Quit my daycare job after just 3 months.
This was my first job as I'm 20f. Honestly looking back it was giving red flags from the interview.
I had applied to this job the day previous (was looking for a job that would let me study on the side) and they called me at 10 am Monday morning asking if I could come in for an interview at 11am.
Being naive I agreed and showed up at the daycare. Where they left me standing around for 30 minutes for the manager to show up, didn't even offer me a seat. When the manager showed up she took me to the staff room and handed me a paper application and made me fill it out . (I had already applied online)
After that we had the usual interview questions in the main office with the owner. They then asked me if I'd be willing to come in the next day for a “practical interview”. Aka work for free.
So they could see if I was a good fit for the job (which paid £7 per hour as per national minimum wage for someone my age).
I should have picked up on this red flag at the time but I unfortunately didn't.
Anyway I show up, “interview” goes fine and they offer me the job. They hand me the employment contract to sign at home and I see a bunch of red flags.
1) I'll only be paid minimum wage for my age (online it said £10+)
2) if I want to quit I need to give 4 weeks notice (they only need to give me 1 week notice)
3) must give 4 weeks notice for requesting time off.
4) 30 mins unpaid lunch break.
I show up the next day for my first day of work, after not really wanting to work there because of them lying about the wage. And the deputy manager opens the door and demands my phone, I ask her why and she tells me there's a no phone policy. Which they hadn't mentioned before.
Not even allowed to be on your phone in the break room during your unpaid break.
Less than a month into this job I was called into the office because they wanted me to transfer to the Preschool room. Because the employee they hired to be a 1-1 for a child with a severe disability had quit. (we were hired the same week).
I was under the impression this child had a mild case of autism, from the way the manager and owner described them. Which turned out not to be the case (not the kid's fault).
I let the owners know I wasn't comfortable being responsible for a child who's disability I was not trained to support however they tried to tell me to “hang in there, support us for now”. I was getting fed up and put my foot down.
“One to one carers get £10+ per hour, if you want me to do this, you need to pay me £10 per hour”
The owner and manager then back peddled and said I didn't need to worry about the child anymore and that a more senior employee would be responsible for them.
After that the manager tried to pull a few power moves such as trying to make me come in at 8am, when I lived 1 hour away and would have to wake up at 5:30 am to be on time.
So glad I no longer work for that hell hole.