First of all, I'm sorry this is so long. It's part rant. But it's also part me asking for advice. So I hope you can hang in there with me, til the end. If not, don't make negative comments about how you couldn't read it all. Just scroll on. For those who DO read to the end, TIA.
Now, on to my post:
WHY do new managers think they know more than people who've been at the company for years? And WHY are THEY the ones the executives always listen to?? I've seen this happen over and over. Here, and in real life. And now it's happening to me.
So, I work in fast food. At a company, as I have said before, that is run by a clown-both figuratively and literally. Draw your own conclusions.
I've been in and around the business for almost 25 years, and I've been at my particular store for 2 and a half years. My store was always a great store. We're a tight-knit group of good people. We help each other out, and take care of each other. My coworkers are mostly great, and my managers, even the GM and DM, are AWESOME. They always have our backs, and they really care about us as people. I love them, and I love my regular customers. And they all love me, too.
When I first started there, it was a really chill, laid-back place. We had our stressful times, sure. But we also had a lot of fun. They gave out lots of different tee-shirts (I probably have at least 10 or more, and that's not counting the ones I missed out on because I was off the day they were given out-because corporate NEVER sent enough for everyone, for some reason, lol). They were much comfier than our regular uni shirts, and we could wear them anytime we wanted. Half the time, they didn't even care if someone came in, in a nonuniform shirt or hat. I myself wore my Inuyasha beanie one night, because I was in drive, and it was cold. We could listen to music on Bluetooth speakers, while we worked. We could even hit our pocket vapes in the store, so long as it was in the office or break room, and out of the customers' view. (Yes, I know vaping is bad, we shouldn't have done it inside, blah blah blah. Please spare me the lectures.) We had a lot of little freedoms like that.
But now, we have a new corporate manager. Well, okay, bear with me. There's the shift managers, then the GM, then the DM, then her boss Raphael, and then Raphael's boss. Raphael's boss is the one who's been replaced (well, I heard something about he “bought out” the guy he replaced, but I really don't know the specifics). Idk his name, but we'll call him… Ronald. Sure.
Anyway, Ronald is apparently a HUGE douchebag (my shift manager's own words). I haven't met him myself. But I'm told he's probably in his mid 30s, so 10 years younger than me. And he's one of those aholes who thinks he's going to revolutionize the company. One of those young, arrogant jerks who comes into a job and, after a month or two, and changes everything, because he thinks he knows WAY more than the people who've been there for literally YEARS, and that doing things HIS way will improve EVERYTHING. Even if it absolutely WON'T. Doesn't matter. HE'S calling the shots now. HE'S in charge.
And he is slowly sucking every bit of joy we ever had, out of this job.
First we were told we could no longer vape inside. Fair enough. We probably shouldn't ever have been doing so anyway.
Then our music got banned. That was partially our fault, because the idiot boys in the kitchen were listening to rap music, filled with F-bombs and n-bombs, and listening to it way too loud. Fine, whatever. We still use our ear buds (though I'm sure it's only a matter of time until that gets banned, too).
Next, we were told we can only wear our tee-shirts for one week, the week of the promotion they represented. I can maybe understand this for the Christmas shirts. But what about the shirts that don't represent any particular promotion? There are several of those. Didn't matter. THEN we were told we can ONLY wear our tee-shirts on Fridays and Saturdays, because those are “casual days”. It's fast food, not Gordon Ramsay's. It's ALWAYS casual. But no, through the week, we now have to wear our regular uniform shirts, horrible, hot, gray polyester abominations that are always FULL of static electricity and stick to your body. The ones that always smell like old fries, and hold and show grease stains worse than a diesel mechanic's hands, no matter how often you wash them, or what detergent you use.
They also told us corporate is going to be coming by a lot more often, and we have to start doing things exactly by the book, especially in the kitchen. Now, we have NEVER done anything seriously wrong. We've NEVER done anything that could hurt anyone, or was against health code. But anyone who's worked in food-service knows that you always find little shortcuts and workarounds, that help you move faster. Not anymore. And that has caused some of us to have to stop and rethink everything we do, before we do it, making us move slower.
On top of that, we now have to just keep taking one order after another, with no pause in between. You'd think this makes the line move faster. And sometimes it does. But often, it leads to the line becoming bogged down. The kitchen becomes overwhelmed. Then there's a tsunami of food at the bagger station, and the baggers become overwhelmed. Items get forgotten. People get overstressed. Things run a lot more smoothly, if we can take a occasional moment and pause, to let everyone catch up.
Now, and this is the worst thing, by far, they're saying they're going to start issuing write-ups, for every little infraction. For example, they want EVERY. SINGLE. ORDER. In the drive through, to be completed, from order to handout, or pull forward, in under 3 minutes. And they're saying if that doesn't happen, if there's a problem in drive, the person in front drive, the person in back drive, AND the shift manager, will ALL get written up!
Yes, we can pull every car. We can schedule enough staff-if we can keep staff-to make sure we keep up on fries, ice cream, and everything else. We can do everything we can, to make things run smoothly.
But there are a TON of things we can't control. Like customers who take forever to figure out what they want, and order it. Customers who are too busy looking at their phones to pull up when they're supposed to. Customers who take ages to dig out correct change so that, goddess forbid, they get a few pennies back. Customer who take 30 seconds, a minute, a minute and a half, trying to pull up a code on their stupid app (the cell reception around our store is terrible, for some reason), so they can make SURE they get that great deal, or even just earn points. I have literally had a customer keep me waiting, just so they could save 56¢ on two large sodas. I have had customers sit at the window, insisting that I help them make their app work-an app on which neither I, nor any of my coworkers, even most of the management, was given ANY training. And what about the impatient customers who refuse to wait at the speaker when I don't answer the very second they pull up (not thinking about the fact that I'm doing 3 or 4 things at once back there-not just sitting there on my hands waiting in anxious anticipation for THEIR special order), and pull to the window to order there, which knocks everything out of order? Or the ones who add on or change things when they get to the window? What about the fact that, after 2 changes, we have to call for a manager and wait for them to come back and authorize the 3rd? (Happens a lot, because of a customer wants fries instead of apples with their happy meal, we have to void the apples and add the fries. Two happy meals and a changed mind about a drink, and we have to call a manager.)
Point is, there's a lot that's out of our control. And they're telling me I'll get written up for that? They're telling us that if that happens in back drive, the front drive person will get a write-up? They're telling us that if the person up front doesn't pull someone, or if the customer takes too long taking their food, or refuses to move, or whatever, the back drive person will get a write-up?
And the manager gets written up for all of it?
How is that fair? Is that even legal? I mean, we're humans, not machines. We're not perfect. Things happen. We have no margin for error at all?
I still have to reread my employee handbook, because I'm told it was revised. (But that was just word of mouth. All of this is. We've received no memo or any other direct communication from Ronald. Just a downpour of “Oh, by the way” rule changes.) But I've already told my shift managers, and I quote, “If I'm gonna start getting written up for sh*t that's not my fault, then I want that in writing, so that when it happens, I can take it to the Labor Board.”
I just feel like, fast food is already a miserable job. I mean, I DO like my job. But yeah, it can be stressful, sweaty, greasy, frustrating, and exhausting. Those little freedoms we had, really helped make our days more tolerable. But they're being stripped away, one by one. Honestly, they're making so many new rules, and changing the existing rules, even more than once, faster than I can keep up with.
So what are my rights, here? What should I do?
And please don't say, “Just leave.” I love my store, and I love my coworkers and regulars, and they love me. And this job has been better about working with my neurodivergency, than any other place I've EVER worked. So I don't want to leave yet. I will, if I have to. But I have to get some ducks in a row, first. And I want to give it at least a few weeks, to see how it all plays out.
Meantime, I will document everything I can, and I will download a voice recorder app on my phone, in case I get called into the office for any reason (I live in the US, in a one-party consent state). And I will work on getting an official diagnosis for my possible autism, which would give me a bit of protection.
But IS this new write-up policy even legal? IF I get a write-up, should I refuse to sign? Is there anything I can do, overall?
I really feel like, if they start writing everyone up for every little thing (and I really believe this may happen, as I've already seen several people pulled into the office), we'll lose half our workforce or more. And we just got it built up again, after being HORRIBLY short-handed for months.
This is what happens when upper management has either never worked in the trenches, like we do. Or they've been out of the trenches so long, that they forget what it's like.
They should ask US, if they want to know what would really work. If they want to know what changes would actually improve things. After all, we're intimately familiar with the ins and outs of the daily routine.
But they don't care about us. We're just dumb peons at the bottom of the food chain. What do we know? I mean, they listen to customer complaints, more than they listen to us.
This is NOT how you build morale. This is NOT how you keep happy employees. This is NOT how you run things smoothly and efficiently.
This is how you make your workers miserable. This is how you drive away good, loyal employees. This is how you create a HUGE turnover rate. This is how you get a reputation for being a horrible place to work, and become unable to hire or keep enough staff.
But somehow, they think that this is the answer. They think that they need to micromanage grown, adult employees about which uniforms they can wear, on what days. They think they need to tell people who've been doing their jobs every day for years, how to do the jobs they've been doing every day for years.
Even though they themselves have only been with the company a few months.
And then they can't understand why their people are unhappy. They're surprised when everyone quits. Even though everyone else saw it coming, from miles away
All in the hope of saving a few precious seconds, and making a few extra pennies of profit.
Because those pennies really matter to a company that, in 2020 alone, made $12.5 BILLION dollars gross profit.
Corporate greed makes me f***ing SICK.
Half of me wants to pull off my apron and shirt, hand them over, tell the company to get f***ed, and walk out in my sports bra, throwing duces, with my head held high, and a smile on my face, lol.
But I do need a job. I do love my people. I HATE the thought of starting all over again somewhere new, and having to learn a whole new menu and system. And I don't want to sabotage myself, or my chances at getting another job.
So WHAT can I do?? IS there anything??
If you made it this far, thank you so muchfor reading, and I appreciate any and all advice.
And please, no negative posts. I'm well aware of the stigma associated with my industry. And it might not be a glamorous job. But it's an honest day's work. Fast food workers are people too, a lot of them good people, just like anyone else, just trying to raise families and pay bills. And YES, they DO deserve to be able to do that. Besides, I don't need anymore negativity right now. I have enough going on as it is.
And for the love of goddess, no wisecracks about the ice cream machine. That “joke” is old and tired. I hear it literally ALL the time, and I'm sick of it. And it's a discussion for a completely different thread. Just don't go there.
If you've got nothing nice to say, do like your momma taught you, just scroll on, and don't say anything at all.
Thanks.