Buckle up boys and girls, it’s a long one.
Summerset Senior Living is a terrible establishment, and I would refuse to work here regardless of the pay, which is also abysmal. I worked in the kitchen department, where I worked with people like (full names redacted) J, A, and C along with the servers, who were constantly changing. C is the worst boss anyone could be cursed with. He tries to pretend that he’s an easygoing person who wants to help you grow and learn in your career, when in reality he’s a micromanager who can barely keep the kitchen running by himself, or with help. He also refuses to staff the kitchen correctly in order to line his own pockets, which directly hurts the residents. There was no training provided under his supervision. My first day, I was “trained” by their Senior server, and that training only lasted a day. They expect entry-level applicants to be ready for the job as soon as they walk in. Somehow, he’s still not the worst person on this team.
That honour goes to J, one of the line cooks. She is, by all accounts, an ab*sive employee. She will move things out of your locker and move her stuff in it, follow you to the bathroom and yell at you through the door, scream (yes, scream) at you in front of residents for things like putting a spatula in the wrong bin, and command you to use and serve spoiled or unusable food, which can and will result in a fatality. I don’t think the residents want to experience screaming and rotten fruit as they’re trying to enjoy the edible parts of their meals.
There is also the issue of inaction with other ab*sive employees. While working here, I had an employee, K, un-do my work and threaten me and a caregiver. I spoke to other servers about him and they said that this is normal for him, and that he was transferred from the memory care building for this kind of behaviour. I don’t understand why someone like this would be kept on the team, especially since he would mock residents’ choices and mannerisms as he was walking away, sometimes within earshot of the resident. C was aware of what he was doing, and still decided that he was a good fit to work with vulnerable populations.
Servers are generally unwilling to help each other, so do not expect to actually work “as a team.” It will never happen. You will be left on your own, and hit with consequences for things other servers did. Employee I was especially guilty of not wanting to help others.
Then there was the COVID-19 outbreak in Dec. 2021 from employees being forced to work while sick and not wearing masks. Dozens of residents fell ill, and every resident had to spend Christmas locked in their rooms. I was exposed to COVID-19 about 8-12 times in 4 days. This rate of exposure was unacceptable due to the fact that all of those people were known positives, and management just didn’t tell us before we dropped food off to their rooms. I was lucky to make it out of that without getting COVID-19. Others weren’t so lucky.
All in all, this facility is terrible for residents and employees. I hope a major lawsuit takes this place out of senior care for good.