Donut Shop Management Gets Told For Requiring That Only Men Take Out The Trash

LaughingBarista's BF gets a Retail Balls Award for standing up to sexist management:

Hey guys! LaughingBarista here after a long hiatus!

I was so busy with my new job, grad school finals (which kicked my ass but I wound up doing well!) and Christmas stuff so I haven't had a chance to post anything recently. But boy, do I have a doozy for you guys.

So my boyfriend has been at Donuts still this whole time. He's been slaving away (pun intended), especially around the holidays, and was realizing just how much he was unappreciated. He was getting real sick of it but it really started coming to a blow a few weeks ago.

The week of Christmas he took off Christmas Eve because he switched shifts with someone after covering a bunch of theirs, this way he could spend time with his younger siblings. They were closed on Christmas. He worked that Monday and that Wednesday he went in. He was doing his job, assembling for drive-thru while another coworker rang up (someome was making sandwiches but everyone else was screwing around in the back) when the shift leader asked him to take out the garbage.

He politely asked if someone could please do it since he was in the middle of an order or if someone could take over for him so he could do it. The shift leader said no, that he had to do it and that was that.

Like I said, he was in the middle of an order so he went to finish it when Jane (you all remember that bitch) came up to him and asked him what his problem was. He said there wasn't a problem, that he was just doing his job when the shift leader asked him to stop, wouldn't get someone to replace him, so he could do other people's jobs (since everyone else was bullshitting in the back).

You want to know what Jane said? "Well we're women so we don't take out the garbage."

My boyfriend was PISSED. He said something along the lines of this is 2011 (as it was at the time) in America, not 1811. She sent him home.

So when he went to get his paycheck on Friday the manager (who wasn't there) asked for his side of the story. He tells her that he was doing drive-thru, the shift leader asked him to do that while there were many capable people to do it, and that he was sent home because he wouldn't stop helping the drive-thru, even though no one was sent to cover him to take out the garbage. He also shared what Jane said. The manager agreed with him and told him that she knows that he's claned the bathrooms and that's a "woman's job" so why can't they take out the garbage? She takes out the garbage herself so she didn't get it.

Fast forward to yesterday. Boyfriend goes in and is furious because he gets his check and it's really low. It's the check from that week. Now manager has agreed that he should not have been sent home and even Jane apologized for it. Boyfriend thinks that he should be reimbursed for the missing hours of pay. I agreed with him but warned him that he would not be reimbursed as Donuts is an even corporation with no soul at its core. He said he figured as much but that if that was the case, he was going to quit. He felt that it was completely unfair for him to not get paid for hours that he really should have gotten paid for.

So he goes in and talks to the manager and the assistant manager and airs his grievances. They tell him that HE was in the wrong that day and that women aren't supposed to take out the garbage because that is a man's job and as one of the only men there that day (there was another one but oh, he doesn't take out the garbage) it was HIS job to do it, even if it meant leaving the drive-thru. They told him under no circumstance would they give him the money because he was in the wrong.

He quit on the spot, telling them that he worked way too hard to get paid so little and to be treated like shit.

I fully supported his decision and am glad to be rid of those scumbags. I seriously could not believe that one.

Here's to hoping that you guys don't have to deal with stuff like that!

--LaughingBarista

 

Comments

[Stockroom Slave]

I don't even have words to describe how ridiculous that 'policy' is. I'm a girl, and it actually really ticks me off when people stop me from doing 'man jobs' like carrying something heavy. Just because I'm a little short and not obviously strong doesn't mean I can't handle the vast majority of these tasks on my own. If I genuinely can't manage, I'll ask for help, but if I am physically capable of doing the job then I feel that I should do my fair share. Women who slack off just because 'that's a man's job' deserve a good kick up the backside, imo.

[Smuckles]

I would recommend contacting a lawyer. That's gender discrimination. Imagine if an employer told a woman that she had to clean because that's "women's work." There would be hell to pay! Seriously, I would sue this disgusting company for millions (well, a few thousand, at least).

[Humor_Me]

Holy crap! Women still say that? Wonder if these bitches say they can't take out their own garbage, so they have some random guy do it, when living alone? I used to live on a farm with 13 horses. Everyone was expected to pitch in with garbage, horse shit and everything else whether it was my ex, my daughters, my son, or whatever. Saying you are X-gender doesn't get you out of anything except bearing children, and seahorses would disagree with you there.

I agree with Smuckles. Call the EEOC about a lawsuit and see if you have a case.

[Diane]

Women don't take out the garbage? I'll have to try that one at home. Somehow, I don't think I'll get anywhere with it. I'm very firmly in Stockroom Slave's camp on this one.

[ex bookworm]

oh goodness. The only reason I as a woman didn't take out the garbage at my last retail job was because i was too short to put stuff in the dumpster and almost lost a barrel when i tried. From then on out i was to take it to the dumpster where someone taller would go out later to toss it in. Note: someone TALLER not just a male...

[L]

Not right. Not right at all. He really needs a lawyer. I didn't think I'd ever read about this actually happening, but there you go. Any excuse to be lazy, right?

[RetailTrollSlayer]

WHY wasn't this reported to HR?

[Ashy-Boy]

Just WOW. I'm going to repeat what everyone else is saying: Lawyer up, and do it now.

[Token Female]

In my opinion, women in this age seem to be more sexist than men are (probably because men would get serious flak for it). I get more comments of "oh, shouldn't you get one of the guys to do that?" from women when I'm hauling boxes around on the floor than I do from men. Granted, I appreciate it when guys hold doors and act like gentlemen, but I'm not going to demand that they take out the trash for me when I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself, especially when the guy is busy.

Despite the lack of income for your boyfriend, it's probably best that he's out of Donut because that doesn't really seem like a good environment to work in. See what he can do with the gender discrimination thing, since the women treated him like that is total bullshit.

[Drug Store Diva]

Yup, definite case of gender discrimination. File a complaint with the EEOC, and depending on your state guidelines, you may also qualify for unemployment since it was discrimination. I was able to get unemployment when I quit my last job due to religious discrimination.

[Book Diver]

That's ridiculous beyond words, and I agree with the others to file a complaint with the EEOC. Equality means taking the good AND the bad parts of the job, not picking and choosing. When I was at the bookstore, I'd volunteer constantly to take out the recycling in any weather. Fifteen minutes away from phone calls and angry customers for fresh air and story planning while tossing damaged books? Yes, please!

[Bored at the Bookstore]

Actually, it's not just that he was told it's a "guy job" to haul garbage and a "gal job" to clean bathrooms.... It's the fact that he was evidently supposed to clone himself and continue to do the first-assigned task at drive-thru while simultaneously hauling trash. Huh? I'm sure he's an extremely talented and capable fellow, but nobody can do two things in two different places at the same time. And if he left the drive thru to go out to the dumpster, what happens to the customers waiting in the drive thru lane? I was always taught that the customer gets served first, THEN the behind-the-scenes stuff like cleaning and so on get done. Maybe that's a point to bring up with Corporate?

[Bumblebee]

I'm a chick and at the hive, the deli's mostly women.I am the shortest, most petite female there(being both under 5 feet tall and 95 pounds soaking wet), i take out the trash, the end buckets, (not the prep grease but that's just because i ca't carry it) and pretty much help the older ladies who have asthma. I'm a female and yah know what? I believe in being proud and make sure i'm not only equal, but harder working than the guys. There is no excuse for laziness. period.

[RT Bear]

Wow, just Wow...he definitely needs to talk to a lawyer...at my last retail job in a mall bookstore, I usually wound up taking the trash out at the end of the night, not because I was a guy, but because the dumpster was about 300 feet from our back door in a secluded area and I was concerned for my female co-workers safety (the mall was in a 'transitional' area, so you never knew what you were going to see); during the day or on my days off, the women handled it just fine and usually rejected my requests to help them when I was working during the day...and I was constantly doing what some people would consider 'traditional female jobs' - dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, cleaning the toilet - not because I didn't think a woman couldn't do them, but because they needed to be done & I was available & able to do it...

[Queer Geek]

I'd file a discrimination complaint with this company. The fact that the company is withholding pay and using that as the reason is completely wrong. Legal action should be taken.

[NC Tony]

Allow me to jump on the "file a lawsuit against these sexist bastards" bandwagon.

When I worked on the loading dock at the Bullseye and Kohl's there were plenty of women on both jobs who (literally) carried their weight when it came to their jobs. They almost never asked for help (unless something was listed as being a "team lift" item). But otherwise they'd carry heavy boxes, unload the baler, climb up on ladders and put the bulk items on high shelves, and do everything else that would be considered "men's work".

[Petey]

Definitely get a lawyer, that is such bull. I've always been short and I've got bad joints in my wrists, but I still took out the trash and lifted heavy boxes all on my own when I worked at my last food retail job. The only thing I didn't lift on my own was the giant metal pot when it was full of pizza sauce, and that was because I physically couldn't (Sitting on the floor it went up to my thigh and was at least 80 pounds when full). But even then I took over whatever job a co-worker was doing in exchange for them helping me, and it was half and half between female and male coworkers that helped me.

[LaserSpawn]

if the donut place you are referring to has it's name in pink and orange, i'll agree that the corporation has no soul. hell, they will even turn your own family against you. my sister works at Funky Dog-nuts and told us that my moms card didnt go through(we had a receipt though), and that they were taking it out of her check. so i bitched to corporate, which in turn got us bitched at by her boss(who's related to a friend of mine). my sister doesnt cantact me or our mom anymore. made me so mad that even though i love the donuts from Funky Dog-nuts, i've sworn off them for life.

for sure though, get in contact with the EEOC, get a lawyer, and sue. it's gender discrimination, and that is illegal.

[KittyKatzchen]

Damn! I wish someone had told me women don't take out the garbage! I spent almost two years doing that shit at Awful Waffle! -Snort-

[WMDKitty]

Lawyer. NOW.

This is discrimination, and it is NOT legal.

(Plus, the trash probably could have waited a few while he finished the order, amirite?)

[Chicajojobe]

At my last job at the baby store there were no male employees, so the women definitely took out the trash! However, there was an unspoken rule that no one was allowed to go out to the dumpsters by themselves after dark. One time our only underage employee mentioned taking out trash one night (turned out she meant dusk) and I flat out told her not to let anyone make her go out alone in the dark.
I would have also recommended those precautions for men who worked in the same mall because while it wasn't the ghetto it wasn't a crime free area by any means, but I know I'd see guys on the cleaning staff out in that area by themselves all the time. The women, however, seemed to always be in pairs, so I think that, like in our store, it was more of a voluntary system that the men didn't feel the same need for.

[Laughing Barista]

Thanks guys! I'll definitely mention the lawyer thing to him (although, now being unemployed and on the hunt, he has no money for a lawyer so I don't know how that'd work) and see what he says. He may just honestly want to be rid of them and this shit but we'll see. I'd love to see them close or at least lose some money over it.

And I'm currently working on something for Osha considering their 15 minute break policy per day, no matter how long your shift was (I used to work 12 hour shifts with ONE 15 minute break, that was it). So we'll see how that works.

[Laughing Barista]

@Bored: You're absolutely right! Donuts has this way of making you wrong no matter what you do. If times aren't in the right slot on the drive-thru, you get yelled at, even if it was because a customer was paying in all pennies (yep, this has happened before). Or if you were out taking out the garbage and left the drive-thru like asked, and the time was bad, you'd get in trouble. It's a lose-lose situation. It's why I quit. I'd spend hours there after I was supposed to leave all of the time to help out, just to get yelled at for something else. I could never win.

[Bitch Boy]

I'm sorry, but if a woman wants to stand up for equal rights she better be prepared to find her seat occupied when she tries to sit down again.

I'm all for holding doors, but if I can wash dishes and do the laundry, then I expect women to take out the garbage or put oil/fluids in the car.

[Daisy]

There are some jobs that I need (or at least appreciate) a guy's help for. Heavy lifting. Dealing with sketchy characters. That's pretty much it. Taking out the garbage involves neither of those things.

I take out the garbage at work every day. I took it out today. There was nothing remotely difficult about it. I am so confused why that would be considered a "man's job" even for someone who DOES think men and women should have separate jobs!

[Racket_Man]

I dissagree with the manger stopping the OPs BF in the middle of doing work or being with a customer. that is just rude

BUT

there is the school of thought that says: having a female outside of the store alone and around the dumpster area is inviting trouble. if a female gets attacked, she can sue the pants off the manger/company for putting her in a, shall we say, hostile situation.

an attacker might think twice about attacking a male but will go after the female in a heartbeat. unless ALL employees are trained in the defensive arts or allowed to defend themselves (which most companies to NOT allow)

[Book Baby]

I believe that an attorney would take on a case like this on a contingency basis: you would pay a percentage of the take to him/her IF he/she won the case for you. So, GO GET THOSE S.O.BS.!!!!

I work in a library and we have ONE male employee. Needless to say, we do everything! if there's something we can't handle, we have someone from maintenance (we are part of the CITY, so we have a crew form Public Works who does this sort of stuff allll day long) and she/he will be there soon.

As for men's vs. women's jobs, BULL SHIT. I buy all the tires for all of our cars, DH cleans the bathrooms. He is a mechanic, so he does the repairs. if something needs ot be done to my car that he doesn't do, I take care of it, i.e., some body work had to be done last summer. I called the insurance, I got the estimates, I delivered and picked up my baby(a 300C) ALL BY MYSELF, NO MAN INVOLVED!!! I can split wood and build a fire; he makes great food.

If I had to wait for him to do all the guy stuff" and he needed me to do all the "girly stuff" Hell would have made dozens of those proverbial hand baskets by now.

[Book Baby]

I forgot to add something. To give you an idea of the sort of things we do at work, in early December, I was on a step ladder out in the ice cold wind without a coat (couldn't move freely in it) decorating a stage with lights. I have talked drunks out of our building, stood up to ex-cons, unclogged toilets...well, you get the idea!

The only times I ask for help is if I am too short to reach something (I am just about 5'3" and we have high shelves!) or if I need help to lift something that we aren't supposed to lift alone.

[Laughing Barista]

@Racket: I guess I could get where you're coming from if it weren't bright and sunny at nine in the morning with the dumpster being in full view of the store. Let us not forget that there were other male employees working that just "don't take out the garbage." You know, because apparently they can pick and choose the jobs that they perform.

@Book: I'm going to talk to him about this when I see him later. I'd love for them to get sued and for him to get money for it, but considering the managers have changed their minds multiple times and are known for being liars, I'm afraid that they'd twist the story and make HIM look like the bad guy (he did curse quite a bit when this happened).

[Jenyfur]

I would love to see something like that at my job. I work as a nursing assistant for an old folk's home and I've yet to see a guy working there refuse to clean because that is "women's work". I always take out the trash there and don't try to find a guy to do it for me. Hell, if I had to do that some days I would have to search the whole facility to find one.

Anyway, I'm with everyone else about getting a lawyer. No one should be assigned a job based solely on their gender.

[Book Baby]

I just thought of something: there are two jobs that are VERY gender specific: Sperm donor and egg donor! yep, those are legitimately men's work/women's work! ROFLLLLMAO

[Evie]

This used to happen to me at the old store, in reverse. There were like 6 male employees and two female ones, and we had a men's bathroom and a women's. The women's was okay, but the men's was... MANKY. It was so disgusting. I kept the ladies facilities sparkly, but every two weeks or so the men's would get so bad I'd go in there and muck it out, then spend like thirty minutes washing my hands. After a while I just got tired of it.

One day my DM came in to visit and I was the only woman on duty. He went in the men's room, came out, saw me + five men, and said to ME, "You really need to do a better job with this restroom. It's gross in there!" I said, "I certainly didn't make the mess, and I'm not the only person here who can clean. Please ask the men to take care of their own disgusting bathroom and not leave it for me to do." Fortunately for all involved, he realized how ridiculous he was being and told the guys to help clean. But yeah. Come on, y'all.

[Music Girl]

I pretty much agree with everyone that it's bullshit that it was labeled as a "man's job."

However...

I'm not sure I agree with you that he should demand that he get paid for hours that he *didn't* work, even if was scheduled for it.

If you suddenly got sick on the job and had to go home, would you still say that you should be paid for what was left of your shift?

I can understand asking to be scheduled extra hours to make up for it, but I don't think that just because he got unfairly sent him that it entitles him to being paid for doing nothing.

[Laughing Barista]

@Music Girl: I totally see your point, but my disagreement there is that he was unfairly sent home and the manager and assistant manager agreed that it shouldn't have happened in the first place. Because of this, he didn't get paid hours that he totally should've gotten paid for. But I do see where you're coming from.

[Nikki]

Have to chip in with those who say a woman should NOT be expected to walk out to the dumpster at night unless she's allowed to carry something to defend herself. That's just common sense, kids - especially sense an assaulted woman will usually be the one blamed for the attack. The assailant's defense will make the case that she 'asked for it' by putting herself in that position, and people will buy it.

That said, it could have waited until he finished the order, and it could have been better explained as that seems to be something men just don't think about.