In a dream world, companies would treat their employees fairly and with respect. They would want to make the working environment a positive one and they would encourage personal growth within their employees. They would support them during tough times. But, sadly – this isn’t a dream world.
Instead, we have employees getting paid ridiculous, unlivable wages and working 60-70 hours a week just to make ends meet. What’s wrong with this picture? For some reason, America just can’t seem to get it together when it comes to treating its workers with respect and giving them security.
One Reddit user, Furry Control, knows the woes of poor treatment from an employer – and they got revenge in the best way possible.
Originally sharing their story on the r/ProRevenge forum, Furry Control recounts when they ended up at the hospital and informed their popular pancake franchise boss about the situation. Things didn’t go very well, to say the least, so they decided to take matters into their own hands.
The original story reads:
So first, your typical backstory. I was an employee at a well-known breakfast chain, particularly popular for their wide selection of pancakes, for nearly three years. I was decently well-liked among the employees, and had a very good friend who had just been promoted to a shift manager by the former general manager, who was a really great guy that unfortunately got transferred to a different store against his wishes. He was replaced by a horrible, power-hungry shift manager that no one cared for.
So a typical work week for me was six days a week, between 60-70 hours a week, with Tuesdays being my only day off. My shifts ranged from eight hours to as much as an 18 hour double-shift (important later). I worked this schedule without complaint for years of my life. Unfortunately on September 10th, I fell very ill while at work with no known cause. This was accompanied by very severe, stabbing pain in my lower right abdomen. I called the general manager (it was about 12am at this point) and informed her I planned on leaving to go to the ER, to which she told me if I left, then I would be fired. Now at the time, I really needed this job, so not wanting to be fired, I decided to work through my shift. I had two hours remaining, but it was hell to work through. Finally, 2am rolled around and I immediately left to drive to the hospital. Upon arrival, I was admitted almost immediately into the hospital due to scan results showing an inflamed appendix. I called the general manager, and let her know that I was being admitted to the hospital, and would keep her updated. Her response? “If you’re going to try to get out of work, can you at least find someone to cover your shift in the morning? Some people…”, note at this point, it was around 3:30am, my next shift that she wanted me to cover, was at 8am the next morning. A few hours later, I was notified that I needed an appendectomy, and it would be scheduled for the following morning. I agreed, signed the release, and called up my manager to notify her. I told her that I would be out of work for at least a few days, but after surgery I’d let her know. It is important to know that I kept her informed throughout my entire absence. I even sent her a picture of myself laying in a hospital bed after multiple accusations of faking (I still have the texts if anyone is interested.) So surgery went smoothly, however they found that I had a gangrene infection in my appendix that appeared to have spread. Due to complications involving this, my hospital stay ended up being two full weeks.
I was discharged at noon, and drove to work almost immediately after discharge to inform them I was out of the hospital and cleared to come back, as well as turn in the hospital note, proving I was there. To my surprise, the regional manager is there. I walk in and find both the regional and the general manager at the front counter having a conversation. I slide the note towards them on the desk, and inform them that I was cleared to come back to work. The general manager looked at me in utter disbelief. “Excuse me? You’ve already been terminated for no-call-no-showing for two weeks.” I reminded her that I did, in fact, keep her informed, and had proof. She cut me off, and with an annoyed tone, said that she’d give me another chance. I came back in that night for my shift, luckily working with my friend the shift-manager. I was also training a guy I had never seen before (not uncommon, as I was a floor supervisor/trainer.) My friend later called me into the office, and that’s when I learned that I was only rehired so that I couldn’t file a wrongful-termination suit, and said that the person I was currently training was my replacement. The general manager had plans to fire me the next morning. As shocked as I was, we immediately hatched a plan.
So this restaurant was dirty. Huge roaches infesting the kitchen and dining room, black mold, rotten food mixed with fresh food, water leaks so bad the carpet in the dining room is literally decaying, you name it. We have reported these issues to the general manager multiple times, but nothing ever happened. My friend sent the trainee home, with the excuse that our labor was too high, and I spent the remainder of my shift taking pictures of every continuous health-code violation I seen. I went as far as cooking orders, just so I could get pictures of the grills and kitchen areas without suspicion from other employees. Finally, the next morning rolled around. I woke up to a call from the general manager. Sure enough, she demanded that I turned my uniform in because I was being terminated immediately. I drove up there and asked for the reason behind my termination, and she replied that I was a “lazy worker who always complained that they had hours.” Please remember, I averaged about 64 hours a week, and never complained. Not in the mood to argue, I simply turned in my uniform, and left. But that’s not the end of my plan.
I was one of the only food-safety permitted employees. I had just renewed my permit, so all of the information in the class was fresh on my mind. I also distinctly remember the health inspector teaching the class stated that if we wanted to report our workplace, just come in, ask for him, and bring evidence. I went straight to the health department, asked to speak with him, and supplied seven written paragraphs of every violation, as well as all of the pictures I had taken to back my claim up. He informed me that with the picture evidence, it would be hard for the restaurant to fight. He also informed me he would follow up with a surprise inspection the next morning. The next morning, I woke up, and found messages from my general manager, calling me a “snitch” and a “greiner (whiner)”. Luckily, my friend recorded the entire inspection from the office. Due to how recent this story is, I will not be releasing it due to it showing faces as well as names being mentioned, but it was beautiful, and it showed who the true “whiner” was in this situation. The regional manager was slapped with a hefty $7,000 fine for allowing unpermitted employees to work, and the restaurant was ordered to shut down operations to clean, however, being a barely-profitable franchise, the franchisee (who owned many other locations) closed it down and ran off.
Now as much as I want to feel bad for the people left without work, I don’t, and for the decent employees, the story actually has somewhat of a happy ending, as many have moved on to better things.
(TL;DR: My manager terminated me while on medical leave, so we reported the location to the health department, resulting in it’s closure.)
A pretty insane chain of events, right? But honestly, they really did have it coming.
The Reddit user even shared their proof with the rest of the internet that they were, in fact, at the hospital.
Some Reddit users were commenting on the post and whether or not Furry Control was telling the whole truth. How could they possibly work 60-70 hours a week and only make $150? However, Furry explained that they are paid $2.13/hour since it is a tipped position, the $150 is strictly the amount of tips they earn per week.
Another question you might be asking is why did they put up with working there so long if the conditions were so horrible? Furry had a response for that one too. They explained that they did report the issues to a regional level but nothing was ever done.
Wondering what photos they sent to get the chain in trouble?
Here’s a dirty grill and yucky serving plates down below.
Another photo shows a ceiling that Furry says they attempted to clean, however, they were informed it was actually mold.
They also shared a photo of three tables (along with 5 others, apparently) that sat dirty for three hours. Why didn’t they clean them? We’ll never know.
Then there’s the ceiling that has apparently collapsed because of extensive water damage.
So, what are your thoughts on this whole story? Should Furry Control be able to pursue legal action?
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
Furry Control provided an update at the end of their post that reads:
UPDATE: The location in question has unfortunately been reopened under a new franchisee who HOPEFULLY will run it better after the old one sold and walked out. My friend ended up purchasing a new location further down that would better suit the new planned restaurant. I can not reveal any further details about this story at this moment under the direction of my lawyer who is helping me get a lawsuit against the company.
