The juice that made me quit my job
My workplace had always been toxic. The manager of the restaurant I had worked in for over 4 years was manipulative, aggressive and a bully. Once, he crossed all my shifts off the rota because I wasnāt working enough - I was out of London visiting my terminally ill Mother.
Before I left, heād been perfectly pleasant for months.
āJust wait.ā I said to my other half. āHeāll turn soon.ā
I didnāt expect him to turn on me specifically but when he did, about something so pathetically inconsequential as juice, I walked.
Iād put the expensive puree in the kilner jar still frozen; it was 30 degrees outside and over 2 hours ātil service. My friend and I agreed agreed it would melt and stay nice and cold.
This manager, this jumped-up, tiny-cock-runt, took the juice into the kitchen and started showing all the chefs, saying what a stupid thing to do it was. He said it showed an upsetting lack of care in my work.
After 4 and half years, I finally saw that the pattern of manipulation and bullying would never end, no matter how hard I worked or the dead years I spent there.
So I said āI think Iām gonna goā and walked.
Over a fucking juice.