(2016-06-17, 12:25 am)RawrPk Wrote: There is so much more I can say but I will narrow it down to the worst list:Hmmm. So, actually, overtime is only legally required for more than 40 hours per week. Long shifts or split shifts are perfectly allowable, and reasonably common in food service. You are required to be given 'the opportunity' for a 30 minute unpaid break for any given shift that is more than 6 hours long. Many food service establishments ignore that completely, and of course nobody insists on it because making waves is not going to improve your own position. (Many highly corporate establishments also force you to take a 30 minute unpaid break, because if you're forced to take a break you can't ever claim that you weren't given 'the opportunity' for a break.)
- no bottle cap opener but they have a random shaved ice machine (restaurant doesn't serve shaved ice)
- they convince people that a 12 hour shift is normal and justify it by giving them a 2 hour break (I'm assuming they don't give OT past 8 hr which is illegal, don't know for sure)
- beer in served in clear plastic cups about the same size as the party red cups with prices of beer ranging from $3.50-$4.95 per cup
- management is not open to suggestions from staff, place has only been opened since Monday and I was told that they convinced the silent partner to start actively look for a second location which baffles me cuz they can't even get orders ready in a reasonable time. I swear the avg wait time for customers has been 30 minutes if not more.
- speaking of beer, I saw the manager today drinking beer on the job! he's never on the floor but acts as one of the cooks! This was when I went to the kitchen to have him open the glass coke bottle because we had no opener. He opens it with a butter knife...
It's not illegal to drink on the job, and in many food service establishments it's not even particularly worried about. I've even been given beers on the house plenty of times... -however-, if this drinking is occurring in the middle of service that's a worrisome sign. Especially for someone who's cooking. (Drinking while working with knives and fire isn't the best idea in the world). Having a drink or two in the last hour of service or after service during cleanup... pretty normal. Having drinks throughout the day... pretty scary.
For some practical advice - you can open a bottlecap by putting the edge of the cap on any hard corner (such as a metal rack or counter) and giving the opposite side of the bottlecap a good whack with your fist; or by wedging the cap into a wire shelving rack so that one edge of the bottlecap is over one wire and the other edge is under another wire, and then give it a yank towards the lower wire and the cap will pop off.
That said, I wouldn't stay there anyway if I were you. There's nothing wrong with being a food-runner/busser per se, but ... well, the establishment where I work, that's a gateway to become waitstaff or a bartender. We don't, however, have a 'cashier' postion at all, waitstaff handle the checks. Being a food-runner at the kind of place that has the customers come pay at the register is probably a dead-end, so if you don't like it now... it's probably not going to get better. Not to say you should walk out tomorrow, but it wouldn't hurt to fill out applications for likely looking places.