Employers vs Employees

I’ve only worked a legitimate job for about 3 months now, and I’ve definitely picked up on a few things that could be worked on better in the workplace. This could just be from my personal experience, as I’ve never worked until now, and haven’t gotten much experience in the workforce, but perhaps it can be interchangeable with other jobs as well.

One thing I have noticed that my boss doesn’t do very well is listen to his employees. He seems to just hire people on a whim, and has a lot of turnover. Some people barely last even a day. I’m surprised that we aren’t even more short staffed, but then again, he did beg one of his walk-outs to come back, so maybe we are desperate for workers. At the same time I can absolutely see why nobody wants to work for him. I speculate that I would probably have a better time at a different location if it weren’t for the night shift employees being such a chill group. That’s really the only thing keeping me there, although with the incident that happened this last time I worked, and the information I found out after it, and the constant thought that I might be getting screwed over in regards to my pay, it’s pushing me more and more towards quitting, much to the dismay of my employer. I’m almost afraid to turn in my two weeks so soon, but hey, a bad boss is a bad boss, so I don’t suppose it can be helped unless he becomes more willing to listen to his employees to better the business.

‘ This lack of consideration has come up many times since I’ve been there, and a lot has changed, although not for the better. Take me for example; I’ve tried mentioning that I can’t work efficiently on the register, and he commenced to gaslighting me, claiming that I need to try listening better (I’m fairly certain I have an auditory processing disorder due to my possibility of having ADHD; simply speculation at the moment given I am terrified of going to the doctor about it) and claiming that I seem like a positive person. I don’t see myself as such, and while I can count change back without a calculator (usually) I generally just do not have the patience to work the register, and my strength lies in being able to work with my hands making the food or drinks for the customers. Next peer review I may mention that to him. But, given it’s not him putting employees on the stations, I don’t think it’ll help much.

Speaking of, I found out today after a certain incident regarding my being a little slow in giving back a customer's change (seeing as he gave me an oddball amount and then proceeded to say I can’t do math. I can, but seeing as you stressed me out nearly to a point of a breakdown, I didn’t catch that apparently you can’t either; his change was short by an entire dollar. That’s what you get for rushing me, old man.) I then asked my manager why I’m always put on the register and he proceeded to tell me it was because nobody else wanted to do it. Sure, let’s put the probably mentally retarded chick on the register and let her have a mental breakdown and take her ability to have an opinion away. (It’s been this way nearly the entire time, and I’ve frequently thought about being a walkout.)

Needless to say, while I thought it would be a good experience at first to have this job, I’m figuring out very quickly that it may not be, and it’s extremely sad to see, but given the way it’s run it isn’t any wonder. Have I mentioned that my training sheet is literally blank yet? It isn’t that I don’t know anything, I know everything but how to close the back line, but it was never documented nor was I officially trained, I was merely trained out of necessity. I know how to make the sandwiches, I know how to make the hot dogs, I know how to be the grill master, I know how to bag the food, make the drinks and run the register, but given my social anxiety and my mental/social battery draining very quickly nowadays, the only thing I’m NOT willing to work is the stupid register.

I suppose on the bright side, one of the new managers is trying to get my stuff like tests and training actually filled out, that way maybe I won’t have to do cash much longer, but that hope isn’t very high. She’s another reason besides lack of workers that I feel guilty about even wanting to quit. Granted most of the customers that come in are nice, I can see myself snapping at some point, and I wish people would see that mental disabilities that cause physical issues are just as valid a reason to not do something as something like a speech impediment, which one of our employees do have. It’s ridiculous that mental disabilities and personal strengths go ignored simply because the business wants you to be put somewhere where you can’t thrive. That sounds like it would be a better business decision as a whole really; watch and see where your employees do the best work and put them there. I love the routine of making the food and stuff, pressing buttons and calling out orders doesn’t do it for me, and I’m really hoping that I can quit sooner rather than later. There are a lot of other things wrong with how things are being run (such as only giving raises and promotions when his employees threaten to quit/plan to quit), but I won't get into them here too much right now.

To any business owners that read this; I urge you to please listen to and watch where your employees do the best work. If they’re becoming sluggish perhaps change them to a new station, don’t leave them in one stagnant spot. That can cause severe burnout, which is another thing I’m suffering from as a result of this awful way of running a business.