My husband basically inherited a restaurant from a family friend. The restaurant has been running for almost two decades but the original owners (friends of his parents with no children) handed it down to him around 6 years ago. Not long after that was the pandemic so he learned to run a tight ship. We got married almost 3 years ago, and I took a manager position there since I come from a service background. Like I said, he runs a tight ship, but he’s a very fair person and is very loved by the staff. Our daughter is old enough to be in daycare now so I’ve been taking on the morning opening shifts, but I still put her to bed myself and care for her most of the afternoon when I get home usually around 5. Between dinner, chores and my daughter I forget to charge my smartwatch often. He depends on me to have this smart watch on during business hours since we don’t allow phones on the floor and I’m expected to be an example of that. I usually charge that watch early in the mornings. Lately the bills for the restaurant have been getting crazy. He’s been making some severe, but reasonable cuts, that have been annoying the staff. His newest thing is staff is not allowed to charge any devices at the restaurant. I pushed back and said that was crazy and have been allowing it while I’m on shift, we have a lot of parents here who need to get updates on kids, and younger hosts who need to talk to parents etc. He’s been super upset and saying I’ve been setting a bad example by keeping “20 devices on the charger.” I have headphones, a phone, and a watch. I only ever charge the watch, and this is before staff even gets here. I told him my stance and it devolved to a weeks long fight, during which whenever he gets home, he’ll take my devices and plug them in himself. AITA for resisting?
That is dumb and killing morale. There are other cuts to make. He should bring a list to the employees and let them pick the cut. Make sure he can live with the choices.
Charging a phone should only cost you about one and a half cents, and thats in the country with the highest energy costs in the world. Your husband is TA and demanding people not charge their phones to “save money” is a weird power trip.
Lol “weird power trip”
I did the math, if they have 15 staff, and every single one of them charges their phones from dead to full *every single day* for a month, using commercial electric rates (randomly chose NYC so about 35 cents per kWh), it would cost OPs husband……… $3.15 in electric costs. Maybe double that after taking into account transmission fees and other fees.
According to this discussion, it cost about $0.50 to charge an iPhone a decade ago. So adding in inflation and more gadgety phones, let’s assume $5 per employee per year. Hell, let’s go crazy and say $10 per employee for a year. If he can’t foot that, he’s got big problems and charging of smart phones and apps will be a distant concern soon.
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/s/DhosnGydBQ
Yeah if he’s worried about the tens of dollars per year this policy might save him then it’s time to sell the restaurant to a sucker because that thing is sinking fast.
Nta, and if he thinks the miniscule amount of energy it takes to charge a watch or phone is going to make or break the restaurant than its doing a lot worse than he’s letting on.
OP should check their credit history
That’s my argument.
He’s literally arguing over pennies.
If a single staff member charged their phone from dead to full every single day for a month straight, it would cost OPs husband about $0.20. Literally less than a single kWh used.
Even if every single staff member did the same thing, every single day for a month straight, we’re talking $1-4 worth of electricity depending on number of staff.
Either the restaurant is in super dire straits or OPs husband is just a massive control freak who’s spiralling out of control.
NTA.
Your husband is soon going to find himself in a bind for staff. This kind of petty, tight-fisted behavior is toxic for morale, and he needs to think really hard about what he’s doing. Otherwise, he’s going to have a business with no one to work at it.
NTA. Your husband is being an AH to you and his employees. Charging devices is literally cents per charge. I suppose if he has a really big staff charging multiple devices all day it’s possible to add up. But even that doesn’t seem like it would be a major expense. Can’t imagine he’s saving much money and he’s definitely destroying employee moral.
NTA
First, charging a small device is going to make such an immaterial dent on the electricity bill that it’s not worth giving any thought too.
And second, it’s a device he is requiring you to carry on the job. You should be able to charge it at the restaurant.
Charging devices does not affect your bill in any significant way. If that’s what’s going to break the bank for you, you’ve got bigger problems. It’s important to cut unnecessary spending, sure, but the only thing this will accomplish is employee demoralization.
However, this needs to be discussed and resolved in private because undermining his authority to his employees is also not the best thing.
NTA and this is gonna be a death spiral for his/your restaurant if you’re not already there. If he’s this much of a jerk with his wife who is ‘messing up’ because she’s busy taking care of HIS kids, I can only imagine he’s a massive prick to his staff (and while I’ve never met a restaurant owner who isn’t somewhat insufferable, there has to be a line). That doesn’t fly anymore post-COVID and your staff will walk at the earliest convenience.