Yes, my manager was a terrible man but I didn't shoot him :-D. 11 years ago I worked as a waitress in an expensive Indonesian restaurant called Indrapura. I applied for a part time job there beside my Bachelor study at HvA/HES Amsterdam. I got the job immediately and I felt really home because I also had Indonesian colleagues. I had two managers, Michael and Peter, but Peter was a level higher and Michael was just the manager when Peter couldn't be around. My salary was high (for a student) and we got every week tip. When guests give tip, the manager collects it and divided it fairly. My manager isn't the owner of the restaurant. It's Mr.... let's call him Mr. Chang, because I don't remember his name. He is the owner of 3 restaurants, Indrapura(Indonesian), a Thai/Chinese restaurant and another Indonesian restaurant. Yes, he was/is a very rich man. His buddy was Hans, he was doing all the financial stuff together with another woman of the administration.
Indrapura is a very expensive restaurant where they focus on selling "Rijsttafel"(rice table). Rijsttafel is when they serve you many small (side) dishes with rice. There are 3 rijsttafels to choose from. The most expensive one is the rijsttafel where you get lobster as a starter. Of course you can also choose single dishes, so not the rice tables. The food is pretty good but there are days that the chef isn't in a good mood and you will taste it in the food. I really had fun working with my colleagues and we also always ate good after work. The chef cooked us food, way better food than they serve the guests ;-). I also remember Andrew, my colleague. He is an old Chinese man and it was always fun to talk to him. I worked 3x in a week. So I started somewhere in September 2007. I had a zero hour contract. I didn't know about the meaning and now I still don't really remember what it actually means.
So after 3 or 4 months, it was January and my manager told me that around that time, it is usually very quite and that he doesn't have work for me. He told me that I can work at the other restaurant, the Thai/chinese restaurant that also belongs to Mr.Chang. I asked him if the salary is the same, he said yes. He also said that the work is the same and that I would return, working at Indrapura after a few months when it starting to get busy again. So I said, ok, that's fine. I felt sad I couldn't see my colleagues for a few months, but because my manager, Peter told me it's just temporary for a few months, I didn't mind.
The first day I worked, I already didn't had a good feeling. I heard bad stories about Mr Chang from Andrew, my colleague. Andrew told me that Mr. Chang is a greedy man and don't want to invest in better equipment or machines for his restaurants and that he let us work even harder. I guess he was right. The tables at the Thai/Chinese restaurant were above. The kitchen was below and there was NO FOOD ELEVATOR! Mr Chang was most of the time in this restaurant, not so much at Indrapura. He was a nasty guy. He talked to me as I was a slave! So there is no food elevator to get the food from the kitchen to the guests! We had to bring the heavy food, using the stairs!!! That is really insane and I have never heard something like that! So this was what Andrew meant with greedy in investing in better equipment! He didn't want to buy a food elevator and let his people work so hard! My colleagues at that Thai/Chinese restaurant were all Chinese and couldn't speak Dutch at all, maybe a few words. Their English wasn't great either. I am of a opinion they worked illegal. Probably Mr Chang don't mind to have illegal employees because illegal employees are cheap and when you don't want to pay, you just skip their salary. So Mr. Chang called me to sign a contract. I had no clue about paperwork, so I signed because it said I worked from now on at that restaurant. There was not much written. I also didn't ask much because I trusted him and my manager. The first few days were already a nightmare!
I found out that I and my colleagues don't get any tip from the guests( tip that guests give to the waitresses/waiters and that our salary was €3 LESS than Indrapura. I was shocked and angry! After work I went home with the metro and I saw my colleague Patrick that worked at Indrapura. He told me that he worked 5 days at that time, instead of 2! So that means my manager was lying to me. Apparently, Peter(my manager) gave my 3 days to Patrick. I was so pissed when I found out that my manager was lying to me and betrayed me. I worked harder at that Thai/Chinese restaurant than Indrapura, but I got less salary. My Chinese colleagues at that Thai/Chinese restaurant didn't speak any Dutch and only spoke poor English. Most of the time they spoke Chinese to each other, so I felt very left out. At Indrapura I had amazing colleagues whom I could laugh with.
Ok, that sounds like there was sort of war or a political fight going on. There was no war, but I don't like injustice at all! I was really sad and I didn't know how to deal with this situation. I called Peter, my manager to ask about the situation and he just told me cold-blooded, that he was allowed to do that to me because I have a" zero hour" contract. First I assumed he was right, because he knows about it more than me and that I just had to deal with it. He basically put me "on hold". I wonder why he didn't just fire me?
I am happy I had Google! I googled about rights and contracts, but I couldn't get a clear answer, so I called the Juridisch Loket( Legal Counter)where you can ask anything about your rights or information about your contract. So I made an appointment and she told me to bring my contract. She looked at it, heard my story and told me that I was in a good position and that my manager did something that was against the law. She took a list of lawyers and picked one that wouldn't cost me much money. There are top lawyers where you have to pay a lot of money and beginner lawyers. I was also a student, so it wouldn't cost me much as when I would be a full-time employee.
I called my lawyer, and we looked at the contract. He told me I was in a good position and that we could arrange a deal with my manager. He also told me that if my manager or Mr Chang wouldn't want to take the deal, that we would need to make it a case and bring it to court and that would make it even more complicated (I am not sure how to say it correctly in English, so I hope you know what I mean). If we had to go to court, then it would be up to the judge. There would not be a guarantee that I would win the case and I would need to pay my manager and Mr Chang money. My manager and Mr Chang were being difficult but also very surprised of my action. They never thought I or any of my colleagues would take such actions hiring a lawyer. Yeah, I really surprised them. My lawyer told me that I shouldn't make any agreement without him or sign anything if Peter, my manager or Mr Chang would call me to talk about it. My lawyer told me that there would be a high chance that they want to talk to me and asking me to sign something. Peter and Mr Chang also send my lawyer letter about me, false accusations about me! They also kept ignoring my lawyer's letters about the deal. Letters where it is written that they did something against the law, not acting according to what's written in my contract.
My lawyer asked me if I still wanted to continue with this "battle because if they are keeping stubborn and not want to take the deal, we would need to go to court and it would take months before we could go to court. I told him I still want to continue because this is injustice and he needs to be "punished".
After a couple of visits to my lawyer, I received a call from Mr Chang. You know, me and my colleagues are scared of Mr Chang. So I called my lawyer to ask if it would be wise to meet Mr Chang. He told me that I should do it but don't make any agreement without him(my lawyer) and don't sign anything. It took me a lot of courage to see Mr Chang. I arrived at the Indrapura restaurant and all my colleagues were looking at me and told me they missed me. Andrew also missed me :-).
We went upstairs at his office and I was sitting around the table with Mr Chang, Peter and Hans. They looked like giants suddenly. I felt so small. I am small but that time around the table I felt even smaller like Alice in Wonderland when she drank the shrinking potion. Mr. Chang looked so pissed at me as if I defeated him already. He was wiping off his sweat from his shiny forehead. Peter looked at me angry and surprised at the same time and Hans? Hans was Mr Chang's buddy so he acted the same. I am not even sure what Hans was doing there. I never saw Hans before. I heard Hans's administration work was poor and my colleagues often had to call Hans because some working hours were missing and that he often wasn't at his office.
Mr Chang tried to look friendly. Friendly but forced. He didn't want to pay me any cent. As I told you before, Mr. Chang his a greedy guy. He said:"Fathin, let's don't start a battle. Let's stop this. What do you actually want? I told him what I want. I said:
" Mr Chang, you
No, just kidding! hahaha! I didn't say MF. I said: " You know what I want, I want you to pay my salary for the three months I didn't work at Indrapura. I also have bills to pay as a student and I could pay my bills during these 3 months. You also paid me €3 less per hour for those days I worked at that Thai/Chinese restaurant. I want you to pay me all that money. He said:" That's not going to happen, Fathin." I replied:" Well, then I don't see any reason to continue this conversation." So I walked away.
After a week my lawyer called me to say that Peter and Mr Chang accepted the deal. So what was the deal?
They had to pay the cost I made for paying my lawyer. I paid €98( isn't much because I was a poor student) for a lawyer and that money I would get it back and Mr Chang or Peter had to pay me that.
The three months I didn't work for Indrapura because they put me "on hold". So basically I got 3 months salary for not working. Hey, that was their fault, they shouldn't mess with me, my contract and the law.
They had to pay me compensation.
Number 4 was empty, I could fill in myself :-D. My lawyer told me, that if I still wanted to work there, I could also make them take me back. Not that they ever fired me. They never fired me. Weird right? So I said yes, I also wanted to work there again.
Peter, my manager, was already pissed about the amount they had to pay me. Now they also have to give me work again. Wow, he didn't see that coming! They thought I wanted to quit working at Indrapura and just take the money. Nope, I wanted to work there again. Peter was first being difficult after hearing that, but then he said ok, but only a day a week. My lawyer told him that I have the right to work 3 days a week, the same as I did the first three months. I really pissed him off.
The next week I worked there again and all my colleagues were applauding and they told me they were happy finally someone of them took actions. Especially Andrew was very happy to hear I won.
I felt like a warrior who won the battle
No one, not even the powerful people with lots of money(Mr. Chang in this case) on earth can mess with me. I quitted this job after a few weeks (after the deal)because the day before when I was finished working, I went home and a man threatened to kill me. He was kicking me in my back and almost in my stomach.I was lying on the ground protecting my stomach in a fetus position. I was traumatised for many weeks. Sometimes I think wether this man was send by Peter or Mr Chang. I couldn't see his face, so the police couldn't do much for me unfortunately. I am now afraid to walk in the dark because of what happened that evening. Even after what happened, I still believe in karma. This guy who threatened to kill me will get punished. If he was indeed send by Peter or Mr. Chang, they will get punished too.
I just realised that I wrote more than 2000 words? Never imagined I would write such a long post. (Busy.org can not even handle such long post).