Monday, I believe was my last day at Dairy Queen. I wasn't the best worker, I have a learning disability which caused me to be slow, mess up on simple things. But, I tried making up for it by being dependable. While these “great” workers would constantly call out, miss their shifts, I was the one being contacted by the GM and district manager to come in. All through out May and the first week of June I was picking up extra shifts. I'd be regularly scheduled for 16-20 hours but end up working 31-36 hours. My GM said to me earlier this month howd you get 31 hours on the clock, even though you were scheduled for 20 hours. Im like “covering people” he said thank you. I know I wasnt as good as he wanted me to be, but he was appreciative of me helping out as much as I can. However the store owner didnt seem to care. Morning shifts for me are very hard, Im the only one working in the ice cream area 85 percent of the time. And during these months most people want ice cream over regular food, yet the grill gets 2 workers. Some of the morning tasks are, restocking, cleaning like crazy, while also making food. It was a Monday I noticed I only got 15 hours that week, 3 shifts, I'm use to 4/5. That same monday a couple weeks ago The owners kid whos constantly on my ass, said to me “we need cones restocked, im like ok. He leaves for 30 mins or so and comes back and comes to my area, looks around “Is everything restocked, you still didnt restock blah blah”. Im in the middle of making an order and I said “WHAT!?” I said it loud, I said it nasty. I was pissed, im alone, getting hardly any help, lunch rush, and you're gonna complain about this. He looked at me, shocked, had a “how dare you raise your voice at me” look of silence on his face. I said What was that? You havent restocked or made backups yet. I said I know, I restocked cups, but Im also busy making orders. He walks away.
As im typing this, I remember how the week before I asked his wife who was giving me orders like crazy that I should get a raise. She said “how about you be faster with orders, and and clean up your area, dont even start with me”. I said okay, but im also the only one who hasnt missed a shift in the 3+ months since I've gotten here and I'm constantly asked to come in due to worker shortage. Nothing was said.
Fast forward to last week, Im down from 3 days to 2 days. Monday and Sunday. Everyone gets an email from the district manager saying how “I will clarify who gets hours, since a lot of people are asking hours HAVE TO BE EARNED” One of the things he mentioned was speed, and being hard working. To me speed would be easier if I HAD MORE HELP. Then he said being lazy will no longer be tolerated. Not sure how anyone can be lazy, if you show up for work, help the customers, do what you're supposed to do with making orders, you shouldnt be considered lazy. I took my low hours as “I havent earned them” It's wild to me, as not only am I dependable I can work different areas. A few weeks ago I was consistently taking drive thru orders, making ice cream, handing out ice cream. But. I must be lazy because my work area is messy and I dont restock things quick enough! He also said “SET YOUR REPLACEMENT UP FOR SUCCESS” in all caps. Lol, dont care.
Sunday comes, and I was scheduled for 5 hours for this week. On Fathers Day I worked front counter as 2 people once again call out. Some girl who they stopped giving hours too for being slow(they dont even tell her shes fired she was telling co workers and me how she hasnt been scheduled. I feel bad as shes 16 and should at least be told shes fired). Came in and covered for someone. Its Sunday night, the line is out to the door, the drive thru line is almost out to the street, out of 7 workers working that night I've been there the longest at a little over 3 months. Im working with the GM, he looks stressed as hell, so many orders, so many people needing help, wrong orders, door dash just came to our store its set up really complicated. I say “this place is wild and really stressful”. He said “I've been a GM for a few stores, this is one of the most stressful ones yet.”
Monday comes, I come in, I mention my short hours to someone and hes like “damn well theyre hiring people like crazy and people are leaving like crazy that might be why everyone has lower hours and they sent that email out last week”. I said i only got 5 hours, hes like “Did you piss someone off?” Im like probably. Then I found out the GM. only boss I get along with got demoted to assistant manager and they brought in some random guy with 0 dairy queen experience. He was hinting at being fired on Sunday. guess this is what he meant. Couple other workers would talk bout how they dont care if they're fired, they'll leave mid shift, they need us more then we need them.
And thats true. While im “kind of disappointed” in myself that it didnt work out for me, and I cant rise through the ranks. I also dont give a shit, seeing how stressed my GM was made me realize Im out the fast food industry, fuck that. Yesterday, I started training at a trading card and sports memorabilia shop. The boss/owner said my job will mainly consist of ringing up customers. making mystery boxes, putting price tags on things, and moving displays/hanging up items. For training I asked a ton of questions about what he does, how hes been doing this over 20 years, etc. During the 4 hours I was working I checked out 4/5 customers, walked around the store to check it out, straightened out stuffed animals. Sat down and Played on my phone. It was so easy, it felt wrong. It was hard for me to grasp Im getting paid the same as I did at fast food. $14 an hour. Along with getting treated better and doing less work, I'll also be able to get commission and holiday bonuses. The crazy thing is, this job made $450 in sales yesterday, while Dairy Queen most likely made $6,000-8,000 in sales.
So thank you Dairy Queen for cutting my hours and motivating me to go on Indeed and find better options. I'll be sure to post on social media every shift I work at my new place, what I do, so I can hopefully motivate my former DQ co workers to know their worth, and try something new.