Worst place I ever worked. I was a cashier at the opening shift when it was just me and one other waitress from 6 AM to 9 AM. I was not allowed to leave the counter for a second the entire time. However, all I was allowed to do to occupy my time was clean behind the counter, which is strictly arranged based on set plans by corporate, so i couldn’t do much anyway. Once that was done, I had to stand in silence for the remaining 2 hours and 45 minutes while no one at all came in. I wasn’t even allowed to stand there reading one of the books we were selling.
Cashiers weren’t allowed to leave the register for any reason, and my restaurant specifically tried to ban cashiers from having water behind the counter and we had to go to HR about it, which made us super unpopular with our bosses, obvs.
While I was working there, some products got banned bc the sellers said something homophobic, and so many old men came in quite literally yelling at me about their rights to free speech that corporate had to fax out scripts for us to blankly read while avoiding eye contact, for a week.
If something was made in China, customers wanted it made in America. If it was made in America, it was too expensive and we were getting greedy.
I broke me knee and even though my entire job was to stand behind the register, they refused to let me sit on a stool instead, and I couldn’t afford to go to HR again, so I lost 7 weeks of pay not working bc they were afraid me sitting would effect their image or something.
A cashier with me with chrons disease had to threaten legal action to be allowed regular bathroom breaks.
We weren’t allowed to confront or even call the authorities on shoplifters bc it would “embarrass” them, but if someone got away with stealing, we were punished. The way to keep people form stealing was to “be friendly and conversational while they shopped so they know we’re around and watching.” Again, I wasn’t allowed to leave the counter. At my store in particular, the same old woman came in every week for the same meal, tipped a nickel, and then stole something. Every week I was told to “watch her and talk to her,” and every week I got in trouble when, as per the rules, I had to let her leave with something in her purse.
If we were harassed by customers, their word was always taken over ours. Teenagers came in drunk once harassing me, my boss called me “honey,” in front of them. I later asked him not to patronize me in front of troublesome customers, and he never spoke to me again. When I went to another city, he listed me as un-rehireable so I couldn’t transfer to that Cracker Barrel. My coworkers were outraged,
Drunk pipeliners frequently asked our pregnant waitress if she was serving breast milk, the managers did nothing.
Wealthy families frequently came in on Sundays after church, spent $200 on a family meal, and didn’t leave a tip.
The stories go on. I’ve worked a million different retail jobs. None of them have been amazing, but Cracker Barrel is a special corner of hell, and it took me getting Whooping Cough and being told by my doctor I legally was not allowed to work around food or the elderly for 2 weeks, and my manager saying “that’s your choice, come to work tomorrow or don’t come back” for me to finally escape.
Cursed Restaurant.
But the hasbrown casserole is really fuckin good.
RIGHT I also forgot about the policy where we HAD to give customers their meals for free if they complained, and one time a customer came up to the register to pay and he told me he wouldn’t be paying because his milk was “completely spoiled, literally cottage cheese in a glass.” Dutifully horrified on his behalf, I asked him if he’d asked for another glass or for something else. He got really flustered and said “well no, of course I drank it to be polite!”
Absolutely no way in hell. Also his $60 meal was free.
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octoberspirit 