After searching since September, I finally heard back from an employer in my field of study at a gym. I jumped on it, and interviewed quite well if I’m being honest. They hire me the same day and ask me to come in the next morning for training, to which I agree.
Before going any further, just a note that I was just asked to come in at a time – never told when I’d be leaving. I come in, and the shift begins with me standing behind the manager of the gym at the front desk for ~15 minutes. There were breaks between duties in which he just paused and stared. Still didn’t acknowledge me. After the 15 minutes, he began “training” me. This consisted of a brief tour of the facility, followed by giving me a horrendously beat up laptop with a webpage open. I just had to click through the new team member modules and read them, but per his instruction “just skim through them, I’ll help you with the quiz on them after, it’s real easy”. While I’m doing that, he pulls me aside multiple times to explain how to sell a membership to a customer, the highlight of which was something to the tune of “whatever they say, use it to make our membership sound like it’s a perfect fit” – so effectively just bold face lie to them. Got it.
By this time a little more than an hour and a half has gone by, in which I finished like 70% of the “training” articles. He has me watch a fellow desk associate work for about 20 more minutes while he dawdles around behind the desk like before, selling a customer a membership in between. He comes back and says “Ok, so you can finish up that training and the quiz at home before you come in tomorrow” to which i confusedly agree and start to head out. Only two hours in. Until i remember I never clocked in or out. I ask the assistant manager “training is paid right?” And she said, “Training?” Uhhh… yeah the thing I just did, training? She goes “Uh, oh yeah, let me write that down.” And i leave.
First day of “employment”/training, and I was never made aware of my pay rate, taxes, procedures, requirements, scheduling – never saw an official document, never given more than 10 minutes of personal focus beyond hammering in how to lie to clients, and I had to ask about things that should be covered on day one of a job. Oh, and I also was given TRAINING to do for a brand new job at home. By myself. Off the clock.
Best believe I quit before my second shift.