for context, i was 16 years old when i got this job in may 2022. i turn 17 this month.
i worked at a fast food chain restaurant located in missouri, not gonna say the name just incase, but you'll probably be able to tell the name because it is also the name of a very fast, unnatural colored hedgehog.
my friend suggested the job because i was looking to make some money over the summer and she said it was nice. plus, it'd be something to put on my resume and college applications just to cushion it out.
applied, gm called me the next day during World History and invited me to come in next week for interview. We will shorten her name to B.
The interview went nice, i mentioned i had some learning disabilities that may need accommodation, and i might be slow to learn somd things. She said it was okay, not to worry about it and if i needed training to slow down then i can just let her know.
Just a comment, B was indeed a manager so not everything was perfect, but she was actually really nice and good at her job. If we were slammed she could get that shit fixed in like 5 minutes, if we needed to leave to go to the back to calm down or it was too hot and we were overheating (as the restaurant is both a drive in and drive thru, so orders in stalls required us to leave the restaurant and hop it out) , she'd let us do that. Schedules were perfect and if we needed something changed (i was in a lot of extracurriculars that required schedules changing and also in summer school), she'd do it. If she couldn't we were allowednl to trade shifts, no complaints.
All hell broke lose literally a month or two after i got the job. B was promoted to supervisor, and R was coming in to take her place. I heard R used to come in and help out every now and then before i got my job, so i wasnt really worried. We also had other managers, L, J, C, and a few others..
R was really, really bad at her job. She was nice, and friendly, but she was really bad at it. Schedules were a mess. Just some minor context, due to work laws (which i am in no way criticizing), anyone under 16 couldn't do basically anything. They can only take orders, work drive thru, and make drinks and that is about it. They can't hop, make icecream, touch any sharp object in the establishment, nor can they work past 9pm. R would schedule 16 year olds with JUST 15 year olds until a certain time, or just schedule them alone in a block filled with 15 year olds. We would get shifts scheduled from 2pm-10pm (keep in mind most of us were under 18 and had school, extracurriculars, or some other responsibility, plus you know just being a literal child.) I once worked 1-10pm and almost rolled over into overtime. Remember, i am 16 and that was my first ever job. Ever since R took over, communication wasnt very good. Managers would sometimes schedule 15 year olds alone, put them working on something they legally couldnt do and get upset when they didnt. A manager named U put a 15 year old employee by the name of M on icecream when she couldn't work icecream.
All of us started dropping like flies. To put in your two weeks you just left a note on the desk letting her know when to schedule your last day. Half the desk was filled with sticky notes. Because i enjoyed the people i worked with, i didnt want to leave, but eventually enough friends left so i put in my two weeks.
My last few weeks at the job was HELL.
I worked long shifts. We were so understaffed i was balancing multiple people's jobs at once. I went from bagging food to hopping out orders to drive thru to making icecream. I had multiple shifts were the Hop Out screen was stacking up orders, some were leaving at an hour of waiting, so I not only had to deal with the stress of working, but the stress of angry customers. I got yelled at and berated. Told to remake food with a screen already filled up. I started getting so anxious at my job i would break out into crying spells.
My final straws happened a week away from my two weeks. It was just me, my least favorite manager L, and one other person. I was doing basically everything, and then 4 hours into my shift I asked about a break, only to be informed that I would not be getting one. I was extremely upset and kept complaining until he obliged and “let me” have a 15 minute break out of my usual 30 minutes.
That shift ended with me crying and I only worked 3 more after that before sending a long message saying why I was quitting and never coming back.
Remember: i have multiple conditions that made working normally even more stressful. Everyday of working this job was torture. I had extreme panic attacks, I broke out sobbing on the clock and so did multiple others. People began just walking out and never coming back. My girlfriend who also worked there would get panic attacks on the job and I managed to convince her to quit.
So much for my first job experience.