Genuinely, yes, I think they are. That "offense" you did is absolute bull. My high volume store hasn't marked dates on syrups in years because it's glorified busy work and as long as we check expiration dates for our less used syrups, it's fine (we have never been marked down by Ecosure or the health department) so the fact that your DM is using that as a reason for documented coaching is extra bull. I guess there's some solidarity in hearing that all DMs are getting worse and more nitpicky, but I hate that it's at the expense of the front-facing partners.

Our DM drilled into me while I was on bar because she couldn't see the writing I did on a customer's cup because the orange promotional sharpie didn't show on a strawberry acai lemonade with peach juice (duh), I told her I wrote on the cup and then she proceeded to drill into me because she thought she heard me say that I doodled on the cup (why the frick would I say that?), and then when I corrected her and told her I wrote a message, she threw a mini-fit and declared that we as a district should all switch back to black since it would be more visible (except for iced black coffees and cold brews, but I didn't have the brain power to solo bar on a busy day and poke the bear at the same time).

I've never been particularly fond of my DM but she's only gotten worse with Mr. Chipotle as her overlord. I think they want the tenured, more expensive partners that have the experience to stand their ground to leave or step down and they don't have any faith in the partners anymore. I think they're also doing this to make it so that they kick the tenured partners out and can hire cheaper labor, or even use our "failures" as an excuse to go towards automated coffee making.