I just got a job at a hookah bar. During the interview the owner seemed very laid back and I made it clear I don’t have experience with hookah, but he said he wanted to hire me for my customer service/sales experience. It’s a small business and I understand they don’t want to be wasting money or product, but something bizarre happened a couple days ago.
It was day 2 of training and someone ordered a fruit head bowl, which is just half an apple carved out and cored to resemble a normal bowl. This is something completely new to me and of course my first attempt wasn’t good enough, so we had to toss out the one half of the apple. That’s when my trainer told me, “It’s not like a bartender or server gig where mess ups are okay, you have to pay for any wasted product.”
I didn’t waste anything other than one half of an apple, but because we charge $5, I had to pay retail price. I’ve never experienced something like this ANYWHERE. He had me run to my car to grab my card and then told me to try again. I told him, “You can do it, I’ll buy apples from a grocery store for $3/lbs and try at home.”
During the interview, owner kept alluding to how generous he is, saying he gives raises often and even my trainer was talking about the owners generosity day one. But what the fuck, you’re gonna charge your employee retail price for a basic apple??? We also have no hand soap, aren’t allowed to use paper towels (unless cleaning glass) so we have to use musty hand towel that is always wet and obviously hasn’t been washed in quite some time. I mean, my hands smell NASTY after drying them. Again, I understand limiting product waste to keep food costs down, but this is just ridiculous. On top of that, my trainer wanted me to come in early today and smoke hookah to learn the different products (which would be $30 for each of us) but I gave him an excuse to not show up. Needless to say I’ll be doing the bare minimum until I find another job.