They're all like that. When jb worked at Julians the gook bitch would go nuts if anyone clocked in before the first table was sat. But of course, someone had to get the place set up for these folks to sit, right?
Once the last customer left, everyone had to clock out. Then clean up.
If someone picked up your shift that had too many hours but needed the money, if you had room hours wise, you would just let that person work under your number. The managers knew but once again, corporate would be up their ass about hours so they did not care.
Dardens insurance was shit anyway. I had to get 6 stitches above my eye from taking a door to my head, it still cost me a couple hundred bucks with insurance back in the 90's. I was paying like 60 bucks every 2 weeks for insurance.
I used to open restaurants for Darden and was a bar trainer. Taught people how to pour a drink and flip bottles. A lot of the corporate big wigs that were new hires were required to go through my class. I did that shit for about a year and went back to bartending. Corporate Darden is like Stepford Wives, I could not deal with all the hypocrital bullshit and decided I did not want to be a restaurant manager which they were wanting me to do. Got a job appraising house and as Paul Harvey says, "that is the rest of the story"
I will say this, they did give you vacation pay one week every year anniversary. YOu could still work that week if you wanted but at servers/bartenders pay it was like an extra 100 bucks on your check. Back then not even enough to buy an 8-ball of coke.
The 30 hour rule applied even then. Trust me only the top people got thirty hours a week. I guess they should be blaming Bush Sr. since they were doing it then.