I work in a restaurant and one of the managers is terrible at dealing with frustration during busy periods.

I’m a really hard worker and good at my job, but she never seems to notice and only ever interacts with me to say something negative.

The other day 2 out of 3 items of an order were ready, and the head chef said it would be just a second for the 3rd item to be out. Instead of standing around waiting, I thought I’d be productive and go three feet to the left to polish some glasses while I waited.

All of a sudden I hear my manager yell my name from across the kitchen and say really loudly and aggressively “what are you doing? Run these items. You’re just going to leave these here and walk away?”. I tried to explain I was waiting for the 3rd item but she rudely says “why would you do that. Run this now”.

She did this in front of the rest of the staff and I’ve never heard her yell at/reprimand anyone else in front of me. I’m a shy person so I think this manager things it’s okay to use me as a scapegoat for her frustration. It seems like she’s just waiting for me to mess up so she can yell at me.

If this happens again, I was trying to decide if it’s a good idea to say “please don’t talk to me like that”. I have a feeling it would make things worse but I don’t want to just keep taking this treatment from her because it’s really affecting my self esteem.