SO, I interviewed for a car Wash position at Buc-ee’s. *If you Live in the south then you definitely know what Buc-ee’s is. If you don’t, there basically all over the South in honestly probably some of the biggest gas stations in the US.
When I arrived, it was already interesting because they told me to go straight to the car wash area not the main Store. They had the car wash shut down that day, because they were putting in new tracks. So they had me wait outside while they finished another interview. I found it interesting that what look like either a HS kid or at least a young 20’s Adult was operating a very powerful welding tool. Like sparks flying everywhere and everything. Just found it very strange that they would allow a regular employee to do this.
After waiting 10-15 minutes outside the interview before me walked out, he was wearing like a baggy T-Shirt and anime shorts I think. (No actual reason for this detail, but it’ll make sense later on)
I go in and I’m being interviewed in the mangers office. When he called me he said he’d be interviewing me but he also had his assistant manager in there. Not something that hasn’t happened to me before, but I was little thrown off guard.
They did look at my resume a little bit, but when I say bare minimum. Like I mean he scanned over it. They talked about a ton about the job and the very minor details. I was very professional and dressed in all black with dress shoes. I still barely talked though, they would literally talk for 15-20 minutes before I could say anything and interrupted me a ton. They would get side tracked a lot, but they mainly were trying to convince to me like the job.
What I mean by that is, The hardest part about this whole interview is that they just kept listing the most STRICT rules about working there. If anyone has worked at Buc-ees im sure they can give you a more In detail look on what it’s actually like.
But here’s some things I was told.
- 8-10 hour shifts 5x a week (I couldn’t remember which one it was exactly) And during those shifts, you could not be on your phone whatsoever. This might sound normal to some people’s jobs, but what I was told exactly was. If they see you pull your phone out, Even checking the time. It’s an automatic termination. Yeahhhh… no warning or anything. And I was told even during an emergency they still didn’t except you to have your phone on. Your “person” calling with an emergency had to call the store office phone only. Again, if this wasn’t followed. Automatic termination.
- You’re only allowed a 15 minute break. This was nuts to me, but I swear to god this is a OSHA violation. Also considering I’m pretty sure they said they were 10 hour shifts. Also consider that this particular job requires being outside all day. In the Heat all day.
- The job itself did start out at $19/HR. But I even asked and you got absolutely zero discounts on any food or drinks in the store itself. I do believe they did give discounts on the carwash and they gave you a hydroflask type thing for unlimited drinks throughout your shift. But still, off shift zero discounts on drinks.
- “Late policy.” So I’m sure everyone knows about like a punch-in clock. Most basic job environments have them. And so did Buc-ees. Well according to these guys, if you clocked in even 1 minute late. That was a write up, and the system automatically does it, mangers don’t do it anything. Just an automatic strike, doesn’t matter if there’s a solid reason. Automatic strike. 3 Strikes = termination. And I think you could only clock in like 2-3 minutes early too. Something like that.
- So the crazy part about this job was that what these guys were saying that mainly was involved in the job was heavy maintenance and using heavy machinery to fix things. They said they would teach me over time, etc, etc. But like I said in the beginning I saw a whole kid welding a medal ladder outside with like the cheapest face mask on and I have to imagine no kind welding experience at all.
Here is where it gets WEIRD. So this whole time my finance was waiting in the car did me. This interview lasted about over an hour. Probably longer. After it was over I of course was thinking “Thank God” cause I was ready to RUN.
But the assistant manager then proceeds to tell me we’re going to meet the owner of the Gas Station store itself. Like okay, I guess. But I thought it was going to be a quick meeting like this is just a normal thing they do.
After I left, another interview walked out. With again terrible attire.
Turns out the owner was busy. So the Assistant Store manager was going to meet with me instead but said it would be about 15 minutes. The Car Wash assistant manager then proceeds to leave me there waiting by the soda section. So I’m just pacing inside the store looking like a weirdo.
I finally meet this assistant store manager. We went in the back and he basically had no idea if I had even interviewed with the car wash managers yet. And basically was trying to repeat the whole policy to me ALL OVER AGAIN. Definitely not wanting that, I cut him short a lot and really didn’t care if I was being a little rude. This is was starting to irritate me.
THEN. After basically just “agreeing” that all the rules sound fair. I was taken to the HR department to start my training… I CAME HERE FOR AN INTERVIEW. He passed me off to them and said “congratulations” as of that’s what was happening. And as much as my thought was to get the hell away from this Cult like company, I was more so worried about how long my finance was having to wait in the car. We were getting close to 3 hours now.
The HR lady was trying to get me set up on the computer and trying to log me in and there was a girl next to me watching training videos. So of course my first thought was “bro they’re really about to make me start this right now” So of course I spoke up and said “I’m sorry there seems be a lot of confusion. I haven’t even been hired yet. No one told me anything” She was pretty rude answering “I’m well aware of that, we’re just setting up a date for you to start your training.” She then handed me a paper with like dress code stuff, etc. And the paper literally said “you’re hired!” After this, I finally left…
Crazy part is. I applied to that position like 8-9 months before this interview. So when he called and interviewed me my resume was not very updated at all and I just had to make stuff up on the spot.
That car wash manager called 3-4 hours later and told me I got the job in an excited voice. I told them I’d take the job, and never showed up to be petty after that awful experience.
My theory to this day is that they immediately try to hire me because I dressed what I figured was just appropriate for any interview. This may be a crazy theory. But it’s the only logic thing I can think of.