Title. Sorry if this kind of post isn't allowed.
It was pretty hard because I'm barely 20, have no prior experience and .. let’s say my education background “isn’t promising to potential employers”. But back in April, I finally got one! A barista for a little local place that serves desserts and coffee. I thought I was going in for an interview with someone (let’s call her C), turns out she hired me on the spot. Bit of a red flag but whatever. I was happy to finally have a job after hearing nothing back from anywhere else for months on end. Met the other 6 people they hired, too.
I worked my first shift end of April, trained by another manager, (let’s call her K) and everything went great. K told me during the shift she already did the schedule for next week so I’d be on the one after. Okay, fine. That week comes and I hear nothing. Okay, I message her and she says it’s actually the week after. …Okay, fine. K had to train all of the other hires too, so I felt it was no big deal.
I finally worked my second shift May 17th. K was out running errands for the store the entire time and spent maybe 20 minutes of a 5 hour shift actually training me. C was training me instead. It went fine, I did fine. I ended up having to to stay an hour after because the morning shift didn't finish cleaning dishes before they left like they were meant to. K finally comes back ~10 mins before my shift was originally supposed to end, but instead of teaching me how to close the store she spends the rest of the time I’m there making drinks for C and the owner. ok. whatever. just a bad shift.
After that it was radio fucking silence. I tried to give the benefit of the doubt (my mistake!) because of course things would be disorganized, there’s another even bigger location opening soon! May goes by… half of June goes by.. no shifts, no pay.
So I text C on June 18th finally to ask about my paycheck and why I'm not getting any shifts (this will be important later!). She asks what hours I worked and which days. I tell her. Left on read for 6 days until I bugged her about it again. C says “Sorry, I forgot. I’m out of the office until Monday, I can help you then.” …Oookay. I hear nothing Monday, so I remind her on Tuesday to look into it. On June 27th she says she will! As you might have guessed by now: more crickets.
So July 2nd I bother her again, (mentioning that I don’t want to have to make it a legal issue) and immediately get “I’ll have an answer for you on Wednesday.” On Wednesday, July 5th, I get “I should know something tomorrow.” After that she didn’t contact me again until this last Monday, July 17th. So much for tomorrow. C says she has my check and we can arrange a time for me to come get it. I reply Thursday, to even more crickets.
Today, I go to see if I can actually get my check. C isn't there. There's a NOW HIRING sign on the door. The girl working there says that C was there and had left. I overhear someone (presumably a newer manager of some sort) in the back who I don't recognize… mention that they don't recognize my name and they didn't even know I worked there. …Okay? I still don't get my fucking check.
C tells me over text that she 'forgot to hit send' in reply to me saying I could pick up my check on Thursday. She says she doesn't have my check today (what happened to 'We have your check'???) and won't be able to even meet with me at all today. She'll 'be in touch as soon as she can confirm a time that she'll be there with my check.'
At this point I was just pissed. I mentioned the Now Hiring sign being up despite the fact that I apparently had to ask for shifts. I mentioned the lady who said she didn't even recognize my name. I mentioned how disrespected I felt as an employee and the fact that I had contacted the Labor Department (which I did really do, several days ago)
And this is what I get in response 2 hours later:
I don't have a voicemail from that date.
I'm so fucking done.