Hi! I’m an average college student cooking at a small town bar while going to college. I’ve worked here for about 2 years now and I work almost every weekend because that’s when they need the help. Ive been fine with that, requesting time off here and there because I like to go visit family and friends every once in awhile. 

So the problem is that I requested off my 21st birthday this year. I requested it off in February, while my birthday is on March 29th, which is a Friday. Friday’s we tend to be a lot busier than any day of the week. I came into work today to have my boss tell me that I have to work 2-10 on my birthday because he has ‘no one else’. Just for some more context, we have gone through cooks like crazy. I believe it’s mainly due to my bosses not wanting to pay people more. The only reason I’ve stayed is because it works better for my classes this semester and the full time cook that used to work here quit in November after 10 years, due to wanting a raise and my bosses would not give to him. We have had some good cooks leave because of this reason. 

Now I’m pretty frustrated because I hardly take weekends off of work. I maybe request a weekend every two to three months to visit my parents, who live 2 hours away from my college. Otherwise I only have Monday’s and Tuesday’s off of working. I work 10 hour shifts on the weekend.

Currently, my boss also has two cooks here who work under the table for cash, when he needs them on the weekend. They are not obligated to be here so if they tell him they don’t want to work, I usually get stuck working shifts alone on the weekends. We also have a new cook, but he has no experience prior so it’ll be awhile until he’s all trained in. So my boss relies on me heavily to pick up the slack here. I’m pretty frustrated because for a bar, we have very understaffed in the kitchen and the weekend hours fall on me. I somehow feel ‘punished’ when I’m unable to get days I request off because he doesn’t hire more people on the actual pay roll. 

I want to send my boss a text tomorrow and tell him that I either get this Friday off or Thursday is my last day working here. And that I would like to discuss it in person as well. Would I be the asshole to pretty much threaten quitting if I don’t receive my birthday off? 