I worked a fuck-awful kitchen job for about 5-6 months. My previous workplace was so bad that it could have been on Kitchen Nightmares (and honestly… should be). So much workplace abuse, such unsafe working conditions, so much sexism, attempted to pay me significantly less than minimum wage, constant blame and shame from owners over their own negligence, fearing for my physical safety almost every shift, being spite-scheduled, having my hours cut drastically, endless mould: fuck-awful sums it up.
After quitting I was almost immediately hired at a competitor business – both businesses are food/bev, this new job is with a franchise (vs the mom-n'-pop I worked at previously). I figured a big franchise may be better- chains of command that I can rely on to solve workplace issues, opportunity for growth and promotion, less owner-whim-demands with the food/drink because the menu has to adhere to the company specifications – I thought it'd be better. It's not.
They pay me quite a bit less than the lowest advertised wage on their job listing, and weren't honest about the actual wage you could expect to get. They're also paying me below my state's minimum wage. Going through this twice in one year feels like a nightmare.
They state on their employee expectation pages that “Pay should NEVER be discussed between employees, sharing and discussing wages is an employee write-up” (pretty sure that's illlleeeegaaaallll in the US), and they say that tips (I am not a server or a bartender, so it's not a tip-dependant wage) are split between all employees on shift… only if your manager's decided that you're fully trained and based on how many hours you work and can “vary on a variety of factors”. Meaning I worked 30hrs this last week, but I won't get any of the tips given while on shift, won't be paid above minimum wage, don't know when I'll get 'approved' for tips, because they doesn't have a clear-cut timeline or schedule for training, and I don't have clarification on whether those tips are 'split' with the managers, too.
I'm also expected to continually reply/react to workplace messages and communication when off-duty (messages can be multiple times a day), staff have to organise someone else to cover their shifts and are expected to call other staff to ask for them to cover so that the manager doesn't have to, and I'm just… tired. I'm so tired of having to fight to get even the legal minimum wage, when it should be standard. When I work in a position where minimum wage is meant to be mandatory.
I feel bad as most of the people at work seem nice, but “nice” doesn't pay my bills.