Restaurant manager sparks debate after asking women staff to ‘hold back’ their periods to keep business running

A RESTAURANT manager has sparked a heated social media debate after asking women staff to hold back their periods so as to keep the restaurant running.

Posted on Twitter by @ask_aubry, the Reddit post read: “AITA? I am a restaurant manager and I have an employee who has been going to the bathroom regularly this week, she tells me that she has her period, so I decided to call all of F employees and asked them to put a tampon before their shift or to holding back their period (if it’s possible).

“They told me the AH now. I just want the restaurant to keep running, but I like my team (we are low staff so they’re precious!) AITA?”

OMG why did I think about that? Just hold in my period when I'm working. 🙄 pic.twitter.com/3w7vWVZqzJ

— AskAubry 🦝 (@ask_aubry) April 18, 2023

The post sparked debate, with many users commenting that the manager is very wrong, and clearly understands nothing about the subject.

One user wrote: “I can't imagine why this restaurant is low-staffed. Mmm ... no, nothing comes to mind. Who wouldn't want to work there, with such an amazing and educated manager? Impossible to imagine that people are not begging at the door for a chance to have him as a boss”.

A second user wrote: “Lmao you actually asked your female workers to put a tampon in prior to shift. Lmao you think one tampon works all set no need to deal with it again for 8 hours. Lmao that he thinks all can and do wear tampons. Lmao.”

A third commented: “To be fair, he said "if it's possible" so he clearly has no idea what he's asking, and some part of him is aware of that. Someone just needs to sit down and have a talk and tell him that's not really how it works. At least this time it's not coming from a lawmaker.”

Other users shared their own experiences with their managers.

“I had a manager ask me as I was headed to the bathroom in front of a guest where I thought I was going because we were busy. I said in my loud speaking voice "to change my tampon" the looks my manager got from the guest were priceless”, wrote one user.

A second said: “My former (male) manager used to time us in the bathroom once and asked a co-worker why she'd taken 7 minutes in there. She responded by explaining in great detail that she'd gotten a tampon stuck and it took a while to get it out. We did not hear another word about bathroom visits.”

A third wrote: “I had a boss ask to see my tampons because he didn't believe it was possible for me to be on my period longer than a week. I quit right then.”