A student has proved alcohol and work shouldn’t be mixed as she found herself unable to get a job reference after leaving her old position on a bad note. A bad voice note, that is.
21-year-old Rachael, from Edinburgh, was working at a fine dining restaurant last year while studying at college but she decided to quit after nine months as the hours conflicted with her studies.
Rachael opted to bid farewell to the staff via a voice note on the restaurant’s WhatsApp group but she made the questionable choice to send it after a drunken night out.
Listen to Rachael’s message below:
After sending the abrupt message, the 21-year-old swiftly left the group.
The student explained she’d sent the drunk voice note as a joke because she got along with most of her co-workers, however the general manager apparently wasn’t impressed with the message.
Unfortunately, this was the exact person Rachael needed a favour from a year later, when she was applying for a new job.
The company she was applying to required a reference from every previous employer but when she reached out to her former general manager Rachael was given the cold shoulder.
It’s not as though the manager was asked to gush kind words and recommendations about Rachael – the 21-year-old explained they simply had to state Rachael had worked with them – but it seems her comical drunk voice note had come back to bite her as her message requesting the reference was left on ‘read’.
Speaking of the unfortunate situation, the student said:
I sent the voice note when I was drunk as a joke… but I think the general manager wasn’t happy about it as it was awkward next time I saw them.
I got along with people there but the general manager I probably didn’t get along with, although nothing was left on bad terms.
My new job requires a reference from every employer I’ve had just to state I’ve worked there. It wasn’t a reference to say how good I was or anything, it’s to prove I am who I say I am and they read and ignored my message.
It’s not clear how Rachael proceeded with her new job application after being ghosted by her old boss but the 21-year-old has managed to find humour in the situation.
She explained:
I find the whole thing funny. But I wish someone else had done it not me.
Hopefully Rachael will have learned to stay away from the microphone button in future!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.