Kansas Olive Garden manager fired after posting time off rant: ‘If your dog died … prove it’

The manager for an Olive Garden location in Kansas has been fired after sending a rant to employees instituting strict policies for taking time off. 

The Kansas City-based CBS affiliate KCTV5 reported on Tuesday that a manager for a restaurant location in Johnson County was fired after sending the message, which concerned the “staggering rate” of employees calling out. 

“From now on, if you call off, you might as well go out and look for another job. We are no longer tolerating ANY excuse for calling off,” the manager said in the message. 

“If you’re sick, you need to come prove it to us. If your dog died, you need to bring him in and prove it to us. If its a ‘family emergency’ and you can’t say, too bad. Go work somewhere else,” they continued. 

A representative for Olive Garden told KCTV5 that the message is not aligned with the company’s values and that Olive Garden had “parted ways” with the manager. 

“We strive to provide a caring and respectful work environment for our team members,” the representative said. 

The manager also said in the message that any employee who called out in the next 30 days would be fired and affirmed that they had not called out once in their more than 11 years working for the company. 

“I hope you choose to continue to work here and I think we (management) make it as easy as we can on ya’ll. Thank you for your time and thank you to those who come in every day on time and work hard. I wish there were more like you,” the manager concluded.