宏茂國際開發股份有限公司

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During the interview, the interviewer said that both the front- and back-of-house restaurant positions at the mall location were understaffed, with the back of house being more short-handed. Without thinking too much, I answered that back-of-house work was fine, which led to a brief and unpleasant work experience.

First, the uniform provided was clearly a winter uniform. The long-sleeved material was thick, and worse, it did not fit. Wearing that kind of uniform while working in the kitchen was unbearably stuffy; even rolling up the sleeves only made them resemble three-quarter-length sleeves.

Then, although the job title was listed as “full-time back-of-house staff,” it really meant dishwasher. At most, I helped wash and cut vegetables during the first few days. On the remaining days, I only took out the trash and handled closing duties. I was treated like a dishwasher and made to wash dishes all day, then continue the next day—worked to death with no bonus.

The scheduled mid-shift break was one hour after four hours of work, but in practice, it depended on the store manager’s mood. If the manager did not tell the staff they could take a break, no one in the entire store dared to stop working; otherwise, they would be harshly reprimanded the next day. In reality, the first real chance to rest often came after six hours. Even if you were so hungry that you felt dizzy, you could not get a bite to eat.

What employees were allowed to eat for their staff meal also depended on the store manager’s mood. Even though we were all full-time employees, if the manager did not want to prepare something at the same price point, it was like seeing food in the menu photos but not being allowed to eat it. As a result, for several consecutive days I could only eat extremely salty curry pork cutlet rice—without the pork cutlet or the white rice.

I also do not know whether it was because I was the oldest among the employees, but my coworkers treated me strangely. Even when I tried to find opportunities to learn other tasks, after quickly washing the dishes I would ask my coworkers whether they needed help. Every one of them would turn away and say, “We’ll do it ourselves. You just go wash dishes.”

When I saw that next month’s schedule assigned me to wash dishes for the entire month, I was furious. If they intended to treat people this badly, why had they asked me to quit my previous job and come work there? When I told the manager that treating someone so dismissively was unacceptable and that otherwise I would quit, the manager left for a moment, then brought back a resignation approval form and waved it in front of me, acting as though it made no difference whether I stayed.

I raised the issue with the interviewer and was told that back-of-house work included washing dishes and taking out the trash, and that on the days I did not work, other back-of-house staff also washed dishes. But they failed to mention that none of the other back-of-house employees had been scheduled to wash dishes for an entire month. Moreover, this explanation was based on the fact that the dishwashers they had lured in had days off, so the work had to be assigned to someone else. They deliberately downplayed the important details, which made it clear that they had probably planned from the start to find someone to fill the undesirable back-of-house position that no one wanted.

Looking back, I should not have impulsively signed the resignation form then. I should have held on to my position and fought it out with them so they could not act so arrogantly.

That is all. Anyone middle-aged or older should not consider working there, or you will be treated as disposable labor and looked down on.