Month: March 2022

So I am or was rather a manager at a local fast food restaurant until this morning Some context my store was the highest sales volume store for the last two years in the franchise that owns us but my pay until recently was less than some entry level positions at other fast food in the area, I loved the people so I stayed a manager for way too long. Two weeks ago my general manager quit and took most of the opening crew with him, not a complete disaster yet because I moved some of the night crew to opens and we all just worked overtime. Halfway through last week I lose two more openers leaving me with 3 people to run mornings. This morning I lose another and have no choice but to not run lunch for fear of more walkouts. I ask my boss what to do…

I just got a call about a job in a field closely related to my trade. The hiring manager was briefly discussing the type of work and what’s involved, and when I asked about pay scale, he gave me an extremely low number. I told him that with everything going up, that it was way too low. He said that I was the fifth person he’s called today that said the exact same thing. Understandably frustrated, he actually thanked me for saying that, because he’s trying desperately to convince his boss to raise their pay scale. He also said, unprompted, that “It’s not that people don’t want to work, most of ‘em don’t want to work 100 hours a week to make ends meet.” There are some good ones out there.

Just a little context… I have a S.T.E.M. degree and 15 years of experience. I went into this interview after securing a written offer from another company but am seeing a couple other options, still in play, through. Anyway, short and sweet, I put on a tie and drove 15-20 minutes there. The very first thing they want me to do is transfer all of the information on my résumé, to their application, by hand, while they sit there and watch me. The person instructing me to do this must have noticed a little confusion because she asked me if something was wrong. I replied, “I'm sorry, I thought I was here for an interview. I haven't filled out an application since earning minimum wage in high school. I think I'm just going to leave”. I got up and drove home. The recruiter that lined up the interview was furious…

It seems to me C-suite managers and middle managers have convince themselves that the culture at their business is the main thing that attracts employees to the company and think that those employees are missing out by working remotely, which is why management keeps banging the RTO drum. To me, it's like if a hospital starts bragging about how they have great amenities for their patients. That's great and all, but I don't ever really want to be in a hospital. It's the same with work. I don't ever really want to be there, but since it's something I have to do, I'd prefer a good company culture to a bad one. But an employer should never get it in their head that I chose to work for them based solely on “company culture”. ​ edit: typos