I recently got hired at one of the two main fast-casual Mexican places around. I had already seen some red flags from the store manager prior to my first day, however chose to at least go in and see if it wasn't as bad as I suspected. As the title suggests, this didn't last long.
After getting in, I asked her how breaks worked as I know from past food jobs they can be a bit hectic. Additionally, my last job was negligent to make sure people got their breaks so I wanted to nip it in the bud early. Her immediate response was to rudely say “Wow, I've never seen someone ask about that right after clocking in for the first time”. I responded that my worker's rights are important to me and she said “yeah, well they are to me too, but you should know your 15s (15 minute breaks) aren't guaranteed and I do my best with lunches (30 minute breaks). And you should know I worked 17 hours straight the other day with no breaks so……”. Obviously this put an awful taste in my mouth, and I spent another 10 minutes in my head debating my options.
I opted to just tell her “thanks but no thanks” and that it wasn't a good fit. She asked if it was because of her, and I tried to politely sidestep and brought up my school and volunteer commitments (I just got into a master's program AFTER I took the job, so this did change things a bit and was a valid reason). She wouldn't take this, kept being unprofessional and berating me, saying “I can't believe you're doing this to me.” For reference, I wasn't on the schedule yet, and this was just a training shift. The shift was otherwise fully staffed.
She kept asking “is it me? Is it me?” And finally I just said “YES. Your unprofessionalism in this instance shows me I made the right decision.”
So, basically this will forever be my shortest time employed at a place. No regrets.
(Just for fun and because I am a bit petty, some other red flags I witnessed in 20 minutes of working there):
- Overcharging customers by always hitting the button for extra protein twice
- Filthy BOH. Like truly disgusting
- Hot water that DID NOT get hot for hand washing.
- In the employee group chat, which I was in for only two days, each day no less than five people either called out or we're going to be significantly late.
- She was already going back on what she said about working around my school schedule in my interview and trying to switch stuff up on me.