Overbearing sandwich shop manager tries to cry her way out of abuse of power; no dice.
"We make sandwiches. It’s not that serious. It’s just sandwiches."
lucyjuggles
Years ago I worked at a chain sandwich shop, Jason’s deli. I’d been working there for a few years while i was in college, and I’d been promoted to a Trainer, which just meant i would train new employees in my section and was the point person with management for my shifts.
We got a few new managers at our store, and one of them was particularly awful. I’ll call her Monica bc that’s her name and she sucked. She was pretty insecure and took it out on employees a lot. She threatened to fire me on her first day over a mistake she made on a delivery. That didn’t go over well for her. I told the GM and that was the first time I made her cry, but not the last.
A few months later, we were having a pretty normal dinner rush. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a lot of tickets and everyone moving fast to get the the food out. We were all good at our roles and everything was going smoothly.
Enter Monica. She sees the tickets and starts freaking out, inserting herself in the line, barking orders and yelling at people already doing their jobs, and micromanaging in the worst way. She was actively harming our productivity and making everyone suffer.
I had finally had enough. This is when I turned to her and, loudly enough for everyone on the line to hear, yelled, “Monica, we make sandwiches. It’s not that serious. It’s just sandwiches.”
She was stunned for a moment and everyone on the line stops long enough to see her face twisting in rage as she storms off the line. Then, we just finish making the sandwiches, because it’s literally just sandwiches and we just give them to people. It’s not a big deal.
Later that night the GM comes to the store, and I know it’s about me because he’s not supposed to be working. I’m called into the back office and this is the part that really feels like petty revenge.
If you don’t get the vibe by now, Monica has been riding the entire staff hard since she got there, and she loooved to quote the company’s stupid Core Values at us while abusing her authority. As soon as the meeting with our GM started she got right into the same line, using the “A Great Place to Eat” Core Value to justify her micromanagement behavior.
As soon as it’s my turn to talk, I say very calmly, “you know what else is a core value here? A Great Place to Work. Are you making this a great place to work? Do you think anyone here would say you make working here better? We were all fine until you shows up on the line and started yelling, so tell me what’s great about that?”
At that point, she started crying, the GM told me to go back to my shift and Monica never yelled at anyone again, at least while I was there.
Here were the top rated comments from readers:
RndmIntrntStranger
Managers who have the need to flex on their first day without seeing how the workplace flows are then shocked pikachu face when people start leaving because of them.
The OP responded here:
lucyjuggles
Idk if it lasted but she actually got a bit better to work with after this... I think the GM kinda laid into her after I left.
McDoodle342
Monica, it's just sandwiches, Monica.
The OP again responded:
lucyjuggles
“It’s just sandwiches” kinda became a slogan for a while there lol.
Bob-son-of-Bob
If you bawl your eyes out if you get the slightest pushback because of your own actions, your really need to improve that if you want to have a job that is remotely in contact with other people, be it customers or coworkers.
If you want to be managing other people and bawl your eyes out if your subordinates state the fact that you are not a good supervisor, then you are doubly a bad supervisor. I hate working with these kinds of people.
mtv17
I have a new manager at work who also has this “god complex” during work. Very much hoping I get the chance for petty revenge with her like this…
sirlanse69
She has used crying as her power move since she was 4. She is shocked when it does not work as an adult. I worked with a woman who could turn the waterworks on and of faster than a faucet.