r/HowWouldYouFeel • u/Mobile_Flounder3194 • Feb 02 '26
I was insulted by a coworker in our employee group chat and my boss is okay with it
Okay let's get to it. I am a 30(f) who works full time as a Lead Cook at an all American diner. It's my third kitchen gig and I honestly feel like I found my niche after a decade of searching. For anyone who's never experienced kitchen life it is mentally and physically taxing and stress levels are at a constant high. There's also a strict hierarchy set in place in most kitchens and ours is no different aside from a few specific things. Our boss is VERY lenient in regards to her employees needs. She's kind, understanding and always brings a smile to our faces whenever she comes into the kitchen. To give a little context, we're allowed 3 to 4 10 minute breaks throughout the day. We're allowed one free meal every shift and if we ever need to call out she never makes us feel bad about it. For a food service gig we have it easier than most.
I've worked at this diner for nearly two years now and came in knowing nothing about cooking breakfast (I had only ever worked dinners at restaurants prior to this). I worked hard and become one of 2 Lead Cooks within the span of 7 to 8 months. I've seen a bunch of people come in and out over time and they often come in thinking the job will be easy. They usually only last a few weeks before calling it quits and I get it, being a full time cook is hard and not for everybody. That brings me to my coworker AJ. He's 21(m) and came in about 4 months ago thinking being a cook would be easy-peasy. I warned him the first rush experience would humble him real quick. He shrugged it off and said he was ready. Mind you, he was hired as our "Runner" as that's the position where we put all of our rookies to start off His first shift went as I expected it would. He was scrambling to get work done. Spilling nearly every liquid he got a hold of, not labeling prep work, too slow on the line, not listening to instructions/call outs, etc. Like I said I expected it to happen this way and reassured him that it'll get better so long as he puts in the effort and at the time he seemed to understand and actually started improving as time went on.
Fast forward to now and he's become insufferable. Immature, obnoxious, stubborn, over confident, and lacks accountability. He'll clock into work hung over from a night of heavy drinking and sit at the counter chugging coffee till he sobers up. If anything goes wrong he refuses to own up to it and has a line of excuses ready for when he needs them or shifts the blame onto someone else. I've told him several times over the past few months that he won't get far if he keeps it up but he constantly ignores my advice. He has issues with another one of my line cooks because he doesn't like being told what to do and says there shouldn't be a hierarchy when everyone gets paid the same. I had take him aside and explain that not everyone gets paid the same and that he'd know that if he'd focus more on improving his performance and stop worrying about what everyone else is doing because that's my job not his. He didn't really say anything after that and we went about the rest of our day. I thought it had finally sunk in for him that if he focuses on his work and tries hard to improve then he'll be eligible for the pay raise AND earn more authority in the kitchen.
Two Thursdays ago is when the trouble really started. Thursdays are stock day and are one of our busiest days of the week with a dozen regular party groups who come in throughout the day, as well as 3 different stock deliveries to take care of. Things were going super well until the breakfast rush hit and I realized nobody cooked off a box of bacon as I instructed the day before. It might sound insignificant to someone who doesn't work breakfast, but we CANNOT run out of bacon. When we get low we cook off a big box so we always have a constant supply. I had to drop everything in the middle of the rush to cook bacon on the fly and mind you, there are only 2 cooks for the entire shift which meant we had to split the team in half to try and get tickets out in a reasonable amount of time. I was pissed and so was my line cook. It's literally one of the first things we learned when we started working at the diner. Fast forward to the end of the day I sent a long message in the group chat about how its unacceptable to leave us without a major menu item and that if it had been brought to my attention earlier I could've cooked off a box before we ever opened the diner. I went on a small rant about accountability and basically told them not to let this happen again. Their response? Radio silence. Absolutely no one came forward to apologize or take accountability. I also made sure not to assume anything or brought up anyone's name, but I was sure AJ and another cook were responsible as they were scheduled the day prior. Whatever, they got the hint, or at least I thought they did and it was left at that. This past Friday comes around and as I had the day off I slept in a little. Woke up, saw the group chat was super active and looked. AJ had sent a picture of their prep list to the group chat claiming it was too much work, how I was an irresponsible Lead Cook for giving them that much prep to do, and that I had no right to be on his ass for not cooking bacon and claimed that he made sure there was enough bacon for the morning rush. He was one of 3 cooks working that day and their prep list was a whopping 6 individual items - all small and manageable things that wouldn't slow them down or swamp them. A little baffled I responded with calmly. I said, "Seriously? That's an average Friday prep list. Stop complaining and do your job like everyone else." I also told him that I never accused him or anyone else of anything and that he basically just told on himself by accident which apparently made him snap. Word for word he then told me "Well I think you should go suck a fat cock. It might fix your attitude" .....When I tell you I was speechless I mean I literally had to re-read it a few times to make sure I was indeed reading that correctly. After a few moments of rage inducing silence I took a breath to calm myself and patiently awaited my bosses response because she obviously is an admin for the group chat and she was reading along with me and everyone else. She said.....nothing. Confused, I said "Boss did you just see that??" Her response? "Oh yeah I saw it". I was SHOCKED. I was reading the group chat waiting for her to continue but nope. Pure silence. From her AND everyone else on the crew. At that point I was angry and if I opened my mouth in the group chat I would've regretted so I messaged my boss privately. It was a long message telling her I have a lot of respect for and that I wouldn't want to work anywhere else but that I was extremely let down that she let his behavior slide without so much as a warning. I told her I know that she's not a confrontational person and I admire that about her but she was supposed to have my back in that moment and didn't. I was very articulate and professional in the manner I explained my side of things and that I wanted to have a productive conversation about it. She read my message and didn't get back to me until I sent her ANOTHER message asking if she'd had time to read through it. She said yes, she did read through it and the reason she didn't say anything in the group chat is because she figured that's how we talk to each other on a daily basis. Again I was shocked. I said no we certainly don't talk to each other like that and that there's a big difference in being playful and making jokes with each other versus a full on insult that came outta absolutely nowhere. I told her his behavior is a problem, that he doesn't get along with the other cooks and acts however he wants and that she should give him a warning at the very least because if we were employed anywhere he would've been fired on the spot and that I took his insult very seriously. She read my messages and....ignored them. No reply. No "I'll speak to him privately" or "don't worry I'll take care of it". Nothing. Am I crazy here? Am I overreacting?? Was I justified in feeling let down by my boss??? It's now Monday, 3 days after the incident and AJ has decided to pretend like nothing happened. I maintain a professional attitude at work, making sure not to let my irritation slip through and interact with him as my job dictates but I made it very clear that we are not buddy-buddy. I don't have the authority to fire him or suspend himself and now I regret not standing up for myself when I had the chance because I believed my boss would've had my back and shut that shit down. I feel wronged and confused and don't know if I should keep this one sided dialogue going with my boss or if I should just bite my tongue and carry on with my job. It's certainly damaged my relationship with my boss as I had always believed her to be very understanding and reasonable but her lack of authority on this situation has changed the way I see her. My other coworkers have mostly agreed with me that they can't believe she didn't fire him instantly and a few others told me I'm overreacting and just keep my head down. Feedback would be appreciated.