Have any of you ever gotten a job in retail, or food service, or any job working for a well-known company like Burger King, or Wal Mart? And then once on the inside...when the manager is giving you the tour or telling you how things are done as a trainee, you became horrified to learn little factoids and tricks and stuff? For example, did they ever tell you they jack up prices on certain items on purpose? Or what materials are "really" used to make those hamburgers or supposed pizzas?
Yeah, I used to work in retain when I was a teenager. I was shocked to discover some of the garments we sold were fake. We were importing so many different items from so many different suppliers and fake good inevitably slip through the net.
Fortunately, I have never worked for a fast food chain. I did work for the dorm cafeteria as a part of colleges work study. Yeah, it was eyeopening. No wonder, many freshman gain weight during their first year of college. Starches fill people up and are cheap.
I worked in the kitchen at a popular chain restaurant. I wouldn't say I was horrified by anything I witnessed, but there were a few things. For example, I did prep and I made to make the salads a lot and they only ever enforced wearing plastic gloves when the health inspector was coming. That being said, we obsessively wash our hands and use tongs for most things regardless. But corners do get cut when proper supervision isn't around.
I use to work at walmart and I never really found out anything bad or anything besides the fact they have like secret codes they use to talk about people they think look like they will steal which I think it's kind of rude
I did have one horrifying job but it isn't open anymore and it wasn't a national chain. I worked at a Jewish deli on Miami Beach that mostly had a clientele of elderly people and served classic sandwiches like corned beef and pastrami on rye. Anyway ,the horrifying part was the nasty little things the owner would do to save money. I got yelled at once for throwing out some half eaten rolls. Why? Because the half eaten rolls that customers didn't finish were supposed to be saved and used in the next day's stuffing and meatloaf. Damn that's gross. There were plastic barrels of pickles in the fridge and even if something crawled into the barrels and drowned, we weren't allowed to throw out the pickles. Obviously I didn't eat there and didn't work there for very long.
I worked for a retail clothing store and I was shocked to find out they got their products so much cheaper. Most items were marked up 350% of their original cost. I know you have to pay overhead etc but 350% is nothing to laugh at. No wonder even if they had a 50% off sale they still made money. I also found out that malls not only made the shops pay rent but that they got a commission per sale a shop made.
What disturbs me the most is how often stores throw things away. Whether it be fast food chains or retail stores, as soon as the product is either off the market or a couple days away from being expired, even if it's perfectly good, it's tossed. I understand why, in a legality sense, they don't want to get sued for faulty products or food poisoning. But that doesn't make it any less sad to me.
I don't know if this counts, but I got my life and health insurance license some years ago, and I was horrified to learn what kinds of things life insurance companies do to make money, and the kinds of bullshit things they sell. Now every time I go into a bank and the banker asks me if I want a certain kind of insurance I immediately assume that he's evil and politely walk away, haha.
That doesn't surprise me one bit. Life Insurance companies and Health Insurance companies are some of the most unsavory businesses around. But isn't it interesting how their commercials make it seem like they're there to help YOU? Although behind the scenes, they're working feverishly to do everything but!
Oh wow that's horrible. I'd expect better from a Jewish place. Hmmm. The half eaten rolls thing particularly scares me. You basically are eating behind people and don't even know it! Did anyone ever come in complaining that the businesses food made them sick?
Not shocking. It allows them to be judgers without being sued for discrimination. So certain people gets numeric codes but no one can sue saying they called me "this word" or "that word". Interesting. Not shocking about Wal Mart though. But it's sad because most of the people who work there probably have to use these codes against customers who look just like them.
But in that case how can businesses complain about fake goods costing them money? Here in NYC, alot of the people on the street selling things were shut down by the mayor because retailers complained they were costing them money with their cheaper goods. So the retailers turn around and sell the same fake, knock off stuff? Just for a higher price? Unbelievable.
I worked in a number of retail stores for years and I was shocked to learn some of things I learned while working for these companies. I worked for a major supermarket chain that threw away all of their bakery goods after closing and those items could have been easily donated to a shelter or etc. I worked for a major plus size chain that jacked up their prices a few days or weeks before having a so called "sale".
If someone complained about being sick, I didn't see it. But who knows what happened on my days off. I saw a health inspector periodically come by, but I never saw him inspect anything. He always left smiling, shaking the owner's hand and carrying a complimentary bottle of wine, so maybe he was being paid off. Once ,a couple was having breakfast in a booth and a cockroach crawled along the wall towards them, of course they left without finishing their meal.
Nope, they weren't Kosher. They just sold Jewish food like matzo ball soup, gefilte fish, etc. We used to call the tuna salad the "hairy tuna" because the guy who made the tuna salad, had arms with luxuriant mats of curly black hair. I've tried to block that place out of my mind because it was such a bad experience that I was telling someone about it and I burst out crying. I have never hated any job as much as I hated working there.
I worked at walmart and although i wasnt horrified by anything i found them to be very unprofessional and rude. My first interview with they had me in a room with like 10 other people who were filing papers and laughing and joking around. I couldn't even focused. They ask me when i could work and i told them i attended school a couple days a week. They totally kick me out. Another rude lady with an attitude cut in and said oh we need somebody who can work all the time so we dont need her. I wasnt even there for two minutes they basically was like see ya you got to go. I got another interview at a different one and got the job. But i will say they do not respect their workers goals and dreams. They are very rude and nasty. But i did give them a piece of my mind before i left.
ACSAPA, that sounds like a sickening place to work. I'm glad they were shut down (or just quit, but I think there was a good chance they were shut down). I worked in a health food store for a few days while the owners went out of town. While I was there a shipment came in, along with an invoice. The invoice included suggested retail prices. Some of those prices were ten times what the health food store was charged. That was an eye opener to me.
none of these places surprise me it is all about how they can keep their pockets full and don't care who gets hurt along the way. One way of stopping or at least slowing it down is if you see any of this stuff happening, report it, especially when it is a food place. You should report it, you don't have to give your name or anything. That is the only way it is going to stop is reporting it , cause if you just let it go it will keep going on.
