‘I’m confused at your confusion’: Server requests off work. There’s just one problem

Everyone wants to go home for the holidays—your servers at restaurants included. However, a debate is stirring up online regarding the flexibility servers should have since holidays are the busiest time of the year for the service industry. This manager, @gangsta_gramps, gives their perspective.

Rules are rules

@Gangsta_gramps says that they were confused when this server asked them for time off. The server noticed that Fridays and Saturdays were blocked off in the calendar and that no one was allowed to request vacation during that time. When they brought their confusion up to @gangsta_gramps, their manager, @gangsta_gramps, was confused that they were confused.

"Well, there's no request off during the holiday," they said. "It's in the policy book. It's what you signed up for and what we went over in the orientation. You agreed when we talked about it in the orientation. … We work when others don't. … When other people are on vacation, we're there to serve them."

This video has 339,500 views and over 7,000 likes.

Is this policy typical for servers?

Restaurant time off request policies can vary from restaurant to restaurant. According to an article on OpenTable, some restaurants check in with employees at the beginning of the year and see which holidays they want off.

According to this one scheduling manager at Maialino and Marta, a restaurant in Manhattan, “It ends up working out 99% of the time that we can accommodate their requests. It’s extra work for the scheduling manager, but it’s worth it,” they say.

Clearly, this is not @gangsta_gramps' philosophy when scheduling their workers. But to be fair, they did state that they have no problem if this server finds coverage for their shifts. However, if they don't find coverage and don't show up, it will be considered job abandonment and potentially result in their termination.

The Daily Dot has previously reported on the ups and downs of working in the restaurant industry. For example, this previous article is about servers gauging how customers will tip and how servers navigate the service they give you based on that prediction.

@gangsta_gramps #fyp #restaurant #viralvideo #server ♬ original sound - Gangsta_Gramps

What do viewers think?

While some viewers agree with @gangsta_gramps, many think he's being a bit too harsh.

"Good managers make it work," says one comment.

"Good employees don't quit jobs they quit bosses. I'm glad the comment section passed the vibe check here!" another chimes in.

"As someone who has worked in the service industry their whole life. I KNOW, you didn’t mention that during orientation lmao," says someone else.

"But are YOU able to take off whenever you want?" another comment says.

"As someone who has been in the industry for years, I get it, but I also have NEVER met a manager that wasn’t willing to try to work it out and PLAN for staffing issues during the holidays," a different person says.

The Daily Dot has reached out to @gangsta_gramps for comment via TikTok direct message and email.

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