i quit culvers because it sucked. lol. we got a new general manager bc the old one was lazy and didn't really do much. like, all our sales, customer satisfaction, drive thru times, etc. were in the toilet. so we got a new gm. he was a young guy, a big stickler for the rules and doing everything the right way. to his credit, all the etc. that i previously mentioned increased. but things began to sour quickly.
now, i never thought i was a Super Good Shift Leader, by any stretch of the imagination. but i did my job and i tried so hard every day. ive never been in a position before where i had to tell people what to do, and they had to listen to me. so it was a pretty big adjustment. every day i would go in and think of what to improve on. every day i would leave and reflect on how i did that day. it wasnt a cognizant thing, i wasnt like "okay shift is over time to self-reflect!!" its just where my mind wandered to, yanno? because i really really wanted to get better. i always tried to look out for my employees, and i was really good at counting the drawers. but the new gm comes in and tells me just about everything im doing is wrong. Oh. i hardly ever got any guidance on how to fix it. he wrote me up because one night i closed and things were kinda dirty. which, i GUESS i understand, but it wasnt even that bad. and we were already late getting out bc we got slammed just before close. so i worked really hard on making my closes good. from then on, no one raised any concerns about my closings. one night im counting and the new gm walks in and he says im taking too long to count. ???? come on man this is the one thing i do right :( plus he didnt let me work as many hours anymore, meaning no overtime, time and a half pay.
just ever since he came around its all been what i was doing wrong, blah blah blah etc. and my shifts all went fine!! nothing catastrophic!! just nagging really. i knew what i needed to work on and i knew what i needed to make the employees work on. every time the gm said something to me, i was always willing to listen and learn. if im doing something wrong, tell me so i can fix it!! the gm said to help my coworkers manage their time better. sure! how do i do that?? he would only tell me what to do, never show me how or give me an opportunity to prove myself to him. it was getting ridiculous. i hadnt heard one bit of praise from him. not to be Needy or anything lol. but people need to feel appreciated. whenever i asked someone to do something for me, restock or clean something, i always said please and thanks. whenever i needed to remind someone of something they forgot, i usually added praise to it. so say theres a rush and im like "hey (insert coworker here) remember to ask customers if they want ketchup and mark it on the screen, okay?? good job keeping drive on lock for me". and they listen to me and do what i say. and i dont really let them off easy, i make them clean (and i always make sure im cleaning along with them), keep them on task, ive made my own decision to write two of them up. so im not afraid to Bring The Hammer Down. my shifts go fine, plus my coworkers said i was their favorite shift lead to work with :') idk.
so the straw that broke the camels back was when they told me to do some company wide training thing. every employee had to do it, and it directly related to our specific restaurant. if we didnt do it by the specific date, they would take us off the schedule and we couldnt work until we completed it all. it was like homework. except that we should be getting paid for it, according to our state's labor laws. i was chatting with my friends in a group chat about it. i guess word got out (and i know who snitched), and the gm wrote me up for it and sent me home. the one who sent me home told me it was because they had too many people, they never told me it was because they disagreed with what i was saying in a private conversation. they should have given me the write up and told me the real reason i was being sent home instead of lying to me.
so i go in to work the next day and receive the write up. for insubordination. it was totally out of left field. i read the write up sheet, how it said i was complaining about the training. Uhhh. under disciplinary action it said "sent home early". i ask the gm to clarify. because they said they sent me home because they had too many people. he was like "oh no it was because you were talking about the training" etc. the only time i mentioned the training outside of the group chat was when one of my coworkers asked very sarcastically if i did the training, and i said yes, very sarcastically. thats it. i asked the gm if it was standard throughout the company to do the training at home, or if it was just the way serena, who owns the restaurant and three others, did it. i knew the answer even before i asked. (serena is a good business owner who knows her shit, and thats about all i respect her for. otherwise shes a pretty awful person. she knows people are afraid of her, and she likes that. shes a very rude, abrasive person, and she only cares about money.) oops tangent. anyway. legally we are supposed to be getting paid for this training. the gm told me it was in some agreement i signed when i first was hired. i checked my file and didnt see a damn thing about the training in the agreement, or anywhere else.
anyway, despite my obvious shock, i gracefully accepted the write up and went back to work. it was around 7 or so, a pretty slow night for a sunday. i just kept thinking about the write up, and how they were punishing me for something i said in private, and how i want the damn money im owed!! and i just felt so anxious and sick and awful. i tried to stick it out but i just couldnt work anymore. i couldnt even smile at customers.
so i went back to the managers office, took off my headset, left my keys and swipe on the counter, and gathered my things. i was hoping to make a Quick getaway before anyone noticed, but the gm walked in. he was like "what" and i said i was leaving. he was very confused at first. once he saw i was capitol L Leaving right at that moment he softened up. he said i should write a notice, even just a weeks notice, because otherwise it was considered me "leaving on bad terms" and i wouldnt be able to use them as a reference or be welcomed back. i told him i wouldnt be making that mistake again. (STILL PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK FOR THAT ONE). he said "okay, if thats what you want to do. i will need your swipe and keys" and as i was slinging my backpack over my shoulder i just kinda motioned to the Objects on the desk there. and he was like "oh."
and then i walked out Very Fast. my friend asked me if i was leaving and i ignored him bc if i answered him i would have burst into tears right there lol. and i was gone.
i didnt want to answer to a toxic person like serena, i felt underappreciated, i was so stressed out. everything was different there, for the better but also for the worse. some coworkers who i looked up to or called my friends weren't so friendly anymore. i was getting tired of the drama and politics surrounding management. they knew i wasnt in serenas pocket, and i suspected it was only a matter of time before they got rid of me, so i saved them the trouble. goodbye and fuck you culvers.
that day right at 10 i got a slew of messages from my friends that were working that day. i told them all that went down. one said she asked the manager on duty where i went and he didnt answer and looked really sad. and thats when she knew i walked out. she said she went to the back cooler, cried a little, and chugged a chocolate milk in my memory.

now, walking out was definitely a rash decision. but i dont regret it at all. one thing i do regret, is something i did a while ago. or, something i didnt do. i worked briefly at a pizza place, which i quit to come back to the restaurant. coming back was definitely a regret. but the bigger regret is not keeping up with my coworkers at the pizza place. it was such a cool place to work, and i felt proud to be working for such a cool company with some awesome coworkers. the job itself was fun too! i left on good terms with them, and i would get the occasional text from my old boss, who was so sweet and enthusiastic, or from other workers who i became friends with there. idk why i didnt answer any of them (or stop by in person). most of the time, i need to think of what to say, especially because communicating through text is strangely anxiety-inducing for me (whereas im mostly fine with phone and face to face conversations). so i put off replying until i forget. sooo i guess i ghosted them. lol. well its not really funny, it kinda sucks. idk. i feel really bad about it. i would have liked to go back there to work, but i figured that would be weird. i drive past sometimes and miss it. it makes me feel bad, like the heartache kind of feel bad.

so ive been applying for many places. i got a call back from a small chain bagel/coffee shop in the heart of my high school town, which is quite full of High Schoolers, White Businessmen, and Upper Middle Class to Upper Class Families. i went to the interview a few days ago. the general manager interviewed me. she reminded me a lot of the good things about my own mother. i applied for a shift lead position (because more hours, more money, and i want to see if i can start fresh as a good shift leader, because weirdly enough i find that being a shift leader taught me a lot and i still want the challenge). she said it was a low volume store so they clean a lot to keep busy and things like that. she said she needed someone for days because theres a lot of high schoolers who have, you know, school, to work around. they're open from 5am to 3pm every day, except saturday and sunday when its 6am to 3pm. she said she knows waking up early sucks, but you get lots of free time, for college or another job or something like that. i liked how she said "another job". she also said she doesnt like the idea of hiring a shift leader from outside the company. those two things were big green flags to me. so i got the job. she said she had a good feeling about this, and i said i did too. i forgot how much she said i would be getting paid, but she mentioned the team members start from 11.25 to 12.50 based on experience. so thats already a good sign compared to my old 12. i told her ill work as many hours as she is willing to give me.
now here i am at 11:49 chicagoland time, debating whether or not i have time to sleep before my first day tomorrow at 5am. im e x c i t e d!