got fired over $5

for context: i work at a small sushi restaurant. we have two ways to give tips, one being on the receipts and one tip jar on our sushi bar (which you’d think would be for the sushi chefs). BTW all of our kitchen/ sushi workers are immigrants. typically we give all the tips from the jar to my manager at the end of the night when she closes, and i had been under the impression for two years that she had given the sushi bar chefs (which is one guy who has consistently stayed and carried the restaurant) their righteous tips. that’s what she told me, until i started counting tips myself, also in more recent months i had been told by my coworkers about their actual pay, and how they do not receive their given tips.

anyways, we had a $5 tip from someone the other day and were closed yesterday, so i had the super wonderful great idea that i should give my coworker his tips this time. not to mention it was the middle of our shift which wasn’t really smart. i had done this one other time with i think $2 months ago.

i got a call from my manager this evening, and she prefaced the call saying “is there anything you need to tell me?” i didn’t hide the fact i had given the tip to my coworker after it seemed like that’s what she was alluding to, still “naively” under the impression that they get their due tips, even though i was told they don’t. i’d never heard her so confident in speaking the way she did to me, it was like ballsy taunting. she asked me what i thought should come of us, and i told her i didn’t think it was fit for me to think of a consequence since i was the perpetrator, to which she said “no what do you think should be the next step now?” i said maybe a deduction in pay or to take away the amount i had given to him. at this point i was still unable to really form any concrete sentences, i guess that was part of not realizing the depth of what i had done. she told me she would talk to me on my next shift with the coworker i had given the tips to, and i told her it would be more appropriate about how to go from there at that point instead of over the phone.

then i got this text

my whole heart just sank. i’ve been working at this job for 2 years, my manager was like a sister to me and all my coworkers and i were so close as well. i’ve picked up for when half of the staff was in korea, my manager even told me she had entrusted me with her shifts while she took months long breaks for more personal time even though i’m the one with two jobs (one is more voluntary) and school. i had just been the main trainer for two new consecutive workers the past few months. this week they had me work when i strep and i had even scheduled extra shifts prior to this week for them. i had just gotten a raise as well which felt like a scapegoat for my manager giving me more days to work. i don’t know what to do. this felt like losing my second family. i know what i did was wrong and got caught in the spur of the moment as it had felt right.

i can agree i didn’t act in the most conventional way over the phone, but i really just didn’t know what to say and couldn’t think. i just let the questions air out and thought of short witted responses.

if anyone has experienced getting fired from a job they love, please tell me how you moved on. best to you all