I just wanted to share with everyone my recent experience in starting a job at my local Wendy's franchise, to inform people of why Wendy's may be a bad choice, as well as a reminder for why we're all here. This is a bit of a doozy, I'll try to keep it short, but I want to make sure I don't forget anything either. I'll start at the beginning…
The Interview:
I got the job after calling to ask if they were hiring. My local Wendy's has multiple signs up that state they're hiring at $18 an hour. Awesome I thought! I wanted to work there to encourage other businesses to raise their hiring rate, plus it'd be a good chunk of money while I prepare to move. I go in after calling and talk to the Manager, who is super nice, answers all my questions, and confirms that $18 is the starting rate, that one free meal is covered a day, etc.. I tell her I have over a Decade of experience in this field, so I basically I don't need training except for the basic “Where is everything” sort of thing. She tells me she's excited to work with me since I'm so experienced in it, but I still have to watch the training videos just to say I did. I tell her that's fine, and she tells me I just have to talk to the General Manager to confirm some final details, and then I can start whenever.
This is where it all starts going south.
The General Manager comes over. I ask him the same questions, but instead of getting outright answers, he's super dodgy about everything, doesn't give any straight answers, and overall seems less than trustworthy. Eventually I get to the point of asking him about the Payrate, and his response is “Well…That's really more of a Promotion we're doing to get people in. We're just doing it for a little while, before we drop it back to Minimum.” Yes, for those of you asking, that Includes the people that get hired on at $18.
Cue Red Flag #1.
But, I need the money, and I figure that I can milk the $18 for the short time its there. I agree to take the job, and get told to come in at 11 the next day for training.
Dawn of The First Day:
I show up at 11 to work, and have to call the store to be let in. The General Manager greets me, and takes me to the back to start putting in my information. While he's doing so, I'm sitting right behind him….And see him list my payrate at “$16” an hour.
Red Flag #2.
Absolutely not what we agreed on, but I figure maybe it's a typo, or maybe it's a “Training is at $16, once you're done with that you kick up to $18” situation. I keep my mouth shut for the time being, and let the GM finish putting everything in. He sits me at the computer, and gives me a list of training videos to watch, and then leaves to go work on the floor.
Training Time:
All the videos are blatant Pro-Wendy's Propaganda. Didn't expect much else honestly, but its shocking how little they tried to hide it. Everything is about how Wendy's is the best place to work, how “You WILL be successful if you work here”, etc. I've worked at a number of big corporate chains before, and they all have videos like these, but Wendy's is really the first time it was so blatantly obvious they were just trying to make themselves look good. After about two hours of watching 'training' videos, I decide to pull out my phone to text my Wife and ask her about Dinner plans. The GM then pushes open the door and loudly clears his throat, saying “So are you actually going to Train today, or just sit on your Phone and waste time all day?” I tell him that I am on my phone, but I'm also almost halfway done with the training, and have gotten 100% on all the Tests its given me so far. He says “I don't care. Put your phone away, Now.” And proceeds to storm back into the restaurant. I've been working here for 2 hours, and the GM has already raised his voice over something miniscule.
Red Flag #3
Break Time:
Three Hours after starting, I get asked if I'm hungry and want to take a Break. I say sure, put on a jacket to cover my Wendy's shirt, and go to the front counter. I put in an order for a Combo Meal, and the GM stops me. “No no no” He says, “You're covered for up to $6 a day.” Six Dollars is barely enough for a Sandwich at this location, plus I had been told that an entire Meal was covered the day before.
Red Flag #4.
I take a sandwich, sit down and eat for a 30 Minute Unpaid break, and then go back to work. Over what would be an almost 11 hour shift, this is the ONLY break I get all day.
Back To Work:
I go back to work, and get pulled from the Training Videos. I am now training on Drive-Thru, and have one of the other employees training me. She gives me a very fast once over of the Computer System, let's me look over her shoulder for an hour or so, and then sets me loose on my own with her looking over my shoulder. Every time a Customer gave me their order, she would parrot it back to me. On longer orders this would result in myself getting lost, as she would parrot the first part of the order back at me while the Customer was giving me the second part of the order. She'd then get frustrated that I wasn't keeping up, and start getting snotty/short with what she'd say to me. When looking for items on the Computer, if I didn't find them fast enough, she'd grab my wrist and pull my hand to where it needed to be. Apparently, she had only trained two other people in her time there, and (my memory is a bit foggy on this bit) at least one of them quit afterword. She said that she didn't think it was her, after all the GM had a habit of yelling at people for doing things wrong, like for instance, having a Drink at the Drive-Thru or spraying out dishes in Sink 2 instead of Sink 1 (Both are dish Sinks that are right next to each other).
Red Flag #5.
At this point, I realize that no one has spoken to me about my schedule. I don't know when I get off for the day, nor have I talked to anyone about the rest of the week. I check the posted schedule, and I'm not listed anywhere on it. The GM has all but disappeared, so I ask the Manager and Assistant GM if they know when I'm off for the day. Apparently, that's the GM's decision, and he hasn't told either of them anything about my schedule for the day, or for the week.
Red Flag #6.
The Day Continues:
I work for a few more hours, keeping my eyes out for the GM so I can ask what my schedule is. To this point, I've been assuming 7pm since that would be 8 Hours after I started. By now, I've been tasked with running Drive-Thru, and doing all the Dishes at the same time. There's never a point where I'm able to talk to the GM, because I either don't know where he is, or I can't break away from what I'm doing to speak to him. As I hit 7 hours for the day, he leaves without saying anything to me, and I'm left with no idea what my shift for the day is, or what I'm working for the rest of the week. I ask the Assistant GM again, on the off chance the GM talked to her before he left, but she has no idea what I'm working, and assumes I'm supposed to stay till the store closes at 8PM. Whatever, I figure. It's more money for me at the end of the day, so I'll just do it.
But still. Red Flag #7.
Closing Time:
8PM rolls around, and I start gathering my things and get ready to leave. Turns out, Closing time for the STORE is at 8PM, but Employees are supposed to stay until 9PM to get everything cleaned and taken care of. No one had told me this, and again, I hadn't had a break or anything to eat for about 7 hours at this point. As the new person, my job for Closing is Dishes, which is scrubbing down every dish in the store, soaking it in cleaner, scrubbing it down again, soaking in Sanitizer, then rinsing it off and setting it aside. Doesn't sound too horrid, though when I say “every dish”, I mean EVERY dish. Everything in the store gets torn apart and washed, plus the Fry trap where all the grease and burned fries end up has to be scraped clean. While this isn't bad at $18 an hour, I remember that this job is typically expected of a Minimum Wage worker.
Red Flag #8
Time to Clock Out:
The shift finally ends at around 9:30PM, almost 11 hours after starting with one break just a few hours in. I take off my Uniform, and hand it to the Assistant GM, telling her that I'm not coming back in the next day. She asks why I feel the need to quit, and I explain everything that's happened the entire day. From Pay being put in wrong, to bad training, to the GM snapping over something unimportant and not telling me what I work, etc. She explains the Payrate being marked as $16 instead of $18 is an issue with their computer, and that they aren't allowed to pay Crew Members $18 an hour, but she insisted it'd be reflected on my paycheck. I've experienced this sort of “pay reflection” on Paychecks before. You get marked at $16 an hour paywise, with a $2 an hour “Bonus” attached to it. Seems fine at first glance, but when they do this, you don't get the correct Overtime pay and end up being shafted out of money you earned, not to mention the issue that apparently they aren't even able to put in a Crew Member at $18 an hour. Additionally, she says that the GM is “Just kinda like that” and snaps at everyone when they do something wrong, and it's really not out of the ordinary for him to not tell someone their schedule.
That's Red Flags like, #9-#14.
I hand over my stuff and tell them I'm done, and then leave for the night. The next morning, I get a text from the GM asking where I am, and why I haven't shown up for work. Apparently, he wasn't told I had quit.
Red Flag #15.
TL;DR
Wendy's offers $18 an hour to work there, swaps it to $16 an hour once you start, has overly-propaganda-y training, hires and promotes people who don't tell you your schedule and yell over the littlest thing, and there's effectively 0 communication between management at store level.
DON'T WORK AT WENDY'S. They need to understand that this is NOT how to treat people if they want employees.