The Issue of TGI Fridays
Regarding this post I do not speak for all TGI Friday’s locations. This post shall speak of the situations I face day to day and the problems I see. As many are never resolved these problems deserve to be heard by those willing to listen. I will be breaking down many of the problems within this post. Enjoy the read.
Background
I started working at TGI Fridays in 2019, since this time I have seen countless employees join the Fridays crew and leave not to long after. Many employees at my TGI Fridays do not last but a few months at best. Those who last become apart of a group I shall call “ The Favorites”. Yet I am not apart of this group but I keep to my own, I become with friends with most of the employees and I am unfortunate enough to see the issues that occur here at Fridays on the sidelines.
Favoritism
Regarding my previous calling of the group I shall refer to as “ The Favorites” or TF for short has become one of the biggest issues at my Fridays. Favoritism should never be played upon a business or a restaurant to be specific. As favoritism shall tear apart a team which is what every business is required to have to survive.
Now I believe some of it is not intended to be shown as favoritism but to myself and many employees current and past employees can agree upon that it all seems like favoritism. Day to day we see managers letting servers and bartenders sit with them, talk with them, let them order food on the clock, even leave early because “they don't want to be there”. Now many of these do not sound like problems such as sitting and talking with managers and you would think it is harmless. Except for when other staff are on primarily other servers are having to do all of that work the people of the TF are supposed to be doing. I see it often to where a server has to locate the bartender because she is back smoking with a manager or just sitting in the managers office talking or eating.
Along with the food situation our managers has made it a clear rule that employees are not to order food no later than 30 minutes before a shift. Of course things such as breaks and such occur to where a employee can get food is fine. Yet often times we are all mid-shift and someone orders food to where they will sit at the bar. Where if a guest walks in to pick up an order to go, get a drink or just sit down to eat will see them eating right at the bar. Many cases it is the bartender who is eating at the bar, which they have to wipe off their face, put their mask on then walk around to the inside of the bar to then serve the guest. That does not look good professionally. Sometimes those employees eating at the bar where everyone can see is the first impression many guests see. The same people who are making their drinks, serving their food are eating at the bar and coming straight to them. Unknowing if they have even washed their hands or anything which as far as I know many do not wash their hands before going to their table.
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These things are all done primarily by people in the TF group, because they know they can get away with it, the managers want to be liked so much that they bend their own rules so they can appease others. A big show of this is letting people go early primarily those in the TF group. Leaving the other servers to do more work than they already have to because the other server didn't want to be there. Yet I know many servers who have worked or still work at TGIF who would kill for those hours. Because many people in the TF group get 40+ hour work weeks while those not in the group will be lucky to get half of those hours. People who want to work and be there get shoved aside while these workers who come in for a hour or two want to leave? That has something that has confused me since day 1.
As the favoritism does not end there I will spare the time and move on to my next topic as much more information and topics need to be covered.
Toxic Work Environment
Now this section revolved around not only the people in the TF group but even people not in this group who make it coming into work hell. The people I reference are those who come in to work constantly complaining about drinking to much the night before, not wanting to be there, complaining about a million other things. Naturally you should keep work and home life separate, yet for these individuals who are dealing with something choose to cast that negativity across everyone on that shift. It brings down moral and it brings down the positive attitude some try to bring into the place each day. I understand that people have a bad day, I understand people have even a bad week yet some people I hear complain it goes on for months and it usually is the same thing, a common theme for those who work at TGIF is to much drinking. Most days I work at least one person is hungover, one person may still may be a bit tipsy. Yet these people choose to still come in to work and complain about it even when they chose to do it to themselves. Even this attitude is projected onto guests which is a much larger issue I shall not get into at this time.
Even this does not crack the surface of the toxic environment TGIF has become. People in the TF will even try to target other employees to get them gone because they don't like them. The worst part the 3 main people in the group are three managers. They will cut hours down for certain employees because “ there isn't enough hours” or any other excuse they can come up with. Yet many employees in the TF group get 40+ hours a week, obviously the hours are there and available just they go to those who are in the group. I have seen some of the best employees I have ever met leave TGIF because of this very issue. A manager who had no problems and did not play into the favoritism was pushed out because he was targeted by the same people he hired. A dishwasher who was there for over 14 years because the brother of a person in the friend group needed a job and the dishwasher was making to much. This list could go on but I will leave it with the two most notable ones.
Many current employees are still facing all of these issues and I will assume that most of them if not all of them will be gone by June. It isn't easy to feel the people you want to call coworkers turn against you because your not fully with them 100%.
Conclusion
As what has been said in this post is only the start of the list of issues faced at my TGIF there are many more. Things that have been hidden away yet I know about it. I am someone they trust but when issues arise I have to sit on the side and watch because the second I jump in I will be next. I may feel like I'm friends and somewhat close to everyone today. Yet tomorrow it could all be gone and I could be alone. TGIF when I started I saw the people who worked then as my family. Now they are all strangers, most those people I knew then are gone. The people I felt were the best at their jobs and did amazing work day in and day out are gone because the managers friend group matters more to them then the business itself does. Sometimes I wonder if they even see it as a business or just time to talk to friends while getting paid.
If you made it to the end thank you, I hope that this brings situations to the light and if anyone who reads this knows of someone who can help make a change please let them know. Because I would hate to see my TGIF go down in flames by the same people us employees believe should put out those fires.
