// January 26th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // Chef, Cooking, Health and Fitness, health
When I interviewed for this job there were plenty of red flags and warning signs which were reasons why I should have said “no” to taking this job. However I had been on over 90 job interviews with no job offer, I was sick of being dependent on friends and having to beg DPSS each month to please give me my benefits, so I ignored them.
The first red flag was how she spoke very poorly of her former employer over at USC, even speaking very poorly of members of her current employer. She even spoke of how I would have a hard time with the dishwasher because he could not read and his English was very poor. I could go on and on, but the fact still remains that I ignored all of this because I needed a job.
Things have only gotten worse since I’ve been hired and I’ve blogged about it and I have even spoken to some of the members about it and nothing has been done to correct it. My co-worker has cried in the kitchen at least three times after the director has spoken to her and made her feel like she is a complete screw up. She even places blame on us for things she has done wrong.
It all came to a head for me on Friday when I was handed what I thought was my forms for filing my taxes. I had already spoken to the director three times about this, but she always had the same answer. “I am told they dont list it” She is also refusing to pay an employee a check that has been lost. Her answer for this is “I am doing all I can” or “she doesn’t speak clear English and what I say to her is lost in translation”
After opening the envelope I discover what I already knew, the director was wrong and had done nothing to correct her mistake. There have been no taxes taken out of my check, furthermore I am not even an employee of the organization. When i took these papers to her office, she acted as if she had no idea what was going on. She asked me if she could keep the papers until she corrected it and I told her “no” you may have a copy, but you can not keep. She then asked if she could give them to me at the end of my shift and again I told her “no” make your copy now or never. I also want to speak to someone about this issue ASAP and I don’t want the run around.” She looks at me and says “I am not the enemy here.” Something she always like to say when she is caught. She made her copies and I went back to the kitchen.
Later I was called into her office for my review which was all bad, she scored me 2’s and 3′ and even said most of it was her “personal opinion” After she finished her interview she asked if she could have a hug. I asked if she looked into the matter about my taxes and being a an employee and she replied with “I have not had time to deal with that right now” Need less to say I did not hug her. I don’t trust her one bit.
Please dont get me wrong, I love my job, the work is so much fun and the members are awesome, however the director is very hard to deal with, she is rude and to be honest at times she comes off as being racist, but we are told “that’s just who she is” There is no one for us to speak to about what goes on. She blames the kitchen for a budget we have never been given, she changes vendors and then acts like it is our fault that she has made choices that have resulted in shortages of food, ppor food quality or food not showing up at all.
At the end of the day she comes into the kitchen to tell me that she is cutting the hours of the other chef, but did not want me to tell her, just like she changed food suppliers but didn’t want to tell the other company. Everything she does is sneaky and done in dark. At then of the year of or before I would not be surprised if all kitchen staff is not fired.
Can you say STRESS? We never know how she is going to come into the kitchen or what she will take pictures of to later show us what we’ve done wrong. She looks for things to be wrong, she looks for reason to complain or tell us that the members are not happy. However what we hear from the members is that things are fine, but the very same day we will hear other things from the director.
I need this job, but the stress of it can be too much. I go in wondering if I will be fired or spoken to like I am some house slave…house nigger. If I treated my co-workers the way she treats us the answer would not be “that’s just who he is” The answer would be”you’re fired” but I guess the rules are different for certain people.
There are times when I dont get sleep because I am up worrying about if she is in the kitchen making things up and taking pictures or if she is going to email or text me demanding something. I have never been fired and I have never worked in an environment like this and it is very stressful.
She can do whatever she wants, give me a bad review and there is no one for me to dispute it with, no one for me to discuss it with. She can treat the staff like slaves and there is nothing we can do about it.
I took this job because I needed it, my back was against the wall and now I have a job that causes so much stress I want to put my head through a wall. My sleeping patterns are so screwed up, I have a headache that I cant seem to shake.
I had a death in my family over the weekend, so I have called out and she is acting like I have asked her to move heaven and hell, so I know she will give me such a hard time when I return next week and because I need this job I will keep my mouth shut and “deal with it” because that “is who she is”
So if you wanna know why I am keeping to myself then here is the answer, if you wanna know why I dont seem like myself well its because I dont want to be homeless again, if you want to know why I eat and eat and eat and eat and eat, its because I am stressed. Since she found out I was once homeless she has treated me even worse, so I know when she finds out about HIV she will fire me. I know this because she speaks very poorly of gay people.
There are times when I dont even leave the house on weekends other then to walk Dodger because I just want to sit inside and be left alone.
I recall when the other chef was crying telling me how she has gotten into her head and made her feel like she does not know what she is doing, how she now questions her ability and how she makes her feel worthless.
When she told me this my soul was shaking because I know those feelings very well. Being homeless for 29 months I felt all those feelings and many more, not because they were try, but because of how I was treated by people and places who are supposed to help.
“Worthless and stupid” is how I feel now working for this woman. Even though I know it’s not true and even though I know the members say everything is great, they dont seem to understand what we have to put up with.
In light of recent events at my job and seeing how things are only getting worse with each passing day, I have come to the conclusion that it is best to look out for me. Even though I have been told several times by the members that no one is being being fired, I can’t trust them on this matter. I have seen many times where organizations like this say one thing but turn right around and do the other.
back, moreover plan not to make it through the end of the year. Not because I have done anything wrong, but it has been his experience that organizations such as these tend to fire their staff faster then they will a director.
This job has caused so much stress and I have headaches every single day I go in. I can not allow the stress of this job to affect my health and well being, I also can not allow someone to treat me like I am a slave.
