Employee meals are provided

1. Hygiene

-This point doesn't endanger customers; I personally just find it disgusting. The uniform I received on my first day smelled so bad that I kept dry-heaving. At the time, I even hesitated over whether to put on this disgusting outfit or just say I wouldn't do the job. The clothes I received when I worked part-time at a barbecue restaurant before weren't anywhere near this disgusting.

-The pandemic is still ongoing, but a bunch of employees at the restaurant either don't wear masks or wear them halfway. I thought I'd come to a parallel universe.

-I saw someone in the kitchen wearing nail polish, not wearing gloves, and directly touching ingredients. They went without gloves for a long time, too. Absolutely disgusting—just short of taking a photo and reporting them.

2. The main issue: the system is unbelievably terrible

-The training is a complete mess. When I first started working, nobody clearly explained all the tasks I was supposed to be responsible for; they just taught me whatever came to mind. Suppose a task consists of five steps, A through E, but the person training me only taught me A, B, D, and E. As a result, I had no idea I was supposed to do C. One day I encountered it, but I didn't know how to handle it, and got a bunch of dirty looks from various people.

(Example: When I was learning how to open the restaurant in the morning, nobody ever told me that I had to receive and organize the delivery. One day I was opening by myself and encountered it, but I had absolutely no idea what to do. I was scolded: “You didn't know? You should've asked.” But I didn't even know this task existed, people xd)

-Following from the above, because the trainers taught whatever came to mind, what I learned was also fragmented and disjointed.

(Example: All the boxes in the kitchen have their own names, such as the “Little Treasure” box and the ice cream box. But when I first started, nobody told me that those boxes had names. The first time someone asked me to get the ice cream box, I genuinely had no idea what they were talking about, and of course immediately got dirty looks… But in my eyes, they really were just the large, medium, and small boxes ^_^)

-Following from the above, the trainers themselves didn't know how far they had gotten in teaching. Only the new hire knew, but if you asked, you'd be scolded: “Why don't you even know this yet?” If you didn't ask, you'd be scolded: “If you don't know, you have to ask.” I sincerely suggest that the company create a checklist for new hires: check off what has been taught, so that everyone working with a new hire for the first time knows their learning progress~

-They treat everyone like a genius. The trainer demonstrates something once and expects the new hire to learn it immediately. They don't give you time to practice before sending you straight into battle. It's more intense than taking the civil service exam. Of course, if you make a mistake, you'll be scolded immediately.

-Everyone does things differently. A says to do it one way, B says to do it another way, so you have to force yourself to learn both methods: use A's method in front of A and B's method in front of B. Otherwise, you'll be the one getting scolded :)

-Following from the above, I consider myself very good at reading the room, but I still can't match how quickly the people here turn hostile. If you fail to coordinate perfectly, they'll say you came to work without your brain :)

-I'm often required to do several things well at the same time—literally “at the same time.” No matter which one you do first, you'll be scolded.

(Example: After portioning the ingredients, you have to put them in the refrigerator, clean the work surface, and prepare to do the next task. The worktable and refrigerator are a little distance apart. If you put the ingredients in the refrigerator first, they'll say, “You need to clean the work surface!” But if you clean the work surface first, they'll say, “The ingredients need to go in the refrigerator!” Oh, please, I wish I could be like Luffy too.)

3. Other

-In summary, the people here are extremely moody, but most of the time they're in a bad mood! It feels like the eye-rolling never ends, which makes going to work emotionally exhausting because you have to act according to everyone's mood.

-Because it's a small restaurant, you have to work both front and back of house. Although the résumé I originally submitted was for a front-of-house position, I spent about 80% of my time in the kitchen. Even when there were customers, they wouldn't let me go out front.

-Following from the above, because front-of-house staff also have to work in the kitchen, if you have never worked in a kitchen before or this is your first food-service job, be mentally prepared to be treated like an idiot. When I was working, for example, I was scolded for cutting vegetables too slowly. But I don't understand why front-of-house staff can't just do the front-of-house opening tasks and instead have to help the kitchen with ingredient preparation.

-The new hires here are treated as worse than garbage. I remember one particularly cold day when I had to drain the ice-chilled lettuce in the morning. A full-time employee said to me: “Hey, it's so cold. You do it.”

4. Personal thoughts:

My previous two jobs were both in food service. My supervisors were very satisfied with my performance, and I received quite a few compliments from customers. I consider myself a fairly capable learner, but after coming here, I was treated inexplicably. And because the training here is such a mess, I was flustered every day at work, so I decided to come here and warn others.

Conclusion: Unless you have the ability to teach yourself everything and an extraordinary tolerance for being treated like a slave, everyone reading this should really think twice and not wander into this trap!