So, I won't get into it much, but I wasn't supposed to be placed in the Fast-food industry to begin with. The American Special Needs service Vocational Rehab is how I ended up there (that Counselor is another key to this mess).
I won't say the name of the corporate entity, given my disability situation secured by the government terrifies me, but you know the taglines. “Quality Over Quantity.” “Always Fresh, Never Frozen.”
Yeah, it's utter garbage, I knew it would be that way somewhat, but I didn't know how much that would be the case.
This wouldn't be regarded as personal information as this impacts every aspect of my life, but I also have extremely poor circulation of blood to my extremities (fingers, toes) called Raynaud's Syndrome. With a combination of being diagnosed with Juvenile Primary Fibromyalgia (a musculoskeletal condition that spreads pain across virtually every part of the body that is muscle, joint, and soft tissue related), spondylitis, Undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy, and Raynaud's, amongst many other issues. Needless to say, the fact the job I gained was morning shift Salad Making, should say a lot about what I had been dealing with, regarding ignorance.
It was December, and I was 18. I had this shift before the place even opened. My Voc Rehab Counselor [ I'll call her Narcy, for obvious reasons] was there to help for two of the needed days, as stated, but there was literally more days she was supposed to be helping me. But after 2 weekend morning shifts, she didn't even show up. Giving no warning. No text. No call. Only the people at the fast food place knew. I literally was informed that the Managers' son [I'll call him Sonny] (Who was working there, in a Corporate Setting) was going to be filling me in.
It was 2 people, with over 200 things to do, in the span of 2 hours, for two days in a row. Most of the time, was spent in the cold of the freezer, the back of the kitchen right next to it, and the times I'd have to wait outside till the door opened or when I would get picked up, in Freezing snow. My joints. My muscles. My nerves (literally and figuratively) felt like I was some broken animatronic or a somewhat moving ice sculpture. Constantly electrocuted with cold shocks and going numb.
At the same time, Sonny complains, without my knowledge (because Narcy isn't speaking to me, nor my own mother, by that point), to his own mother, about my lack of effort. Now I watched the tapes, I read the instructions, and I assume that I'd be getting equal treatment, until an intern was brought in to help and did the first thing I was taught not to do. Having the salad container upside down. I obviously point it out but Sonny says it's fine. At this point, I realize the tapes are a lie. The founder's intent wasn't being respected and the quality of a lot of the salad item were sketchy as ever. Sometimes they'd only dump out the old lettuce before putting a new thing of lettuce into the storage. No cleanout. Nothing. This was all before covid, but I still have to acknowledge it.
But here's the issue.
Narcy hadn't gotten any update. She didn't contact me to get the updates.
I was STUCK there till I saw her again.
Once I did, the excuse to why she wasn't there, I just gave up because of it. No explanation for not contacting me or my mom (still my guardian since I graduated Highschool at 19) and simply saying “It was a medical emergency.” The only thing that was wrong with her was her nose was broken and that had a cast on it, but that type of pain doesn't last till late January!
Need I remind you all. Musculoskeletal conditions and low blood flow in a below freezing environment for 4 hours each weekend!
She may have broken her nose, but the amount of work that I wasn't even supposed to be doing, made all my bones feel like they were getting more and more brittle. Each weekend in agony, while I was still in Highschool at the time.
When I finally broke down in front of my mother, she asked if I just needed to quit. She has a lot of the same issues that I do, and was the one who instructed Narcy to not get me a fast food position. I only trusted Narcy because I had assumed she would help me.
I told my mom and I just walked up to the back metal door, on the shift day, and just told the Manager “I'm quitting. I can't take this anymore. I did everything as asked in both tapes, and training.”
The manager said to me “Oh, okay. Well at least you have your pay from this past month, because I've been getting complaints and I was close to firing you.”
That is why I'm absolutely terrified of even attempting to get a normal job again. It would all be for nothing, even if I don't know it.