Brief context: I work for a privately-owned food truck in the Southeastern states. Employers were quick to earn my trust, but the more I’m learning as I go, the more I believe my nativity is possibly being used against me.
For starters, I am paid $15/hour, and receive roughly 30 hours a week, give or take. We also take customer tips. We as employees do not receive said tips; they go directly to owner (who mind your rarely if ever are present on the truck themselves, employees do most of the work or at very least the “hard” work). The option was presented to me that I could either A) work for a lower wage ($10/hr plus tips), or B) higher wage, no tips. I agreed to the latter as not all of the work involves customers, therefore, not always a tip involved.
I intend to do more digging later today as to just how much money we receive in tips to balance the fairness that I’m left questioning.
I only realized this may not be a fair break when I mentioned this situation to other vendors. The standard for truck service around these parts is apparently $15/hr plus tips. Their mouths dropped when I revealed our system of things. I had no idea.
Additionally, the work is very, VERY, miserably hot. I am talking 90+ degrees, on hot pavement, in what is essentially a hot metal box, surrounded by fryers and a grill. For the longest time, we did not have AC. Over months, I’ve found myself getting actually sick from dehydration, as I simply cannot hydrate enough for a job like this.
We have dead moments, I suppose these are considered “break periods”. But we are not given a guaranteed, 30-minute break in shifts. It is worth mentioning that most shifts are 5 hours or less and we can walk out for a smoke when we are slow, which most days is considerably often.
I have noticed a high turnover rate with this business as well, many past employees complaining about the same things I was started to piece together. I was also nearly fired on a whim for alleged “stealing” when some money went missing. I definitely didn’t steal and am pretty sure no one else did either, truly suspect this was a counting error as the number was exact in 00’s.
Additionally, we may have abrupt schedule changes… sometimes less than 24 hours in advance, where hours for a certain day may be cut or doubled. Worth mentioning that the owners are easy enough to work with, but based on past situations involving other employees, I am admittedly reluctant to “have problems”, so to speak.
Am I right to feel that I am being charmed into working harder for a lousy wage? And is my suspicion that I may be used as a scapegoat when I can’t meet the high standards of busting ass during genuine heat exhaustion valid?
I am disheartened, to say the least.