It was early in March 2018 and like I blogged before I knew my season at Chick Fil A was over (so I thought ha ha). A close friend of mine told me about a restaurant in Farmingdale, NY called Cheeburger Cheeburger. Yes, not cheeseburger...CHEEBURGER! It was a takeoff from the old SNL skit form the 70's with John Belushi and Dan Akroyd. This restaurant was a chain that was started in 1986 in Sanibel Island, FL and this particular one was the lone surviving one on Long Island. I called one of the managers, Meghan for an interview and on a cold day I arrived at the airport plaza. The restaurant was very narrow and in the background you cold hear 1950's music being played. I was applying at this restaurant to be a manager and help build this restaurant and allow it to grow. It was foundering, so I had heard. My interview with Meghan was brief and we tried to figure out what days I could work. We agreed that I would be a manager Monday, Tuesday and Friday and on Thursdays, part of Fridays and Saturdays I would do deliveries. It seemed to me that this could work but I did grow concerned when Meghan said to me "Are you sure you want to do this?" I ignored that and was happy for a new challenge. I love challenges as you know. Meghan told me that we were going to have a meeting with all the workers on the Thursday before I started at night. There was a persistent problem with managers being disrespected, cell phone use and many callouts. When I arrived, I was anxious to meet the owner and thought he would lead the meeting. He was not there and I wondered why. I discovered during my 5 months at Cheeburger Cheeburger that this would be a growing trend with him unfortunately. All the workers signed a paper declaring they would obey all the rules listed. My brief Cheeburger career was about to begin. All I can say is "Wow!" What a disaster.
My very first day was Monday, March 26th and I should have been alarmed on day one. We had 2 call outs!! Normally you would have two servers, one manager, two people in the kitchen, one person at the ice cream bar and a delivery driver....seven people. We had 5!!! Instead of learning how to manage, I ended up being the delivery driver for a day. As I got to know the staff, I realized that many of them were not happy. They had to work long hours with very little pay. Within the first 3 weeks I could see that this restaurant was run poorly. Many times supplies were low, there were a lot of call outs and truthfully, no one cared about the quality of service. Many of the young kids who worked at the ice cream bar quit to get better paying jobs. The interview process was awful. No applications, no background checks which resulted in terrible employees. It made for great comedy. One guy that they hired who worked in the kitchen could not read! He asked me whole weighing meat if the number n the scale was the number 7. I thought he was kidding but he wasn't. The kitchen staff could not pronounce his name so they gave him the nickname "Cookie" They hired one girl behind the bar who needed change, so she ran to the liquor store a few doors down and left the register open. When I confronted her, her answer was "Oops!" She did not last long. One of the delivery drivers was caught taking money. A server waked out mad about something and came back an hour later smelling like marijuana and high as a kite. One of the other managers came in for her shift reeking of alcohol. All I could say is "God, what did I get myself into?
After only 3 weeks of all this, I knew I needed a backup plan so I contacted Chick Fil A in Commack and inquired about working there part time. I was convinced that Cheeburger (or as I called it Cheedungeon) would not make it through September. I knew the operations manager Fred from when he trained at the Port Jefferson CFA and he hired me even before I could utter a word at my interview with him. I started working at CFA Commack at the end of May and worked there part time in hopes to maybe get fulltime work which meant health insurance. When I told Cheeburger my plans to work more hours at CFA, they were annoyed. They even tried to talk me into working "off the books" and get health insurance from them claiming I was related to another manager. I did not want to lie or be deceitful. As I began to work at CFA Commack, it became apparent to me that that was where I belonged. I hated working at Cheeburger!! The restaurant was located in a shopping center and there was no drive to make improvements or advertise. What was glaring to me was the owner. He was never ever there during our hours of operations. I saw him sometimes before we opened. He would call around 4:00 every day and when we closed. All he cared about was what we made and are we cutting labor. The icing on the cake for me was when I had my kidney stone attack in the middle of me shift, I called him to tell him I HAD to get home as soon as possible to take my meds. He called me while I was driving in excruciating pain that I dropped the ball, I wasn't communicating about our staff etc. I was so angry but was in so much pain I just wanted to get home. Right above our restaurant at the shopping center were some FM radio stations on Long Island (B-103 and WALK). There was also a credit union/collections agency as well. The employees there were rude and obnoxious and many times I struggled to keep my Christian witness. They did things like demand a well done burger be cooked in 2 minutes, they questioned why during a special meal why the included drink was not a large, and they would tap their manicured finger nails on the counter while they were ordering. All they did was complain and it was getting to me! The communication at this restaurant was also terrible. We had specials listed on Facebook and Instagram that was not communicated to the managers. It was awful.
In July, I knew it was time for me to phase out of this horrible place so I decided to work at CFA Commack Monday through Thursday and Saturday. I worked at Cheeburger Fridays. Many of the employees at Cheeburger, mainly the kitchen crew loved working with me and begged me to work 7 days a week at Cheeburger. I was flattered but knew I had to branch away from that disaster of a place. The restaurant was doing horrible and it was a matter of time that the doors would be shut for good. The was it was handled was terrible. I did not know that my last day would be Friday, August 24th. After my shift, the owner told me that another manager needed my keys. When I handed them to her, she said she already had keys. After my final shift I was so tired and thought nothing of it. What happened next was a horrible thing that could be done to employees and shows no class. The owner changed the locks on the door and NEVER told anyone has was shutting the place down. Workers showed up Monday morning and a "closed sign" was on the door. No communication! He supposedly paid his employees for their final pay. As I am writing this I still have not received my pay!
I learned a lot from working this job...how not to run a restaurant....how people need to be treated and how hard it is to be a light in the darkness. I feel sorry for the owner of this restaurant and pray one day he realizes happiness does not come with making lots of money, it comes when we receive Jesus as our Lord and savior. He makes all the difference in our lives!!
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