I was hired to work at the Checkers in Fayetteville after attempting applying/attempting to be hired for about two months. Whenever the General Manager told me to meet him at the restaurant, he was either not there or told me to come back. Unfortunately, I was rather persistent, and was hired. What I found the first day on the job when I went to the restroom to put on my new uniform shirt, is that they keep boxes of bread, buns, etc., in the Women's Bathroom, and that all employees and customers must use the Mens' Room (be they female or not) which just happens to look like something right out of a George Romero movie. It hadn't been cleaned in what looked like months; the mirror was cloudy, there was urine (most of which had been dried and is actually layered because of it) all over the toilet seat, and the floor and urinal were even filthy.
What I soon found, however, is that the General Manager is even more unreliable than at first glance. He leaves most things up to the Assistant Manager, who is a disagreeable little troll who takes it upon herself to yell at, scream at, insult, berate, and verbally abuse the employees... Most of which are extremely rude to the guests and co-workers alike anyway. There is no set schedule, and the Assistant Manager takes it upon herself to regulate employee hours "to watch the labor percentage", which is understandable, but you simply do not hire a person under the pretenses of giving them thirty hours a week, only to have them find that they'll be lucky to get fifteen. When most employees come into work, the AS makes them stand in the break room for up to half an hour before allowing them to clock in, sometimes making them leave after standing around all that time saying that they wouldn't be needed that day. She constantly hurries people, which causes more mess-ups, telling them that if they don't stop "being slow" that she'll send them home or "let them go".in the few weeks I've been there, I've been yelled at and derogated more times than I can even remember, for mere minimum wage.
The managers don't ensure that employees wear non-slip shoes before even letting them into the kitchen, and complaining to the General Manager earns you nothing more than a wave-off. I've personally heard employees talk about the illegal drugs they do at home on more than one occasion, a couple of times the AS was listening or speaking in the conversation and said and did nothing. While what they do in their off-time is not my business, hearing that after being threatened with termination over something trivial several times in the same week really made me wonder. There was one fry-cook who I saw blow his nose and go to make sandwiches and had to remind him to wash his hands, which he simply rinsed with water (no soap!), and went about his business. Twice I found hair in ice or food which was once blamed on me, when I knew it wasn't mine, and I even had a customer hand me an order of fries back through the window with a short, curly hair stuck to it who I then called the manager over to give a refund. The fries in that batch weren't thrown out, but were given out to people.
The fry station is something of an issue as well. If you're reading this, you may have seen something about it here and there about Checkers not releasing nutritional facts about their food or how it's cooked, as well as cause for concern for Vegetarians. To put it simply: the fries, chicken, fish, chicken wings, onion rings, apple pies and anything else that's fried are all cooked in the same grease; the partitions aren't even separated. There are two sides, which are all used for the same things. Don't let them fool you on this. Fries are cooked, and when cold, stuck back into the grease over and over and over - which is why you may get hard, crusty fries from a Checkers or Rally's. The onion rings are cooked and sat in a warmer for the remainder of the day, and stuck back into the grease if anyone orders some. Bacon is fried and stuck in a warmer next to the apple pies, and I've seen wilted lettuce used several times, after someone has picked through the slimy, rotten parts of the bag. More than once I've witnessed other employees pick fries or pies out of the batch and wolf them down while there's no management nearby (with no gloves on, mind you.)
All in all, as someone who used to be a customer of Checkers, especially their prices, there's no way I'll ever pay good money for their garbage again.
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