Please forgive me for any spelling mistakes. I'm writing this at 1am.
I'm a 19 yo who is trying their best to save up money for an apartment.
It took 6 months and 36 job applications before I finally got my first job. I was a dinner cook at a nursing home.
The job interview was already sketchy. They had me fill out a 10-page paper packet because they “had all people who apply online do a paper one”. There were parts of it that I didn't understand, but when I asked the front desk lady about it, she said that I would have to ask the hiring manager. When I asked how I could do that, I was told that I couldn't because I wasn't allowed to talk to the hiring manager until I finished the packet. I was stuck in this weird loop hole and ended up leaving it blank. I was the 1:30 interview, but they let the 2:00 person go before me. Then they handed my paper application off to some CNA who just stood there holding it for 20 minutes while she talked to her friends. After she finally dropped my application off, I got to do the interview where they saw that I had a certificate saying I could work in kitchens (ServSafe). I originally came in for a hostess job, but they wanted me to work as a evening dinner cook in the kitchen, which paid a dollar more. So I took that job.
Next was Orientation. I spent 3 hours filling out a 41-page packet while watching videos about elder abuse and chemical spills. It took forever. I also had to get tested for COVID and TB.
Then there was the actual first day of work. The lady who was supposed to be training me had a terrible migraine and would say things like “I don't know why I have a mirgraine” but would then go off saying things about how she had been working nonstop 16-hour days for 2 weeks straight. Anyway, she told me I would have a ton of responsibilities such as cooking, making the drinks, making extra snacks, sorting meal tickets which were pieces of paper that had the nursing home's residents' names, pictures, room numbers, food dislikes, and how they eat their food (regular, mechanical aka already chewed, or puree aka baby food), swapping out the sanitizing water and charting it after checking the PH, charting the freezer and fridge temps, deconstructing all the used trays (taking apart plates, cups, bowls, dumping out food, etc), washing all the dishes, putting all the dishes away, taking out the trash, preparing food for days laters, serving out all the food, and cleaning the dining room. The thing is, my supervisor wasn't actually showing me how to do most of it. She would do it herself, very fast mind you, and would just hope that I would figure it out. She didn't tell me when do to anything either. There were no set instructions for anything. She kept saying things like “This is how I do it. V does it differently. It's just one of those preference things.” I was told I was supposed to have one 15 minute break I could take whenever I wanted, one 30 minute lunch break, and one 10 minute break after the dinner rush. But I was “being trained” aka watching my supervisor through these breaks. I wasn't allowed to touch anything, even when were just serving the food. All I did was clean.
Day two was different. My supervisor had handed me off to a coworker, let's call her V, and said that she wanted V to train me because my supervisor didn't want to and wasn't planning even trying until the next week. V had done my entire job before I clocked in (even though I clocked in 20 minutes early). V had cooked mostly everything, sorted meal tickets, prepared other meals for later in the week, etc. The only thing I got to do was swap out the water. When I got there, they had nothing for me to do and wanted me to take my 15 minute break as soon as possible. I didn't take it and just stood around the kitchen until someone would give me dishes to clean. Then the lunch dishes would come in, the lunch shift would clock out and leave, and my remaining coworkers and I were left to wash dishes for 2 1/2 hours, which means that I worked through my scheduled 30 minute lunch break. After that, I was lost with no direction again. V would continue cooking the remaining dinner while she wouldn't let me help. Instead, she or another coworker would have me do something small like roll silverware that wasn't my job and was actually a lady known as a Float's job. They wouldn't let me cook or teach me to cook at all. Then they served dinner, of which I was only allowed to watch, and then I would have to clean and do the dishes again for at least 2 1/2 to 3 more hours.
Day three was the same as the second one. V would do my job for me. I washed a ton of dishes. They had me cleaning through breaks. The usual. However, they finally let me touch food. The Float let me slice tomatoes for 1 1/2 hours, but then I had to stop because they wanted me to watch them serve dinner again. Other than that, I was still just a glorified cleaner.
On the last day, two of my coworkers were off. That meant I was stuck with my supervisor and V. V was, again, ignoring me and cooking without me. My supervisor kept me doing dishes. She started to let me interact with the residents, but they were annoying. We had one lady who kept trying to pull down and break the coffee machine. Anyone lady insisted I was her neighbor and was mad that I “changed my name” and got furious when the other staff tried to explain that I couldn't be her neighbor because her neighbor had an 18 year old son and I was only 19; the lady insisted we were lying and started screaming at us. Anyway, the other two coworkers had done everything for their jobs the day before. V was doing my job. I had nothing to do. I eventually got tired of asking and just sat down in our tiny break room that only had one chair in it. I sat there for over an hour before my supervisor popped in and asked what was wrong. I told her that I liked it when I was given instructions but no one was telling me anything. She got mad and said that I shouldn't expect that from any job except maybe fast-food. I also admitted that I wasn't very happy in the work and might quit in a week or two. She said she understood but hoped I would change my mind. She left me alone for 20 minutes before she came back in tears and said that she wanted me to quit and leave right then because “I can't pay you to sit around doing nothing”. I asked her if there was anything for me to do, and no, there wasn't. So I said “Guess I quit then” and left.
I'm glad I did. There were so many things that just weren't right. Even though we were in a kitchen, I was one of the only ones that consistently washed my hands or cleaned off countertops. We didn't clean things properly. We had a thermometer to check the temps of food before we served it. We were supposed to clean the thermometer between each food item with a sanitized wipe, but instead my supervisor and V only used a plain paper towel and said they only use wipes when State visits. We also sent out burgers at 120 degrees on day 1, which is bad because ground beef is supposed to be around 160.
Her and my other coworkers were very creepy. It felt like a cult. Most of them had been working there longer than I had been alive. They would go on about how their current job at the nursing home is the best job they've ever had and they never dreamed of having a different job. They kept saying things about how I was perfect for the new job because I was “young and moldable”.
Afterwards, I ended up being judged and told that I can't/shouldn't quit by a desk lady when I tried to leave, two random CNAs I had never met before that happened to be standing by, the hiring manager, and the Super Attendant. They eventually had me sign a thing saying that I was willingly quitting before they let me leave.
They ended up holding my paycheck for two weeks, even though I called them three times asking about it. When I finally got it, they had taken off 25% of it. I was expecting some for taxes, but not that much. I found a calculator online, and according to it, even if I was taxed federal, state, social security, everything, I was still at least $20 short. So they were underpaying me. One of my friends suggested I was given a fee for quitting in the first two weeks, but I wasn't told about such a fee.
Either way, I'm glad I'm not working there anymore.