Person Gets Terminated While On Medical Leave, Takes Pics Of Violations In Restaurant And Shuts It Down
Another day, another employee horror story coming out of the U.S. After yesterday’s pooping meme saga, in which a man got fired for sharing a joke on his Facebook wall, now we have an employee getting terminated for 2 weeks in hospital with a serious illness.
It makes you wonder why Americans aren’t more active in campaigning for worker’s rights? The whole story, from the 60-70 hour weeks, 18-hour shifts, $2.13 an hour pay and a reliance on the kindness of tippers just reeks of a system that is inhumane and completely broken. Plenty of other countries manage to treat workers with respect, security and a basic living wage. What’s up, America?
Originally shared on Reddit’s r/ProRevenge forum, user Furry Control details the shocking treatment they received by the management of a popular pancake franchise, as well as the satisfying twist at the end.
Many commenters questioned the veracity of the story, and you can’t blame them at first glance. Surely this can’t have really happened? “$150 a week at 60-70 hours a week? That sounds impossible. This whole story reads like a bad YA novel and I’m surprised anyone bought this,” one commenter wrote.
“You do realize I was paid $2.13 an hour, and most if not all of my paychecks went to taxes due to my tips being overclaimed,” Furry replied. “I brought home about $150 in tips a week due to the restaurant being next to deserted every day except Friday nights and Sunday mornings.”
Proof to the manager I was in the hospital
Image credits: furry_control
Furry Control added uploads from the hospital and the restaurant as further proof, and we gotta say that the place did look pretty grotty. Why did Furry put up with it so long while working there? You might ask.
“We as a whole reported everything to the regional level, nothing was done to resolve the issues. We reported the roaches multiple times to management, not once was an exterminator called,” they explained.
Also, when your precarious livelihood, that just manages to cover your monthly bills, is hanging by a thread on the whims of asshole managers, you are careful not to rock the boat too much, aren’t you?
Disgusting grease build-up, discarded food, and dirty serving plates on the grill
Image credits: furry_control
Nasty ceiling that I attempted to clean with bleach. Have since been informed it is mold
Image credits: furry_control
These tables, along with 5 others, sat dirty for 3 hours
Image credits: furry_control
Ceiling collapsed due to water leak multiple times
Image credits: furry_control
Toxic adhesive used to improperly secure a water leak on a drinking water line
Image credits: furry_control
What do you think? Should Furry Control pursue legal action against the company? What can be done to increase the security and basic rights of workers in places like this? Scroll down below to read some reactions from other readers, and let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Here’s what people had to say about the story
The author did not choose the title of this article
Great, another employee who knows about several severe , disgusting and potentially dangerous hygienic problems at his workplace but only reports or when it serves him well. Amazing story...
This is a very unsatisfying story. The behaviour of the shift manager is riduclous and even not in the interest of the business. However, if these restaurant posed a health hazard to customers and employees, why did all of them, including the OP keep their mouth shut? It was their ethical duty to report, first internally than externally!
It’s written in the post that the employees did report the unhealthy environment and related issues several times in the past, but no action had been taken place then.
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Ok, but what about all the other employees? They lose thier jobs. The,OP was fine working in that mess until they were fired. Then all of a,sudden they care?
Did you miss the part about the health code violations? What about the customers? That place obviously should have been closed down a long time ago. I wonder how many people got food poisoning over the time [years] it had been open. Her wrongful termination was the last straw in an obviously badly managed business. If they hadn't been improperly running the business, there would have been no violations to be closed down for...
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All I read was "I worked in a place with catastrophic food hygiene and only reported it when I was fired". Poor food hygiene kills people! Any sympathy I would have had for the OP disappeared when he described those conditions.
I felt the same. He could have reported it anonymously.
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The ends don’t justify the means. You knowingly gave customers toxic food. You call your manager an a*****e, but he who does nothing when he can is just as much of one.
I don’t believe this, because health inspectors don’t come immediately to investigate complaints. They have backlogs of places to investigate and take months to come around. I call BS. I’ve worked in restaurants all over the country and every city has this problem. Nice story, though.
I think it depends on the area, i.e. town, county, state. Some are better funded, staffed and managed. Plus with evidence of a known violation it could be very different. They may have seen something that was an immediate danger, or they could be well known in the department. There are lots of possibilities.
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But he was fine with these health violations as long as they paid for him?
This is total b******t. If that place was that filthy, she had an obligation to report it. Using this as revenge is not kosher.
It was reported many times to the regional manager as stated in the story. Not the crappy GM but their boss. Generally as a shift worker on the bottom rung, you’re lucky to get that far.
Load More Replies... She worked in that environment for years without ever contacting the health department. She indirectly caused other people to lose their jobs. She is no hero.
Not the managers who were able to fix the problem and didn't? But the employee who reported the problems to their superior, they are to blame? At what point is an employee supposed to go over their bosses head and call the health department? He called, it may not have been when you would have, but he called. Many people who are dismissed or quit jobs don't ever call. He did the right thing. We dont protect whistleblowers in this country, we see it in the news everyday; he would have lost his livelihood, that is a scary risk to ask anyone to take. No one said he is a hero, he acted in a manner which was personally vengeful, but also the right thing. The management was committing a crime on many levels, so far they have only had to face the consequences of one. I hope they have to face all of them in time.
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This story makes no sense. Why would anyone put up with working 16 hours a day in a filthy work environment for $2.13/hour especially when minimum wage is $7.25/hour?
Servers are exempted from the minimum wage laws. It's a terrible loophole. They are supposed to make up the difference in tips, and if they complain that they aren't they can be fired for being poor servers. People don't move on for two reasons: 1- it's the devil you know, ie it could be worse elsewhere, 2- with your one day off, with his 70 hour a week schedule, do you really want to look for another job, especially considering when would you have the time to interview? The whole system is messed up.
Load More Replies... There's some nasty people in the world. I wouldn't have lasted ten minutes in a place like that. I would have walked out.
If it was usually ' almost deserted' then the employees had plenty of time to clean .
I smell BS. That's not how it works. Someone wanted to get a bunch of likes and concocted an outlandish story.
It has been years since I had eaten at an IHOP. I will never step foot in another IHOP again if this is the way that they maintain their kitchen and manage their employees.
The one I work at is in similar condition, water leaks, black mold, roaches etc. it seems to be their modus operandi. I don't understand how we keep passing health inspections. I've seen health inspections I fully expected them to close us that day, but we'll still get an A?!?!? What's worse, they recently spent a butt load of money on a remodel, but will not fix the dripping ventilation, ("Summer is almost over" actual quote when a division manger was shown the issue) my store manager has had to beg permission, repeatedly, to have the exterminators to bug bomb, because it costs more than spraying. The IHOP franchise is currently being sued on the west coast due to wage violations, just paid out for the same Few years ago on the east coast. This is not the only store with these issues either. The powers that be of this franchise only look at the $$ that basic maintenance and repairs cost, they don't seem to see or care .what the real cost is. Can't wait to finally quit. IHOP co. Sucks
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Being a franchise you would have to go the main company HQ and have the franchiser removed.
This is seems to be a nationwide issue with IHOP. Along with wage violations. This business seems to be a victim of what my dad called "Management by accountant" in which no money going out =more money made, without any regard for the realities of the business or what the final cost is in the form of lost business.
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First thing I would complain and take to higher management would be the working hours. You can´t end shift at 2am and start another at 8am.
Higher management won't care, especially in the restaurant business. I know of one shift manager who would literally work 24 hour shifts, traveling from store to store over about a hundred mile round trip, with maybe 3-4 hours between shifts. For months. They fired him on the spot when they caught him sleeping in the office. Jerks. Unless you have a union you have no protection from this. What is worse, by law, if an hourly employee doesn't get over 40 clocked hours in week, no overtime pay. No guidelines for how those hours are assigned if you are over 18. These kinds of abuses are often common in the restaurant industry
Load More Replies... I worked for a company for seven years to be let go while on FMLA leave they said I didn't fill out the paperwork right which was BS because I had the medical center fill it out and send it to corporate I paid them to do this so I wouldn't mess it up they kept asking when I was coming back I kept in touch with them weekly when I was released to go back to work they told me that I was let go bc my paperwork wasn't filled out properly but they would rehire me at a 3 dollar an hour pay cut
A friend of my mom had a heart attack and was terminated while she was still recovering. Her son is a lawyer. He sued the f**k out of them.
I see from the photos of the dirty tables exactly which restaurant chain this restaurant belonged to. My husband worked in fast food when he first came to Canada from England, and never again. The restaurant was clean but management was horrible, hours were horrible, and pay was minimum wage.
It looks that it was done out of revenge and not out of caring for the costumers.
Why weren't these things ever found in a health inspection? They are totally random. Isn't there a way to report these anonymously? Feel bad for the worker, places like that are s**t to work for.
I’d like to know the name of the chain because if one place can be THAT gross others can be also. Not that I live in the States or eat in breakfast restaurants often. Why do American workers put up with this c**p anyway? Are they hoping to get rich so they can do it to someone else?
Desperation and, very importantly, exhaustion. When you life hand to mouth, its hard to reach further. As for the name of the chain, I am fairly sure its IHOP.
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She couldn't afford loose the job because she really needed the money and for this reason she closed her eyes to the food violation by not reporting to the authorities. But in the moment she got fired ( in a fair way or not ) she decided to report to the authorities. Violations are so bad that they close restaurant. She leaves people that also need the job without it. She is irresponsible ans selfish. Not a hero at all. And please don't tell me that the people who lost their job found a better one, just to look like that you did them a favor.
Its not this person's fault that the place was disgusting, nor is it their fault that it was not spotted by the proper authorities sooner. And it is very much not their fault other people lose their jobs because management failed to do their job.
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Well I was terminated in same way , after 8 years of working in same spot , being a model to other guys and helping everyone inside the factory who needed help , I felt ill , juvenile arthritis, I could barely walk , I needed 3 weeks before I could walk properly again , I camed back to work , marked my badge and then I get called in the president office to tell me that I'm fired cuz he believes other ppl who wanted my spot that I was actually playing football with my kids and eating pizza at restaurant while I was sick ! Now I find myself in Italy without a job with 2 kids to raise and no one in the are wants me at work cuz they spread rumors that I'm a fake sick ! Anyways I feel like health is more important ! Cheers
Not to mention is is against the law to fire someone on medical leave - next time fill out FMLA paperwork!
Ok but the author kept referring to the OP as "Furry" as if it were their name XD
I used to work at a restaurant with an incompetent manager. She allowed her boyfriend, who didn't work there, to come behind the counter and make himself food. She went out to smoke multiple times a day but would get mad if I sat down. She used the store's money to buy personal items. She fired a really good employee for insubordination even another employee told her exactly when he was going to work and she put up with this. I have diabetes and she wouldn't let me take a lunch break. She's still the manager, but I moved on to a different place with a better management team.
Maybe you should stop letting in all those immigrants, so that employers would start paying their workers more, instead of hiring someone who would do it for nothing.
The place I work is in the same condition. No immigrants here. What's your point?
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All these comments miss the point. We all put up with some amount of bs in our jobs...but getting fired/ punished for having surgery is not excusable. Good I'm glad it all got shut down.
So she delayed you getting medical care, which ended up making the obvious problem much worse. Too bad companies cannot be held liable for that as well..
Wierd as f**k. Why do so many people act shocked that desperate, overworked, disposable employees dont pursue health code violations beyond reporting them? This is why you have enough inspectors to carry out random inspections often enough to keep everyone on their toes.
I am surprised by all of the comments criticizing the OP for not reporting the problems. Did you all fail to read his reference to frequently reporting the problems to management. He did what he was required to do.
Still, he should've reported it to health inspectors as soon as it became apparent that the Management didn't care.
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All the posts here are about condemning the author for not reporting those health violations earlier. None are about our sick system that makes people work long hours for sh*t wages - while fat CEOs rake in their obscene salaries. Nothing to condemn the heartless manager who fired a worker when he had a perfectly legitimate reason to miss work. Maybe Our Hero has good reasons for not reporting the health code violations earlier. Maybe his reasons are B.S. Maybe they are a mixture of legit and B.S.
The sick system goes without saying. And being fired while sick, in this case may have violated FMLA, it may have also included a workers comp claim (if the gangrene was likely caused by being requiered to work an extra two hours). The reason so many people are criticizing the OP is because two wrongs don't make a right and it is hard to claim the moral high ground when you are willingly f-ing over customers until it becomes a matter of revenge. And if you have the time and energy to put into documenting and creating a case to shut down the restaurant for healthier violations, then you have the time and energy to document and make the case for wrongful termination and wage/hour violations. Yeah, revenge feels good but it isn't terribly heroic no matter the context - that is why you are so much criticism.
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unions make it worse and worse but thanks for trying
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and yet tourists keep coming despite your ........concerns
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Great, another employee who knows about several severe , disgusting and potentially dangerous hygienic problems at his workplace but only reports or when it serves him well. Amazing story...
This is a very unsatisfying story. The behaviour of the shift manager is riduclous and even not in the interest of the business. However, if these restaurant posed a health hazard to customers and employees, why did all of them, including the OP keep their mouth shut? It was their ethical duty to report, first internally than externally!
It’s written in the post that the employees did report the unhealthy environment and related issues several times in the past, but no action had been taken place then.
Load More Replies... Ok, but what about all the other employees? They lose thier jobs. The,OP was fine working in that mess until they were fired. Then all of a,sudden they care?
Did you miss the part about the health code violations? What about the customers? That place obviously should have been closed down a long time ago. I wonder how many people got food poisoning over the time [years] it had been open. Her wrongful termination was the last straw in an obviously badly managed business. If they hadn't been improperly running the business, there would have been no violations to be closed down for...
Load More Replies... All I read was "I worked in a place with catastrophic food hygiene and only reported it when I was fired". Poor food hygiene kills people! Any sympathy I would have had for the OP disappeared when he described those conditions.
I felt the same. He could have reported it anonymously.
Load More Replies... The ends don’t justify the means. You knowingly gave customers toxic food. You call your manager an a*****e, but he who does nothing when he can is just as much of one.
I don’t believe this, because health inspectors don’t come immediately to investigate complaints. They have backlogs of places to investigate and take months to come around. I call BS. I’ve worked in restaurants all over the country and every city has this problem. Nice story, though.
I think it depends on the area, i.e. town, county, state. Some are better funded, staffed and managed. Plus with evidence of a known violation it could be very different. They may have seen something that was an immediate danger, or they could be well known in the department. There are lots of possibilities.
Load More Replies... But he was fine with these health violations as long as they paid for him?
This is total b******t. If that place was that filthy, she had an obligation to report it. Using this as revenge is not kosher.
It was reported many times to the regional manager as stated in the story. Not the crappy GM but their boss. Generally as a shift worker on the bottom rung, you’re lucky to get that far.
Load More Replies... She worked in that environment for years without ever contacting the health department. She indirectly caused other people to lose their jobs. She is no hero.
Not the managers who were able to fix the problem and didn't? But the employee who reported the problems to their superior, they are to blame? At what point is an employee supposed to go over their bosses head and call the health department? He called, it may not have been when you would have, but he called. Many people who are dismissed or quit jobs don't ever call. He did the right thing. We dont protect whistleblowers in this country, we see it in the news everyday; he would have lost his livelihood, that is a scary risk to ask anyone to take. No one said he is a hero, he acted in a manner which was personally vengeful, but also the right thing. The management was committing a crime on many levels, so far they have only had to face the consequences of one. I hope they have to face all of them in time.
Load More Replies... This story makes no sense. Why would anyone put up with working 16 hours a day in a filthy work environment for $2.13/hour especially when minimum wage is $7.25/hour?
Servers are exempted from the minimum wage laws. It's a terrible loophole. They are supposed to make up the difference in tips, and if they complain that they aren't they can be fired for being poor servers. People don't move on for two reasons: 1- it's the devil you know, ie it could be worse elsewhere, 2- with your one day off, with his 70 hour a week schedule, do you really want to look for another job, especially considering when would you have the time to interview? The whole system is messed up.
Load More Replies... There's some nasty people in the world. I wouldn't have lasted ten minutes in a place like that. I would have walked out.
If it was usually ' almost deserted' then the employees had plenty of time to clean .
I smell BS. That's not how it works. Someone wanted to get a bunch of likes and concocted an outlandish story.
It has been years since I had eaten at an IHOP. I will never step foot in another IHOP again if this is the way that they maintain their kitchen and manage their employees.
The one I work at is in similar condition, water leaks, black mold, roaches etc. it seems to be their modus operandi. I don't understand how we keep passing health inspections. I've seen health inspections I fully expected them to close us that day, but we'll still get an A?!?!? What's worse, they recently spent a butt load of money on a remodel, but will not fix the dripping ventilation, ("Summer is almost over" actual quote when a division manger was shown the issue) my store manager has had to beg permission, repeatedly, to have the exterminators to bug bomb, because it costs more than spraying. The IHOP franchise is currently being sued on the west coast due to wage violations, just paid out for the same Few years ago on the east coast. This is not the only store with these issues either. The powers that be of this franchise only look at the $$ that basic maintenance and repairs cost, they don't seem to see or care .what the real cost is. Can't wait to finally quit. IHOP co. Sucks
Load More Replies... Being a franchise you would have to go the main company HQ and have the franchiser removed.
This is seems to be a nationwide issue with IHOP. Along with wage violations. This business seems to be a victim of what my dad called "Management by accountant" in which no money going out =more money made, without any regard for the realities of the business or what the final cost is in the form of lost business.
Load More Replies... First thing I would complain and take to higher management would be the working hours. You can´t end shift at 2am and start another at 8am.
Higher management won't care, especially in the restaurant business. I know of one shift manager who would literally work 24 hour shifts, traveling from store to store over about a hundred mile round trip, with maybe 3-4 hours between shifts. For months. They fired him on the spot when they caught him sleeping in the office. Jerks. Unless you have a union you have no protection from this. What is worse, by law, if an hourly employee doesn't get over 40 clocked hours in week, no overtime pay. No guidelines for how those hours are assigned if you are over 18. These kinds of abuses are often common in the restaurant industry
Load More Replies... I worked for a company for seven years to be let go while on FMLA leave they said I didn't fill out the paperwork right which was BS because I had the medical center fill it out and send it to corporate I paid them to do this so I wouldn't mess it up they kept asking when I was coming back I kept in touch with them weekly when I was released to go back to work they told me that I was let go bc my paperwork wasn't filled out properly but they would rehire me at a 3 dollar an hour pay cut
A friend of my mom had a heart attack and was terminated while she was still recovering. Her son is a lawyer. He sued the f**k out of them.
I see from the photos of the dirty tables exactly which restaurant chain this restaurant belonged to. My husband worked in fast food when he first came to Canada from England, and never again. The restaurant was clean but management was horrible, hours were horrible, and pay was minimum wage.
It looks that it was done out of revenge and not out of caring for the costumers.
Why weren't these things ever found in a health inspection? They are totally random. Isn't there a way to report these anonymously? Feel bad for the worker, places like that are s**t to work for.
I’d like to know the name of the chain because if one place can be THAT gross others can be also. Not that I live in the States or eat in breakfast restaurants often. Why do American workers put up with this c**p anyway? Are they hoping to get rich so they can do it to someone else?
Desperation and, very importantly, exhaustion. When you life hand to mouth, its hard to reach further. As for the name of the chain, I am fairly sure its IHOP.
Load More Replies... She couldn't afford loose the job because she really needed the money and for this reason she closed her eyes to the food violation by not reporting to the authorities. But in the moment she got fired ( in a fair way or not ) she decided to report to the authorities. Violations are so bad that they close restaurant. She leaves people that also need the job without it. She is irresponsible ans selfish. Not a hero at all. And please don't tell me that the people who lost their job found a better one, just to look like that you did them a favor.
Its not this person's fault that the place was disgusting, nor is it their fault that it was not spotted by the proper authorities sooner. And it is very much not their fault other people lose their jobs because management failed to do their job.
Load More Replies... Well I was terminated in same way , after 8 years of working in same spot , being a model to other guys and helping everyone inside the factory who needed help , I felt ill , juvenile arthritis, I could barely walk , I needed 3 weeks before I could walk properly again , I camed back to work , marked my badge and then I get called in the president office to tell me that I'm fired cuz he believes other ppl who wanted my spot that I was actually playing football with my kids and eating pizza at restaurant while I was sick ! Now I find myself in Italy without a job with 2 kids to raise and no one in the are wants me at work cuz they spread rumors that I'm a fake sick ! Anyways I feel like health is more important ! Cheers
Not to mention is is against the law to fire someone on medical leave - next time fill out FMLA paperwork!
Ok but the author kept referring to the OP as "Furry" as if it were their name XD
I used to work at a restaurant with an incompetent manager. She allowed her boyfriend, who didn't work there, to come behind the counter and make himself food. She went out to smoke multiple times a day but would get mad if I sat down. She used the store's money to buy personal items. She fired a really good employee for insubordination even another employee told her exactly when he was going to work and she put up with this. I have diabetes and she wouldn't let me take a lunch break. She's still the manager, but I moved on to a different place with a better management team.
Maybe you should stop letting in all those immigrants, so that employers would start paying their workers more, instead of hiring someone who would do it for nothing.
The place I work is in the same condition. No immigrants here. What's your point?
Load More Replies... All these comments miss the point. We all put up with some amount of bs in our jobs...but getting fired/ punished for having surgery is not excusable. Good I'm glad it all got shut down.
So she delayed you getting medical care, which ended up making the obvious problem much worse. Too bad companies cannot be held liable for that as well..
Wierd as f**k. Why do so many people act shocked that desperate, overworked, disposable employees dont pursue health code violations beyond reporting them? This is why you have enough inspectors to carry out random inspections often enough to keep everyone on their toes.
I am surprised by all of the comments criticizing the OP for not reporting the problems. Did you all fail to read his reference to frequently reporting the problems to management. He did what he was required to do.
Still, he should've reported it to health inspectors as soon as it became apparent that the Management didn't care.
Load More Replies... All the posts here are about condemning the author for not reporting those health violations earlier. None are about our sick system that makes people work long hours for sh*t wages - while fat CEOs rake in their obscene salaries. Nothing to condemn the heartless manager who fired a worker when he had a perfectly legitimate reason to miss work. Maybe Our Hero has good reasons for not reporting the health code violations earlier. Maybe his reasons are B.S. Maybe they are a mixture of legit and B.S.
The sick system goes without saying. And being fired while sick, in this case may have violated FMLA, it may have also included a workers comp claim (if the gangrene was likely caused by being requiered to work an extra two hours). The reason so many people are criticizing the OP is because two wrongs don't make a right and it is hard to claim the moral high ground when you are willingly f-ing over customers until it becomes a matter of revenge. And if you have the time and energy to put into documenting and creating a case to shut down the restaurant for healthier violations, then you have the time and energy to document and make the case for wrongful termination and wage/hour violations. Yeah, revenge feels good but it isn't terribly heroic no matter the context - that is why you are so much criticism.
Load More Replies... unions make it worse and worse but thanks for trying
Load More Replies... and yet tourists keep coming despite your ........concerns
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