actual parents is unreasonable. They are your staff not your children. They have parents who are 'letting them down' by not turning up on time. That's on them and their parents not you. They are happy you wait around for them rather than the parents waiting. That's not your job. That's theirs as parents.