Horrors of Subway
This is also a bulletin at www.myspace.com/narfpaul
On saturday, June 18th after two long years of faithful service I finally made my stand against Subway. I was working a 12-9 shift and at 4 i took off my subway hat and shirt, walked up to the manager and said, "Um...Can you tell DC (the owner) that um..I QUIT! And i'll be back on friday to pick up my last paycheck, Bye!" If you know me, then you know something like that is completely out of character for me. However, it had been building up since the beginning. I dont feel one bit of guilt for screwing them over by leaving them with not enough employees during the busiest time of the year. And thus, i feel i need to defend my actions by explaining to everyone all the insanity that went on during my time at subway...at least the things i can remember.
1. Tips. Tips is a touchy subject because as a franchise, subway employees are not allowed to take tips therefore, none of the employees ever complained about the manner in which the tips were distributed for fear of the owner completely taking away the privilege of getting tips. Unlike the other two franchises (Groton and Conventry) the tips at my Subway were pooled and then distributed "evenly" among all the employees. Many people think that we dont make a lot of tips but quite to the contrary the average for a shift is around $30. The morning shift doesn't make nearly as much as the night shift, which i worked, despite this i had to share my tips with them because that was "fair". Like i said before, all the tips were pooled and then split among the employees but for an entire month we would usually only get around $60. Now, im sure your wondering how I only received $60 for an entire month when i worked 5 days a week and made around $30 dollars a shift. To which i have no answer. My best guess is that our tips were used to even out of the drawer when it was short.
2. Enviroment. If you have ever visited Subway in the summer you know its outrageously hot in there. I can assure you it was much hotter behind the counter since there is an oven and toaster oven running all day. Due to the way in which the store was wired, the air conditioner cannot be running at the same time as the oven. As a result, I can remember many shifts were i would pray that the sweat dripping down my face would not fall onto the sandwiches. Recently, i brought in a thermometer to see how hot it actually was. In general, the store is around 88 degrees but where we stand its around 93-95 depending on where you are. Funny, emails from Subway Corporate suggest that the temperature of the store not be above 74 degrees. The heat may have been bearable if the break situation was not as it is which i will get to next.
3. Breaks. I have no actual knowledge of the current laws for breaks but even if it was legal, it was cruel. At subway, you receieve one 20 minute break for your shift. This was not bad when you worked say a 5 hour shift but in general, my shifts ranged from 7-10 hours, 9 hours being the most common. Sometimes, when they would leave us alone I would sneak outside for a cigarette break or sit down on the back table but the fact that we were expected to work from 12 to 10 with only a one 20 minute break is disgusting.
4. Carvel. Most locals know that Subway is not only a Subway but a Carvel Ice Cream Store too. They also know that the subway employees were expected to run both Subway and Carvel simultaneously. Most of the time, this was not as bad as it sounds because Carvel was not as busy as Subway. However, i cant count the friday nights in which there would only be me and one other employee in the store and there would be lines at both Subway, Carvel and Drive Through. I myself despised carvel for two reasons: 1) I was never officially trained at Carvel. The first time i helped a customer it was simply because i was alone and had no choice. I was never told how to make things, what the sizes were or where everything was. As an employee i was just expected to help customers at Carvel and do a good job, period. 2) The food at Carvel is disgusting. Everything was always rotten or moldy, the mixes for the Smoothies all expired 6 months ago and the ice cream was always frost bitten. I hated serving that food and i still feel bad about some of the things i gave to customers.
6. The Family. I often wondered what Subway would have been like if it were not run and owned by Indians. I am not making generalizations about an entire culture but from my experience, the Clan i worked for was fucking insane. Regulars were the DC(The Owner), Raj (The Manager and DCs Nephew), Mallika (Raj's wife and the manager of the Groton Subway), Mita (DC's Wife), and Tipu (DC and Mitas bastard demon child). However, throughout the years i was introduced to a very large amount of extended families. Random family members would regularly come to subway, take food and simply wander around the back in sandals and watch us. I jokingly referred to it as Club Med. My least favorite was the owner, DC. DC is on the of main reasons i quit. I hated DC because not only was his english awful, but he had no idea what he was doing. I cant the count times i would be helping a customer and DC would come out of the back office and say, "Paul! You want go..." followed by some sort of action like a mime. I got good at reading his hands, i knew which action meant sweep under the table and which meant do dishes. Other than that, i had NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT HE WAS SAYING TO ME. Mainly, i hated DC because everyone, including his nephew raj, had to run around when he was there and clean up after his mistakes. For example, DC was convinced the cookies had to be cooked really well so no one would get sick however this resulted in cookies that, still hot from the oven, would be hard as rocks. Nobody buys cookies at Subway because they are always stale or rock hard. So, we would have to try and bake cookies before DC could, or remove them from the oven when he wasn't looking. There are many instances similar to this but i am sick fo talking about that rat bastard.
Well, i am sick of writing but dont fear, there is more. I will finish this next time i have nothing to do.
7. Tipu.
8.Back Office.
9.Punishment.
10. Nicole.
11. Abby.
On saturday, June 18th after two long years of faithful service I finally made my stand against Subway. I was working a 12-9 shift and at 4 i took off my subway hat and shirt, walked up to the manager and said, "Um...Can you tell DC (the owner) that um..I QUIT! And i'll be back on friday to pick up my last paycheck, Bye!" If you know me, then you know something like that is completely out of character for me. However, it had been building up since the beginning. I dont feel one bit of guilt for screwing them over by leaving them with not enough employees during the busiest time of the year. And thus, i feel i need to defend my actions by explaining to everyone all the insanity that went on during my time at subway...at least the things i can remember.
1. Tips. Tips is a touchy subject because as a franchise, subway employees are not allowed to take tips therefore, none of the employees ever complained about the manner in which the tips were distributed for fear of the owner completely taking away the privilege of getting tips. Unlike the other two franchises (Groton and Conventry) the tips at my Subway were pooled and then distributed "evenly" among all the employees. Many people think that we dont make a lot of tips but quite to the contrary the average for a shift is around $30. The morning shift doesn't make nearly as much as the night shift, which i worked, despite this i had to share my tips with them because that was "fair". Like i said before, all the tips were pooled and then split among the employees but for an entire month we would usually only get around $60. Now, im sure your wondering how I only received $60 for an entire month when i worked 5 days a week and made around $30 dollars a shift. To which i have no answer. My best guess is that our tips were used to even out of the drawer when it was short.
2. Enviroment. If you have ever visited Subway in the summer you know its outrageously hot in there. I can assure you it was much hotter behind the counter since there is an oven and toaster oven running all day. Due to the way in which the store was wired, the air conditioner cannot be running at the same time as the oven. As a result, I can remember many shifts were i would pray that the sweat dripping down my face would not fall onto the sandwiches. Recently, i brought in a thermometer to see how hot it actually was. In general, the store is around 88 degrees but where we stand its around 93-95 depending on where you are. Funny, emails from Subway Corporate suggest that the temperature of the store not be above 74 degrees. The heat may have been bearable if the break situation was not as it is which i will get to next.
3. Breaks. I have no actual knowledge of the current laws for breaks but even if it was legal, it was cruel. At subway, you receieve one 20 minute break for your shift. This was not bad when you worked say a 5 hour shift but in general, my shifts ranged from 7-10 hours, 9 hours being the most common. Sometimes, when they would leave us alone I would sneak outside for a cigarette break or sit down on the back table but the fact that we were expected to work from 12 to 10 with only a one 20 minute break is disgusting.
4. Carvel. Most locals know that Subway is not only a Subway but a Carvel Ice Cream Store too. They also know that the subway employees were expected to run both Subway and Carvel simultaneously. Most of the time, this was not as bad as it sounds because Carvel was not as busy as Subway. However, i cant count the friday nights in which there would only be me and one other employee in the store and there would be lines at both Subway, Carvel and Drive Through. I myself despised carvel for two reasons: 1) I was never officially trained at Carvel. The first time i helped a customer it was simply because i was alone and had no choice. I was never told how to make things, what the sizes were or where everything was. As an employee i was just expected to help customers at Carvel and do a good job, period. 2) The food at Carvel is disgusting. Everything was always rotten or moldy, the mixes for the Smoothies all expired 6 months ago and the ice cream was always frost bitten. I hated serving that food and i still feel bad about some of the things i gave to customers.
6. The Family. I often wondered what Subway would have been like if it were not run and owned by Indians. I am not making generalizations about an entire culture but from my experience, the Clan i worked for was fucking insane. Regulars were the DC(The Owner), Raj (The Manager and DCs Nephew), Mallika (Raj's wife and the manager of the Groton Subway), Mita (DC's Wife), and Tipu (DC and Mitas bastard demon child). However, throughout the years i was introduced to a very large amount of extended families. Random family members would regularly come to subway, take food and simply wander around the back in sandals and watch us. I jokingly referred to it as Club Med. My least favorite was the owner, DC. DC is on the of main reasons i quit. I hated DC because not only was his english awful, but he had no idea what he was doing. I cant the count times i would be helping a customer and DC would come out of the back office and say, "Paul! You want go..." followed by some sort of action like a mime. I got good at reading his hands, i knew which action meant sweep under the table and which meant do dishes. Other than that, i had NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT HE WAS SAYING TO ME. Mainly, i hated DC because everyone, including his nephew raj, had to run around when he was there and clean up after his mistakes. For example, DC was convinced the cookies had to be cooked really well so no one would get sick however this resulted in cookies that, still hot from the oven, would be hard as rocks. Nobody buys cookies at Subway because they are always stale or rock hard. So, we would have to try and bake cookies before DC could, or remove them from the oven when he wasn't looking. There are many instances similar to this but i am sick fo talking about that rat bastard.
Well, i am sick of writing but dont fear, there is more. I will finish this next time i have nothing to do.
7. Tipu.
8.Back Office.
9.Punishment.
10. Nicole.
11. Abby.