Pros
- The coworkers. The store I work at was a new one in the area, so all the coworkers were trained at the same time in different locations and brought together. We were like a family, everyone generally liked eachother and were nice to everyone. - Asking for help. The managers and supervisors encourage you to ask questions. They make it seem like there are no dumb questions. At my old job, I was afraid to ask questions cause they would make me feel stupid. - The food. The food is pretty good. 65% discount on breaks is nice. - Sounds cool to your friends. "Yeah, I work at Panera Bread." "Oh that place is nummy!" - Being in the food service industry makes you appreciate those who work in restaurants, cafes, bakeries, etc.
Cons
- The pay. This 16 year old that had no previous job experience gets 8.86 an hour while I'm older and have had one job and get only 8.75. At least it's not this other girl who was the same age as me and had the same job experience and only gets minimum wage. It doesn't make sense to me when we all do the same positions. - The work. We have to do SO much work. Especially if you close, like I do 75% of the time. You barely have any downtime. You are constantly on your feet, constantly running around, etc. If you're on dining/bakery, you're carrying heavy objects, constantly sweeping, stocking, etc. There's just a lot of work to do and the stores are always huge. - The customers. Some customers are really nice and you make relationships with them. However, half of the time there are rich, snobby people who I think purposely try to make you feel stupid. "Do you want chips, bread, or an apple for a side?" "Bread? With a sandwich? *Laughs" What the, some people actually want more bread since we are a bakery afterall. Then, there are the really stupid customers who ask the dumbest questions and just p you off. - Hours. Sometimes you have the lamest shifts and they're so inconveniently placed in the day. For example, 10-4. 11-3. 3:45-closing. It just seems weird.