I am 16 and was a new employee still learning the register and how everything worked. Keep in mind this is my third day working here. During one of my nighttime closing shifts, I was scheduled for the last hour and was left by myself in the front of the restaurant. A rush came in, leaving me with a long line of customers while I was still learning and had not been properly trained to handle everything by myself.
The cashier position also involved much more than simply running the register. I was expected to clean the restaurant, run the register, handle the drive-thru, make tea and lemonade, clean tables, take food out to customers, and handle other front-of-house responsibilities. That is a lot to expect from someone who is brand new and still learning, especially when they are left alone during a rush.
I was trying to keep up and asked Johnathan for help, but I felt like I was being ignored and laughed at instead of being helped. There was also an issue with the tea. Before the manager clocked out and left, she told me to dump the tea out before I left. Later, Johnathan was ringing customers up for sweet tea and then dumped out the tea I had made, which was confusing because customers were still ordering sweet tea.
There was another situation where I completed an order for spuds, only to be told afterward that they didn't have spuds. I was already overwhelmed trying to handle the rush by myself, and situations like that made everything even more stressful.
Eventually, I became overwhelmed enough that I walked out. I texted my manager afterward about quitting, and although she asked me to call her because she wanted to talk, I never actually received a follow-up conversation from her about what happened. Nobody from management actually asked me how I felt or what happened from my perspective.
Instead, I eventually received a call from a VP. The first thing discussed was getting paperwork completed so I could receive my paycheck. I explained that, at that point, the money wasn't what I was concerned about. I wanted someone to actually acknowledge what had happened and hear my side of the situation. I had to explain that nobody had even asked me about what happened.
I was then offered another position as a dishwasher because it paid more. Honestly, that was frustrating because the issue wasn't that I wanted a different position or more money. I wanted to be properly supported in the position I was originally hired for. Offering me a different position didn't address what had happened.
I understand that restaurants get busy and that new employees are going to make mistakes. However, I don't think a 16-year-old who is still learning should be left alone in the front during a nighttime closing shift and a rush without proper support or training. I also don't think the way the situation was handled afterward was appropriate.
Johnathan was in a team-lead position, and based on my experience, I did not feel like I was treated with the level of support or professionalism I should have received from someone in that position.
They advertise a culture of treating customers like family, but employees deserve that same respect, patience, and support. If you truly want employees to provide that kind of experience for customers, you also need to make sure your employees feel valued, supported, and heard.
I hope management takes situations like this seriously, actually listens to employees when something happens in the future, and makes sure new employees aren't left alone in situations they're not trained or prepared to handle. My experience here was extremely frustrating and disappointing. read more
