'WIBTA if I fired a new hire for being rude to my kids?' UPDATED
"WIBTA if I fired a new hire for being rude to my kids?"
I own a small cafe, and the staff consists of about 10 people. 2 students who were working full time over summer dropped back to part time as school is resuming, so we needed to hire 1 or 2 more part timers to make up for it. We hired a guy (16) and a girl (17).
The cafe is family friendly, although not family oriented. We have comics and coloring for kids and allow breastfeeding and never discourage families from coming in, but it has become something of a hangout for local students, so the majority of our patrons are adults.
New Girl started on the first of this month, and due to a combination of me catching flu and our different work schedules I haven't been on the same shift as her yet. From what the others tell me, her work is alright.
She's had to be asked to do the same tasks more than once and apparently takes her time a bit but I've not observed her firsthand and I've been told that she does ultimately accomplish everything we ask of her, and she started unsure of herself but is steadily growing in confidence.
Today my kids (10m and 12f) came to the cafe, which is unusual for them and New Girl has never met them. New Guy and another employee were working with my brother at the bar.
I was going to have the kids sit in the back with me after they'd gotten their drinks but my brother said he could watch the kids as there were only a handful of people in the cafe at that moment and the kids are comfortable with him, and they said they'd rather be out in the cafe than in the office.
About 20 minutes later I came out and asked if everything was ok and my brother said that he went into the fridge to get another bag of milk and some syrup and while he was in there New Girl came in and walked past the line, which consisted of just my kids. New Girl stood at the counter and talked to New Guy.
My kids tried to speak but New Girl spoke over them and gave him her order. New Guy apparently tried to tell her that my kids were in line first but she didn't acknowledge it. Unsure if New Guy said they were my kids. Other coworker saw what was happening and also tried to tell her but she ignored him, too.
My brother came back out front, saw what was happening, and said that the kids were there first. New Girl immediately saw my co-owner and apologised, and the kids ordered. After that the kids went to sit down, she ordered, she got her drink and as she left she stopped by where my kids were sitting. Kids say that she told them that the cafe isn't for kids and that they'd held her up before she left.
Her probation ends on the 10th, which is tomorrow, when I'm meant to meet with her and either confirm that she has a permanent job with us or tell her that it won't work out. WIBTA for firing her over this one incident that happened when she was off the clock?
What do you think? AITA? This is what top commenters had to say:
YTA.
1. You’d be firing her for one offense.
2. That you didn’t even witness, so...
3. It may not even have happened the way it’s been told.
Instead, maybe a conversation is in order. And it makes sense to keep a close eye on her.
I acknowledge and don't disagree with the rest of your comment but 5 different people told me how it happened with identical stories (my brother, New Guy, the other employee, and both kids) and we have CCTV which doesn't have audio but shows things playing out in a way that matches up to the description I got.
Doodoopopsicles said:
NTA. Fire her immediately. She had no idea those were your kids and treated them like trash. So she essentially treated paying customers like trash just because they were kids and she felt like she could get away with it. She just showed you her true colors. If you keep her on she will be nothing but trouble.
JitteryGoat said:
NTA It doesn’t matter if on the clock or not, she was a worker at your establishment who was clearly trying to use her employment as a benefit.
If she did it once, there’s a good chance she’s done similar in the past.
poetic_soul said:
NTA. It shouldn’t matter if she knew they were your kids. She ignored paying customers, cut in front of them, rebuked them for being in your place of business, and ignored two adult coworkers in her vendetta, only listening to your brother. That last part alone is a huge red flag she’s going to be a problem to deal with. She doesn’t respect anyone.
jkos95 said:
NTA. If that's how she reacts to things like that, maybe this isn't the job for her :/
RandomWeatherPattern said:
NTA - good customer service is imperative in any service or hospitality industry. It is a coffee shop job, so you should be able to replace her with relative ease.
Like my grandma used to say, God rest her soul: "you have control over your actions, but no control over the consequences. Don't be a dick."
Edit from OP:
If it was any pair of random kids I'd never seen in my life, I'd react the same way (although I admit I might be being a bit overprotective in this case). We're family friendly, and try to be welcoming to families in general, she just happened to have the misfortune of it being my kids.
To my knowledge the only shifts she's worked so far are shifts where kids aren't there (weekdays during school hours or first/last thing) so IDK how she interacts with kids while on the clock.
He later shared this update:
I asked a few people at work today what they thought of New Girl (which is standard for these reviews), and they just repeated the first set of comments, including them having to ask her multiple times to do a job, and then I asked if anything changes the last time she's told to do something, and who asks her.
It looks like the last time she is asked to do things is the first time my brother asks, and the rest of the time if she's asked by a coworker then she doesn't do it.
I had the meeting with New Girl and I asked her about yesterday. She, proudly, said that the "brats" were "ruining the atmosphere" so she told them it was adults only. I corrected her that this is a family friendly establishment, we just happen to be near a university and so have a lot of students.
I then told her I'd had feedback that she isn't a team player, and only listens to me and my brother, to which she replied "you're the bosses". I asked her to clarify and she said that as everyone else is part of a team, the team shouldn't be able to tell her what to do so she only took orders from me and my brother, not her other coworkers.
I asked her what kind of stuff they asked her to do and from what she said there is no doubt in my mind that they have only asked her to do her assigned jobs.
I said that I was willing to write all this off as her training wheels, and that now she knows she won't do it again, and said I'd extend her probation by 10 days, but in those 10 days I had to see a change in attitude. I told her that I needed to know that in a family friendly cafe she could be friendly to families, and work with people.
I then ushered her back out onto the floor, and took my place behind the counter with her and New Guy. Half an hour later we ran out of caramel syrup. New Guy was busy cleaning asked New Girl to go get some more. New Girl ignored him for 10 minutes until he gave up and got it himself. I pulled her aside and reminded her that she needed to show she could work in a team.
Later a mum and her kid come in. I recognise them as regulars and the mum is very nice. I tell New Girl to take over the till. The mum tells the kid to choose something and then orders a coffee, muffin, milkshake, and the kid, age 5, asks for a cake pop. I start mixing the milkshake while New Girl punches in the stuff the mum asked for, and doesn't put in the cake pop.
The mum sees this and asks for it to be added to the order. New Girl says "oh, sorry, I didn't think he was allowed it". Mum says "why wouldn't he be?" and New Girl says "well, he asked for it himself, you know what kids are like". I immediately tell her to finish the drinks while I finish the order.
New Girl's shift finished at 12, but at 11:40 New Girl said that as the cafe was pretty quiet and she wanted to catch the early bus, she was thinking about leaving early. I was in a state of shock at that stage, because less than 2 hours before this I warned her that she had to be on the ball for the next 10 days, and instead she pissed off her coworker, pissed of a customer, and now was trying to leave early.
I told her, fairly bluntly, that she'd be paid for the 10 days she'd worked but her probation wouldn't be extended and she wouldn't be hired properly. New Girl just left quietly.