should i stay or should i go? (long post warning) (employee, applying)

[lvkewlkid]

over the past couple weeks i have been pondering if i should keep on working with this company or not...i've been with the company for a year and 3 months already, they have made me an assistant manager about a year ago, but the company is so unethical and to be honest i don't think they REALLY know how to run a business, all they try to do is be so cheap with everything because business is slow and costs are going up (i'll explain later), that i think that we are losing even more customers...they are also being cheap with us as well...

First off, the PROs:
i am 17 enrolled a program where i only have to go to high school and take a couple classes a couple hours a week and take the rest of my classes through the community college, but i take all of the college classes online so i only have to focus on attending my high school classes, since i have such a flexible schedule, they promoted me and they are working with me and gave me a schedule to fit my needs...i don't want to hear from anybody: you're 17, you should be lucky that you even have a job or that your ungrateful, etc at all in this discussion...

2 or 3 weeks ago the owner's son of the company has given me a letter of recommendation for university admissions and scholarships, should i feel guilty if i leave? he put in a lot of time and effort into it and the scholarships i am applying to were about my accomplishments in the workplace, even if the scholarships are submitted before i quit, could they not accept me afterwards?

i feel kinda stuck because if i leave and go to another fast food company, they may not hire me because of my managerial experience (not to mention my young age) and it was hard for me a year ago to find a job in the first place, but now that i do have experience with keeping a job for at least a year, i might be able to find one faster, but what other company wants a 17 year old assistant manager, i am also just fine with just getting a cashier job, but they may just call me overqualified...

my parents have no more money saved up for me for college and i don't know what kind of financial aid i will even be able to receive...my mom works full-time and my dad has been unemployed for almost a year, he doesn't want to get a job because he is either told he is over qualified or that the job pays 8/hr, which he doesn't want...although i don't pay any bills, this is the money that i use to pay for my books, clothing, and food that i eat outside of the house and anything else i want...

The CONS:
we have not received any of the bonuses that we were promised in April, everytime we bring it up with my supervisor she just continues to say that they are coming soon
no one has received raises in 6 months (i'm only making .75 cents more than most of my employees) and no one gets any benefits unless they are put on salary
because we are getting slower and slower, they are putting less people on each shift which is making it difficult because if we get a rush, we can't handle it and it is less people than it is possible to run the store, especially if someone goes on their break...so then we lose customers on speed of service...they are not scheduling enough people on each shift...

the company definitely cheats the health dept and its customers by never throwing out cooked product after it expired and never throwing out raw product after it expired, they just change the dates and times and are proud to do it

to alienate our customers and because the customers in Vegas are so greedy and claim they have nothing at their house, we keep all of the utensils, condiments, and napkins behind the counter and because we don't make any money by giving them out, they are only given upon request...
because the company is saying that the food cost keeps on going up and up, but the prices on the menu aren't, we have to save on every penny, which is pissing most customers off...we have stopped ordering boxes because apparently they are more expensive than throwing the pieces of food onto paper plates and shoving them into paper bags which looks really bad in terms of presentation to the customer...we also stopped ordering plastic bags and are now using Thank You bags from Smart and Final, which is even worse because the bags are breaking so much easier and made from a company that doesn't know what our needs are with a plastic bag...also due to this, they decided that we can not order anything extra and we can only order our food and paper once a week, by the time the 7 days are over, on the seventh day we usually have no product available and have to put sold out signs on 75% of the menu, which also means turning away 75% of the customers...they also have decided no transfers from other stores as it makes the people at the main office confused when calculating our inventories...mind you with all of these new decisions our food cost hasn't even gone down

we have recently received a new store manager, who is great, but her cash policy is stupid, she always checks in each cashier without them present, so they never count their starting bank...because of this and that the register is usually checked in 2 hours before their shift even starts, who are they to blame if it is short?

our new policy with her is that she can only appease the customers, me or the other assistants can't even handle complaints any more or even give out compensation for the waiting...if the customer has a complaint right then and there, they have to wait for the next day and call her and she will decide what the solution is, a day after the customer wanted the food or had a bad experience...

this location is in a high class area and we still have people with Jaguars, SUVS, cadillacs, coming and demanding free food because they say that they are homeless or standing outside asking for spare change and then afterwards hop into their expensive car with their expensive phone and thick wallet...

should i stay or should i go? i will of course give them 2 weeks notice...or any other suggestions, they know what they are doing is wrong and i cant talk to the owner's son about this, because he is one of the people responsible for these policies...
thanks for the help

[maf763]

My 2 cents - reference letter or not, you don't owe them anything, so you have to decide based on your own views. Do you need the job badly enough and do you think it is unlikely enough to find another job to put up with the shoddy practices and management? I'd suggest looking around a bit and seeing if you have another job option before making this decision. I agree that having over a year in at this place at your age would be a good sign to other employers.

[sunny AZ]

I like your post - Making a pros and cons list is always a good way to make a decision.

Really, the only pro you listed was a flexible schedule. The letter was a nice thing, but that doesn't really belong on your list of what you like/don't about the job. "Feeling stuck" as you say should not be on the pros list, that is most definitely a con. And yes, they pay you, but so will any other job, so I don't usually list that in the pro column (unless it's a huge amount of money they are paying you.)

So...1 thing good about your job and 8 MAJOR complaints? I'm impressed you stayed this long, to be honest. It sounds like a real nightmare. I definitely think you should pursue something else, but don't quit until you find another job.

It sounds like you are letting your fears hold you back a little. It sounds like you want some reassurance that you are doing the right thing by leaving. If this is the only job you've had, sure that can be scary to start over somewhere new. Don't worry about your age - you don't know who will hire you, so go out and try.

My guess is that you will soon find yourself in a better job, and wondering why in the heck you stayed so long...that place sounds so creepy. A job should not be like that.

[kattwoman2]

Originally Posted by maf763

My 2 cents - reference letter or not, you don't owe them anything, so you have to decide based on your own views. Do you need the job badly enough and do you think it is unlikely enough to find another job to put up with the shoddy practices and management? I'd suggest looking around a bit and seeing if you have another job option before making this decision. I agree that having over a year in at this place at your age would be a good sign to other employers.

I agree. I would start applying now and don't worry about quitting yet until you find another position. My brother works at a fast food restaurant and he was going to apply to Wal-Mart since they paid more and he thought the work load would be easier. The company called his workplace and in order to keep him they raised his pay and put him on a faster track to becoming a crew leader. He turned down Wal-Mart since he was now making almost the same pay and he didn't like the hassle they put him through with employee orientation.

Employers at restaurants are used to losing workers. It was very generous of them to give you a recommendation for college, but most restaurants do not expect people to work there for the rest of their lives. Just make sure you do give them your two weeks notice and thank them for all the help they've provided you. Since you have experience, you might have an easier time at finding employment.