I need to rant

[FromOhio]

I'm jobless again. Although this time it's by choice. I worked in a restaurant as a dishwasher/ line cook/ prep cook/ grill cook. I had a general manager who was literally lazy. He never did his job. Then I had a kitchen manager 1 step below the general manager who was the best. He did an excellent job of managing the restaurant, actually got his hands dirty helping everyone, and definately helped me out a lot. He said not only was I his favorite worker, but his best worker. Anytime he worked, people were actually scheduled. But the general manager mostly does the scheduling. That means that he doesn't schedule people for certain shifts, so I could be busting my *** working up to 3 peoples jobs at a time for 12-15 hours without even a 5 minute break. That's no exaggeration and it was like that every single day for the past 2 months. Some people quit which made it even worse because we were short on employees as is. With no other employees, a bunch of current employees who either get sent home early or don't do their job, it left me with a LOT of work, not to mention they all get paid more than me. The manager's kept promising me a raise, but I never got one. Not to mention I actually saved everyones jobs there.

The head manager wasn't doing his job correctly so everything fell onto us and the other 3 managers. The regional manager and president of the company wanted to come in and fire everyone if food cost wasn't down. I spent sometimes as much as 3 hours working after my shift for FREE cleaning the place and managing the place the best I can and got food cost down and made the place look good. No one got fired and the president and regional manager said it was one the cleanest out of all the restaurants in the chain.

I worked there 8 1/2 months now and only called off twice due to sickness, and only been late 1 time. I never requested days off. 3 weeks ago, I requested 1 day off [may 7th] (other employees request as many as 3-4 days off at a time every other week) and my general manager wouldn't give me the day off but gave the day off to two others who signed up AFTER me which would make me do their jobs that day. So all in all, I feel like I was really screwed over. I feel like I let my kitchen manager down because he won't have anyone as good as me and he was just really good to me.

That's just pretty much my rant.

I made the decision to speak to my kitchen manager tomorrow and put in a two weeks notice. But I really got screwed over tonight while everyone was able to sit around and eat (they're not allowed) and no one offered any help to me even though I was doing 3 shifts for people who called off and didn't show up.

Finding another job may take some time not but not long. I'll do whatever it takes even if I have to pack my bags and leave to find one. But I'm really thinking about getting started on my real future. I always seen college as nothing but an investment because not everyone who gets a degree gets a job. I was going to wait a couple years and work to save money then go to the police academy. At this point, I'm not sure what I should do. If I should go to the police academy next year, or wait just a couple more years working to save money so I'm not broke while in the academy. I kind of don't know where I'm headed in life at this point.

I'm pretty upset because I feel like a quitter and I've never gave up on anything or anyone until now.

[USMARINE]

Why would you work for free? I certainly wouldn't. You could always give a little call down to your local labor board and talk about the stuff posted above and see what they think.

[FromOhio]

Well, after working an 8-12 hour shift, I would usually clock out when I was done, but stay and clean the place. It wasn't dirty to begin with, but I wanted to make us look real good. I stayed to proportion every last ounce of food so that nothing could be wasted and food cost would be down. Me and my kitchen manager went hand in hand and I just tried to make him look good since he helped me out a LOT. I guess I just tried to leave everyone else with no room to talk also. As for talking to a labor board, I'd rather not. My kitchen manager is still there and has a lot of problems to deal with now that I'm gone. I'm just going to send some good workers his way and hopefully things turn for the better in that place. It's not like I'll gain anything from it since I don't work there any longer. I might be able to get my old job back temporarily until I find what I'm looking for because I left off at my old job on good terms with my manager. If anyone's curious, the place I just quit at is Smokey Bones Bar and Grill.

[USMARINE]

I had a friend that used to work their and said a lot of what you said already. Good luck man, if you are looking for another restaurant job stay away from the chain's. They'll eat you alive.

[JJHunsacker]

I had a friend that used to work their and said a lot of what you said already. Good luck man, if you are looking for another restaurant job stay away from the chain's. They'll eat you alive.

Restaurant jobs in general are tough. It's a very transitory occupation, meaning few people are there for the long haul. They want to make some money, and move on. If you want to stay in the business, chances are that each job will be the same as the last. It's just a tough deal. I did it for 15 years. It taught me how to party, but that was about it.

[USMARINE]

Restaurant jobs in general are tough. It's a very transitory occupation, meaning few people are there for the long haul. They want to make some money, and move on. If you want to stay in the business, chances are that each job will be the same as the last. It's just a tough deal. I did it for 15 years. It taught me how to party, but that was about it.

Very true on the party part. I went through 2 years of Vo-tech culinary school in HS before joining Uncle Sam's Misguided Children. At the very least you will impress a girl someday. I quit doing that after I decided I didn't want to come home smelling like a Mcdonalds burned down every night.

[JJHunsacker]

Very true on the party part. I went through 2 years of Vo-tech culinary school in HS before joining Uncle Sam's Misguided Children. At the very least you will impress a girl someday. I quit doing that after I decided I didn't want to come home smelling like a Mcdonalds burned down every night.

McDonald's was my first punch the clock job. One of the things I had to do was clean the grease trap under the sink. It took awhile to resist the urge to puke. Plus, we had to dump that stuff in a separate barrel, and it got taken away and made into soap.

[FromOhio]

I'm definately not looking for another restaurant job lol. I don't belong in a kitchen. You guys are right about the partying. I don't party, but everyone I worked with were on some kind of drugs and went out everynight. I think I may head over to other parts of this board and start learning everything there is to know about the academy and hiring process so I can just start working torwards a real career rather than a job.

[USMARINE]

If you're in NE Ohio shoot me a PM I can point you in the right direction up here

[icecoldblueyes]

Restaurant biz is like an extremely dysfunctional family... everyone is trying to screw everyone. In more ways than one.

[JJHunsacker]

Restaurant biz is like an extremely dysfunctional family... everyone is trying to screw everyone. In more ways than one.

That is no lie.

[FromOhio]

Restaurant biz is like an extremely dysfunctional family... everyone is trying to screw everyone. In more ways than one.

Haha well that cheers me up in a way hearing this. I'm young and the only place I worked at before this was a nursing home which was HELL. This place was fun because I loved all the people I worked with except my head manager who couldn't even say hi to me when he seen me. So I was always stressed out. I felt like anywhere I go will be nothing but stress and dealing with stupid crap like I did there. On another forum, others are saying the same thing about the food industry. Of course every place will have its problems, but after reading a lot of responses and the ones here, I'm sure it won't compare to the every day stress. I woke up today feeling like a burden has been lifted off of my shoulder.

[M1garand]

My brother is a chef and by seeing what he does, I can definitely understand the frustration on your part.

Good luck with your job search.

[FromOhio]

Well I got a job offer.... In a kitchen lol. I'm the only one in this place that doesn't have a culinary degree. It's a really high class place owned by a chairman of the republican party in Ohio. They called me down yesterday and I worked for a couple hours to show them what I can do. Needless to say it's very easy to keep up compared to all the work I'm used to and it isn't stressful at all. Unlike most things that come prepared in a package at a chain restaurant, you make every single little thing from scratch here, not to mention all the products are the best quality. It's a real learning experience and I'm probably going to take this job part time while I concentrate on getting another part time job in retail so I can start getting experience in sales/marketing to further experience.

[M1garand]

Glad to hear that you got an offer!

As to not having a culinary degree, some of the best food I've ever tasted were created by people without any formal culinary training/degree.

Good luck!