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‘The hypocrisy is what really drives me crazy’: Bar manager holds employees to a tardiness rule but can't stick to the rules herself, so an employee starts lying to her

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  • A female bartender makes drinks at the bar.
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  • "My manager's tardiness was costing us good people, so I started lying to her."

    I work as a bartender, and my manager has one rule she enforces on everyone but herself: punctuality.
  • Whenever we have interviews, she makes a big deal if someone is even a minute late and asks me to log it.
  • (Hint: I don't do that; I have more important things to do). Most of the time, she's still in the back office, or hasn't even arrived at the restaurant yet, and just texts me the interview schedule.
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  • But I started to notice that she's the one who is always late. The hypocrisy is what really drives me crazy.
  • The last straw was when I saw a guy wait for over 30 minutes while she finally strolled in, grabbed something to eat from the kitchen, spent an hour on the phone with a supplier about a non-urgent order, and then chatted with a regular for 15 minutes before even thinking about the interview.
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  • And of course, as expected, he turned down the job. So I decided to try something.
  • Since every restaurant in town is hiring, it's not unusual for applicants to skip an interview because they got another offer.
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  • It was the perfect cover. From then on, every time she was late and someone didn't show up, I'd make something up.
  • I would tell her the person arrived right on time, waited a bit, and then left because she wasn't there.
  • Two people sit across from one another in an interview, one being the interviewer, the other being the interviewee.
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  • I was sure her pride would prevent her from calling to ask why they left, so there was no chance of me getting caught.
  • Her reaction gradually changed from dismissive, "I guess they didn't want the job that badly," (by the way, we desperately need people) to confused, "Why is everyone leaving?
  • I was only a few minutes late!". The irony. Then I got a little bolder. Last week, a woman was waiting for about 15 minutes, looking visibly annoyed.
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  • I leaned over and told her, "Look, the manager is on her way, but honestly, I wouldn't blame you if you left.
  • No need to respect her time if she doesn't respect yours." She smiled and said, "You know what?
  • I'm going to grab a coffee down the street, and if she shows up in the next few minutes, she can call me." This would have been the seventh interview that "walked out" on my account.
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  • So when my manager arrived 10 minutes later, I told her the woman had just left but she might be able to catch her if she called.
  • It was a pleasure to hear my manager stammering on the apologizing phone, and practically begging the woman to come back.
  • The woman returned, but her eyes screamed 'don't mess with me.' My manager tried to smooth things over with some small talk: "You know how Tuesday traffic is in this town!
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  • Haha." The woman shot back without missing a beat: "Yes, I do. That's why I left home early to make sure I'd be on time." My manager gave a weak laugh and said, "Right, yes, that shows you're responsible!" I seriously had to go polish some glasses in the back to keep from laughing.
  • Anyway, the plan worked. Since that day, my manager has been early for interviews. As soon as anyone arrives, she rushes over with a big smile, offers them water or coffee, and gets them settled and comfortable.
  • We've hired a few very talented people that she likely would have lost before. So yeah, now I'm thinking about what else I can "train" my manager on.

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