What I Did:
Worked in a chain buffet-style for a summer while I was in college.
Why was it a bad job?
There were a number of reasons it was bad. First of all, the managers felt that humiliating their employees was a great motivational tool. Not a day went by when an employee wasn't publicly humiliated in front of other employees, although they kept this hidden from the customers. One poor guy had a stutter, and the big boss mercilessly made fun of him. (This was a long time ago. Now this sort of teasing would be grounds for a lawsuit.) I was young and pretty, and I had to deal with all kinds of innuendo.
Second, it didn't pay. We got restaurant worker wages, and since it was buffet-style, many customers didn't leave tips.
Third, they were terrible about cleanliness and food safety. One time, a child put his hands in the ice cream bucket, and the manager told me to take it back to the kitchen, scrape off the top and smooth it out, and put it back. They never threw out old food, they just added the new food to the buffet trays.
Tips and Tricks
- Get an education so you don't have to work in places like that one!
- I pass on buffet-style restaurants. I'm sure that some are good, but after what I saw, I want my food cooked for me. It's no guarantee of food safety, but at least fewer people sneeze on it or put their hands in it.
