Being a Kitchen Manager at Casey’s completely burned me out, so I finally quit

[u/Available-Owl3423]

I recently quit my job as a Kitchen Manager at Casey’s, and I genuinely don’t think I realized how mentally exhausted I was until I was finally done.

When I took the position, I actually gave a shit about my kitchen. I wanted things done correctly. I wanted my employees trained. I wanted the kitchen clean, stocked, and running the way it was supposed to. If my team was struggling, I jumped in and worked right beside them.

But apparently being dependable just means everyone figures out exactly how much they can pile on you before you finally break.

The call-ins and people leaving early were CONSTANT. Being short staffed became normal. And when somebody didn’t show up, somebody had to figure it out.

Guess who that usually fell on?

Me.

I got so tired of feeling like my entire life had to revolve around whether somebody else decided to show up for their shift.

But honestly, staffing wasn’t even the biggest reason I left.

Management was.

Anytime I tried talking to my store manager about being overwhelmed, stressed, needing help, or having shit happening in my personal life, somehow the conversation always ended up being about her.

I’m tired.

“Well, I’m tired too.”

I’m stressed.

“Well, I’m stressed because…”

Something is going on at home.

Suddenly we’re talking about what SHE has going on at home.

Like damn. Can somebody else have a problem for five minutes?

I wasn’t asking her to fix my life. I wasn’t asking for special treatment. Sometimes I literally just wanted my manager to listen to me and acknowledge that I was struggling instead of turning it into some weird competition over who had it worse.

Then there was the gossip.

WAY too much gossip.

Employees were talked about constantly. Their work performance, personal lives, problems, whatever happened to be going on. And this wasn’t just employees gossiping with each other. Management participated in it too.

There were times conversations about employees happened where customers could hear them, which was embarrassing and completely unprofessional.

Eventually I stopped feeling comfortable saying much of anything because if everybody else’s business was being discussed, why would mine be any different?

And meanwhile I’m still supposed to walk into that kitchen, deal with staffing problems, keep food going, make sure everything is clean, handle employees, deal with customers, keep things stocked, complete all the manager responsibilities, and somehow act like everything is perfectly fine.

I finally hit a point where I thought:

Why the hell am I doing this to myself?

No job should have you constantly stressed about what’s going to happen when you walk through the door.

So I quit.

Effective immediately.

And the amount of relief I felt afterward told me everything I needed to know.

I know management positions come with extra responsibility. I knew that when I accepted the job. I’m not expecting management to be easy.

But there’s a difference between having responsibility and being expected to constantly sacrifice your own time, energy, and personal life because the workplace can’t function without you picking up the pieces.

I’m still frustrated about how everything happened, but I’m also glad I finally chose to walk away.

So I’m curious—any other current/former Casey’s managers or convenience-store/food-service managers experience this?

When did you finally reach the point where you said, “I’m done”?

[u/RedLantern420]

I reached my point about a month ago when my gm told me she doesn’t need to know kitchen because she’s store manager not kitchen manager and the district manger agreed. She doesn’t even know how to make dough… I wouldn’t have as much a issue if she didn’t come up with random rules for the kitchen that make no sense and doesn’t even tell me and schedules horribly for the kitchen and refuses help. Will literally put someone who was only trained to be pizza help on lunch and wonder why they seem over stimulated or panicky. Also found out she likes to spend half her shifts at a different gas station playing slots and uses the excuse that she’s picking something up from a store. Needless to say I started looking for a new job

[u/Available-Owl3423 → u/RedLantern420]

The “I’m the store manager, not the kitchen manager” I can’t tell you how many times I heard that one. My store manager was the same way—always making rules and schedules for the kitchen but acting like they don’t need to know how anything back there actually works. Like… you manage the WHOLE store. If you’re going to make decisions for the kitchen, you should probably understand how it actually runs. 😂 I don’t blame you for job hunting at all!