You may or may not know that I've been working in a sandwich shop for the past 2 years and 3 months. It's not a hard job and by no means is it a career, but I'm good at it and that's what gets me out of bed and off to work each day. Considering a friend and I do the work of 3 (sometimes 4) people in that kitchen, that is no easy task.
I've got mixed feelings about this decision, but the wife is supportive and it has been a long time coming considering the conditions I have to work in. I have some coals in the fire and a really good opportunity within grasp,...so put out some good vibes that one of these pans out for me.
I've kept pretty mute about what has been happening at my job over the past year and a half, but I thought I'd just share my story and see how the TB community responds. This is a novel....many apologies. You are a trooper if you read the whole thing.
The establishment shall remain nameless because there is some serious **** about to hit the fan there. Also it is worth mentioning that the owner hasn't visited the location I work in probably a year...even though he lives within 20 miles of it.
Even though we are making money hand over fist and we are busier than we've ever been...the business is somehow floundering.
We've had linen (bar towels...tablecloths etc.) repo'd. We've had our dishwasher repo'd and replaced by another company's... and they will probably be repoing their machine soon. Our vendors will not deliver to us unless they get COD or the owner cons his way into getting our orders delivered. We've almost had our water shut off. I'm wondering when I'm going to go in and have to throw a walk-in fridge/freezer full of food away because the power has been shut off.
Today is the first day of near 80 degree weather and it had to be at least 10 warmer in that kitchen. I can not spend another summer in an overheated/un-air conditioned kitchen. I got really sick last year due to
dehydration. and I'm sure getting my *** kicked in a kitchen had a large part to do with that.
The owner of the establishment is being federally investigated on income tax evasion charges. I've seen the affidavits and the search warrants. 7 years of unpaid taxes.
The owner of the establishment has failed to pay employees SSI. So that is two years worth of SSI that I am undocumented for. If I get hurt tomorrow and have to claim SS Disability....I'm pretty much have to bend over backwards and cut through red tape to get because of this guys greed.
This is the kicker, but let me preface it a bit. A lot of this comes as a learning experience of my own. I was put in the position of needing a vehicle. I had no money down and was unwilling to get a co-signer. I took the easiest route and went to a Fly-By-Night car dealership and drove off the lot with a used Isuzu Trooper and in debt for about $2700.
The long story short is the truck stopped running after I sank a bunch of money into maintenance and repairs (including a faulty brake system [wrong fluid in the master cylinder...not of my doing] which renders the vehicle un-roadworthy...it can not be sold in that condition) etc. and I refused to pay for something I couldn't use. The finance company repo'd, auctioned and then moved to garnish my wages....fine by me. They screwed me (buyer beware...yada yada yada...I know, lesson learned) so I wasn't willing to make it easy for them to get "their" money.
The garnishment started coming out of my checks somewhere around June of 07 and continued on till early 08, to the tune of about $2000. Come to find out...the owner of said establishment took the money out of my check and did not pay the garnishments. He pocketed it.
Needless to say I should have quit the moment I found out I was being ripped off, but I put it out of my mind...gave the owner the benefit of the doubt and thought he'd sort it out. A few months go by and the garnishments still aren't paid. I basically just continued to work there because I liked the people I work with and had a hard time believing that there were other jobs out there. If I quit I couldn't collect un-employment (if he even paid into it). I felt stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
I also found out through the finance company that they will seize the money out of his accounts if he does not answer the writ of garnishments. I had hoped to linger around long enough for that to happen. Something like that did happen but whether or not it was for my situation I don't know. I do know that he has pocketed garnishments on other employees' child support (both here and out of state where 4 other franchises exsist). Unfortunately in that case the persons getting garnished can wind up in jail. That's pretty effed up. Luckily I have no children and therefore am not a deadbeat dad.
After all this I still continued to work for the guy. If he spent any time in the stores I'm sure I would have been gone long ago, but I only now started to be proactive in finding something better. The past couple of weeks I've been peppering the restaurants with resumes. I know the garnishment may follow me to another employer and I'm taking steps to recoup the money that was withheld and not paid. I've asked for copies of pay stubs that reflect withheld garnishment and he has not complied. I'm about to lawyer up on this.
The positive outcome is this has made me more aware of the importance of keeping track of documents and pay stubs; being a more educated buyer on major purchases and generally being more proactive in discovering and correcting "mistakes".
The one job I'm really hoping to get is at a 501c non profit organization. They sell local produce and organic and whole food stuffs as well as organize a farmers market and distribute CSA (community supported agriculture) shares. A CSA share is basically a seasons worth of produce that you pay a one time fee for and you pick up a box of produce a week that can feed a family of for. It is a great value because fresh local produce lasts up to 4 times longer than commercially available factory farmed produce. Typically the season is from Mid June to end of September. I truly believe in the CSA movement and keeping money local and see this as an opportunity to help worthy cause grow as well as advancing in my own life.
If you made it this far thank you for reading this. All comments and criticisms are appreciated.
. He just doesn't have it. His people skills are poor as are his customer service.
