I’ve been working for the Sonic at the mall for about a week now.Today my boss,Mr.Hamad,calls me into his office around 5ish and informs me I can go home.Cool with me,I think and I clock out.Then I grab the clipboard with the week’s schedule on it and start writing it down on a piece of scrap paper.Mr.Hamad asks me how I think I’m doing and I tell him fine,since I’ve only been there a week.
THEN he decides to drop the bomb.On Tues and Weds he says he’s going to personally evaluate my progress and possibly train me on making shakes,flurries and Sonicblasts. He said on Fri he’s going to tell me whether or not I’ll be staying with Sonic. WTF???:eek:
I just started there and already he’s telling me he might fire me,which makes me quake in my little size 7 1/2 offbrand sneakers.I realize it takes time to adjust to a new job and learn everything you need to know. But two weeks and 'see ya!"?What’s up with that?
I wonder if that’s even LEGAL,for crineoutloud.Guess it’s a good thing I’ve been filling out applications for other stores and what not just in case he decides to let me go because I’m not progressing fast enough.
I’m doing what I can…I’m TRYING to learn Spanish so I can communicate with my coworkers who speak no English.I’ve gotten pretty good at making drinks and slushes but apparently I’m not good enough. Or fast enough.
I’ve noticed that when I’m working the drink station,if it’s kind of a rush and I’m not making drinks fast enough, whoever I’m making the drinks for will get pissed and start making the drinks themselves,which makes me feel totally useless.
If I try to ask what needs to be done,cleaned,stocked,etc they pretend not to understand me and give me this cold shoulder.Nobody even bothers to try and even talk to me because they know I don’t speak Spanish and they refuse to speak what little English they do know to me at all.
What else can I do to make this work?I show up on time,I work my shifts,I do as I’m told. I guess this isn’t enough for them.I don’t know.
All I know is that I’m worried shitless about this right now.
Update:Yesterday,Mr.Hamad tells me that Chris,a guy who was hired on the same day as I was and who started at the exact same time as me,was fired because he got a little bit panicked during a rush on Sunday.Granted,we all panic a little from time to time,especially if we’re in a new job and worried about our performance.
Yesterday was my first day making milkshakes,malts and other ice cream treats and I panicked.On my very first shake, I made some major mistakes.Not with the ingredients,just in the way I made it and I made quite a mess of it. I’m worried now that when I go into work today,he’s going to tell me to finish my other shifts this week (on Sat and Sun)and then to hand in my uniform because I’m fired.
It doesn’t sound like a job you’d want to keep anyway. Go to McDonalds. They have really good training. I worked there when I was in high school and it worked out really well for a student kid schedule.
You’d probably do best to get another job anyway, whether or not you get fired. Face it, such jobs are a dime a dozen and virtually every fast food place has a permanent HELP WANTED banner (not just a sign, but a banner) affixed to its building or on its frontage. Your manager is obviously making you feel uncomfortable and insecure about your job, especially when he let another employee go just because he got a little panicked (how badly did he show his panic? Unless he had a major fit in front of customers I think he would just need to be counseled and given another chance before getting fired). I’ll admit I was a major stress case at times during a rush when I worked in fast food, especially when we were short on staff and the orders weren’t getting out fast enough and/or were coming back because of being made wrong, all of this happening while rude customers complained in my face (I was an assistant manager). I’ve worked with jerkwad managers like this before and they’re not worth the worry and the stress. Make them realize their errors by leaving them without enough staff. As I mentioned before, you can probably find another job easily enough and I’m sure the grass has to be greener somewhere else. Best of luck to you.
Thanks.I’m hoping that at least one of the places I’ve turned an application in to will call me back soon. I worked with Chris on Sunday and he didn’t look or act panicked to me. He didn’t throw a fit in front of customers from where I was standing(next to the hand-out window and he was about 5 ft from me at drink station #2).I’m fixing to leave for work in about 45 min and I am scared to death Mr.Hamad is going to tell me I’m fired.
Oh lord…turns into a puddle of worrisome,jelly-like gooI don’t want to be out of work again.
Somehow, i just knew that your blog would give us the answers…
It’s so hard to feel sorry for ya when you keep giving us these fine words:
“Today was my first day at the Sonic.NOBODY speaks any freaking English and them that do speak English don’t speak it very well.I’m also probably the oldest one there,except for Mr.Hamad,the general mgr.They didn’t quite know what to do with me when I got there today and they didn’t have a uniform shirt for me like they said they would,so I was handed a funky red apron and a brown hat and told to stand next to the counter.I was quickly instructed how to hand out orders and that was all I did.Fortunately,it made the time pass quickly and my shift was over before I even realized it had started.Isaac,the asst mgr,told me I had to be there again at 4 pm tomorrow and he would talk more about my schedule then.I asked him and Mr.Hamad a couple of times about filling out paperwork,my I-9 and what not.I guess they are so used to dealing with immigrants that they didn’t know where the correct paperwork was and so I didn’t fill it out.That in and of itself made me a little suspicious a nd more than a little nervous.I guess,also,since I am the only white person there other than this girl Natalia,that I am excluded from anything.That and the fact that I speak no Spanish kind of leaves me left o ut in the cold.Nobody said anything to me unless they had to and I felt really,really out of place.Nobody asked me any questions other than what my availability was and they all kind of stared at me.I don’t know whether that was due to the fact that I’m white or if it’s just because I’m new.I know one thing,though.I felt very,very out of place and somewhat lonely.Nobody seemed to even want to know my name and when they did manage to ask it,they mangled it.How can you mangle my name?It’s only got four letters for crying out loud.Ugh.”
(taken from your blog)
For those who may feel a smidgen of sympathy, please, check out her other posts.
You ever stop to think that your horrible additude may be the reason you keep getting canned?
Um, IDBB, you do know that people who grow up speaking one language often have trouble with particular sounds, don’t you? That may be why they mangled your name. For example, I can’t speak the rolling double-r’s of Spanish (Gutierrez, for example).
I worked at a Sonic in college for about 10 months, and 90% of my coworkers were black. I seriously doubt that most of your coworkers are staring at you or disliking you for being white.
Sonic is a really, really crappy job. I mean, really crappy, but if you want to keep it, you might ask the manager if you can be switched to curb. I don’t know about the one you’re working at, but at ours, fountain [workers] took orders, bagged orders, made drinks and ice cream, and told the curbs when the orders were ready.
Moderator’s Notes:
Take it easy there, Bad News Baboon. If you have issues with IDBB, please take them to another forum - and I’m very certain you know which I mean.
I am trying to figure out what “major” mistakes you can make on a milkshake. I am picturing a “I Love Lucy” situation where you pull the knob off the machine and milkshake keeps pouring out while you try to catch the whole mess in little paper cups.
What ever you did can’t be that bad. It is just a milkshake! Sometimes it takes a few trys to get the hang of things. If they fire you over it then fine. Fast food jobs are bad enough with out having to deal with jerks for managers too.
Good luck on getting a call back for one of the other jobs.
I appologize to you and and IDBB for my snarky snipe.
I hope that this isn’t Pit-worthy, as I say it sincerely:
My point is, IDBB, you have to realize that your additude may have a lot to do with your constant problems. It rings loud and clear here, I can only imagine what it’s like in person.
I do hope things work out for you. I do also hope you get rid of that chip before it gets really set in.
and in regards to your questioning if it’s legal, yes it is. Texas is an At-Will state, meaning you can be let go for no reason at all.
Wow. I have re-read the OP several times I do not see a chip on her shoulder. She is working a crappy job made even worse by having bad management.
I am not sure where you got that “blog” quote. (What is a blog?) But, it sounds more like she is feeling left out and unliked rather then a chip on her shoulder. It is hard to work with people when you feel like the odd one out.
Bad News – I read some of the blog and I agree with you re the chip/attitude. I also get the sense that regardless of how many years IDBB has been alive, she is very, very young.
IDBB – you’ve got a chance to learn right where you are at Sonic. The world is full of people who don’t understand you, usually for reasons other than a language barrier. You’ll help yourself out a lot if you can show a positive attitude no matter what.
How about considering surfing the web (which your Blog entries make clear you like to do) and learn some Spanish? How about taking the initiative and finding out what you can do to improve your job performance right now at Sonic?
Sure, you have applications in elsewhere but they may or may not turn into jobs. And honestly, retail sales is not going to be a whole lot better than Sonic – you may not smell like a burger at the end of the day, but you won’t get fed either.
I was a retail manager for a couple of years and let me tell you, the work never stops – your feet will get a work-out you can’t begin to imagine plus you’ll be learning the lesson that the customer is always right even when he or she clearly isn’t.
I wish you luck. I know jobs are hard to come by right now and sticking with one you aren’t thrilled with probably sounds horrible. But as you said in your Blog, free food won’t pay your bills. Sticking with a job (even a less-than-ideal one) will.
Contrary–apparently you didn’t see this thread:http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=169890
I am trying to learn Spanish. I’ve picked up a little bit by watching Telemundo in my spare time this week and things seem to be improving a little bit.But today,while Mr.Hamad was ‘monitoring’ me,I made several blunders that may seem smallish to people who are used to such things but seemed HUGE to me and caused me to further quake in my size seven and a half offbrand sneakers.
Also…how young do you call young?I haven’t called myself ‘young’ in probably 5-6 years.I consider myself somewhat of an old soul in a young body,if that’s what you’re talking about. DeadlyAccurate–if we were a stand-alone unit and there WERE curb service,I’d jump on it.However,this happens to be one of the few newere Sonics that’s located inside a mall food court in between a Chic-Fil-A and Sbarro’s Pizza.
Lots of sadly mistaken folks believe that working fast food is really easy. It may be easy to get hired but it’s not easy to do for everyone. And just because Spanish is considered the “easiest” language to learn for native speakers of English doesn’t mean it’s easy to learn.
I worked fast food for eight years and cannot tell you how many times I “almost” got fired during my first six months. Ketchup on the Big Macs, more shake on my shirt than in the cup, cleaning tables/sweeping floors under tables while customers were trying to use those tables, dropping stuff, hitting on co-workers, etc.
I asked to switch to concentrating on something I could handle (cleaning tasks), requested more training and experience during non-peak conditions and slowly grew into the job because at the time neither party had many options. They showed a ton of patience and eventually promoted me all the way to store manager (deep bow)
It’s possible that none of these options may be available to you. If Sonic can dismiss employees so easily they must have a stack of applications and you may be out of luck or they are just evil. Try to quickly identify a legitimate work task you can perform proficiently RIGHT NOW and ask to do that; you may save your job while you grow into other tasks. It sounds like losing this job right now may not be in your best interest.
Happy, peppy and bursting with a positive mental attitude (especially at work when you don’t feel like it) can also be a good thing.
Bad News, I like you as a poster, but it makes me really uncomfortable to see you take stuff from her blog to make a point like this. I don’t know, it just seems wrong to post something she wrote elsewhere- for a different audience- to make her look bad… Maybe I’m being too sensitive since it is already out there on the internet, but I can’t help but thinking every time this sort of thing comes up (the pit threads about Justhink, whom I found annoying, did some of this and felt wrong for the same reason, for example) in threads that maybe an e-mail to the person would make the point in a less (potentially) humiliating/invasive way. Just my two cents.
Just an FYI: Mr. News had already apologised for the error of his ways before you posted the above. Perhaps you should have sent your thoughts to him in an email?
