It’s January of 2020, and I started working at a gas station (7-Eleven, although it’s still Sunoco-branded) because I needed any job. Oh my god, this was the worst job I have ever had. I hated (mostly) everything about it.
I had to work by myself. I thought I could handle it. But there were numerous times when I called my manager who wasn’t there because I didn’t know what to do. He yelled at me multiple times for various reasons throughout my time there and his English was hard to understand at times (some of our staff, including himself, primarily spoke Arabic I think since they were from Egypt). I dealt with shit customers all the time. Some regulars were nice and I learned what they usually came for.
I’m fortunate that I was able to keep my job when the pandemic started in March. Or rather, I chose to stay there because I could and I needed at least some income. Most customers wore masks, which I appreciated.
I started to feel like I was being taken advantage of by one other worker asking me to work an extra hour (if I wanted to) on days where he was supposed to come in once June came around. Most times I did, but there were times when I couldn’t. In August, my manager wanted to promote me to assistant manager, I assume because I’m the only one other than him who worked more hours than anyone, and I was coming in 4 days a week instead of 3 because now I was done with school for the year at the time. I wasn’t interested because I knew I would be going back to school soon (I was a part-time student by the time the fall semester started that year) and a minimum 40-hour work week would not fit my schedule when that time would come.
In November, I started suffering from depression for other reasons. Having a job I had come to despise was not helping my situation and I was desperate to escape. That’s when I found Wendy’s. Why did I choose Wendy’s? Well, since I was almost done with school I wanted to find a job or internship in my major but nobody would accept me or they would just ignore me. I was basically guaranteed a job at Wendy’s because I would not have to compete for any position. And, I wouldn’t have to work by myself anymore, which I absolutely hated. A few days before Thanksgiving, an interview was scheduled, and I had it exactly one week later. My soon-to-be new manager was also foreign (as were some other workers) but I could understand a little bit of Spanish so it would be slightly easier to communicate with them. We agreed that I would start in December and the offer was given to me and I immediately accepted it.
In early December (I was back to Fridays and weekends only by this time), 2 days after the interview at Wendy’s, I went to 7-Eleven on one of my off days and told my ex-manager that I would be leaving. The next 2 weekends would be my last ones. He wanted to keep me around by reminding me of the available assistant manager position and even offered a raise, but I stood my ground.
December 12, 2020 was my second to last day there. Someone was supposed to come and take over but he was in hospital according to his sister (I think she was answering all of his calls). I told my manager to come take over for me. I worked almost 12 fucking hours that day, but I knew the nightmare would be over soon. Just before I left, he tried to get me to stay again saying he could give me whatever I wanted, but I still refused to budge. We were very short-staffed by this time but I had to look out for myself.
December 13, 2020 was my last day. During my last hour, I was listening to Break Free by Ariana Grande on my Bluetooth radio, and I have never been more happy to leave a job once I left. I even refused to stay an extra hour for that other coworker who always asked me if I wanted to. I have no idea how I managed to stick it out for 11 months.
I made less money at Wendy’s, at least at the start, but it was so much better for me. I could interact with people who weren’t customers, managers were there, and I didn’t have to worry about staying late for anyone. Some of the people who worked there were also attending the same high school I graduated from years before. One manager seemed to not like me but at least she was there and not hanging out with her family (although she took her kids to the place and let them hang out sometimes), but I was on good terms with everyone else. I was still depressed but mostly because I was involved in the lives of toxic people whom I completely cut off by April of 2021.
My last day at Wendy’s was on June 20, 2021, and I left for an internship at Raytheon which started a week later on June 28, and I became a permanent employee with them in November. Wendy’s was nice but I’m much happier at Raytheon, and everyone likes me. I also moved out of my mother’s house and into my new apartment at the very end of 2021.