Below is the letter I wrote to Salata Co.
My name is Natalie. I have been a Salata employee since October 17th, 2013. I was employed to the first Salata built in San Antonio, Texas. However, I have quit my job because of several factors with the main factor being Tom McCarthy and the corruption he allows in his stores.
Now to understand the full story, you must be aware of what has happened to me months prior to my choice of quitting.
I was appointed as a night supervisor while I worked at the Huebner Oaks location. However, the experience was overall terrible. I did not have a manager to properly train me. The first manager who taught me was fired for who knows what and another manager left to Austin. There was no one to guide me afterwards, except for Tom, who would stop by sometimes.
I found myself being scolded and my job threatened many times by Tom, due to a lack of being taught how to supervise the store. I am thankful that the customers saw how hard I worked and praised my efforts along with my coworkers.
Through tremendous trial and error, I developed a style of how to run the store following what Tom wanted: clean dining room, clean line, clean restrooms and to basically supervise my coworkers, and close the register. My crew and I were closing the store at record speed whilst keeping the store tidy to the best of our ability. Suddenly, Jerreal came over. The morning manager was called to train in Houston; so Jerreal was going to be in charge as morning manager. We were hired along the same time, so he is no stranger to me. Jerreal is aware of the Salata system, but somewhere along the line, he began to use his manager position to harass coworkers. For instance, my night coworkers complained that they had far too many dishes to do, and they were right. Jerreal was not placing anyone on dishes during morning time, which resulted in piles of unwashed dishes.
Jerreal allowed coworkers to leave before finishing duties...that eventually became my responsibility at the end of the night.
Jerreal also allowed his girlfriend-now fiancee to clock out before "flipping the line", which we no longer do due to the constraints of time and serving customers; this order was given by Tom. Jerreal wanted me to flip the line one day, but the kitchen was already backed up with loads of dishes. With me being the night supervisor, and having a crew of predominately new recruits, I objected and explained why. I even told Jerreal that Tom told us not to flip the line anymore, yet Jerreal insisted, and threatened me to clock out if I refused. The line was flipped, but Jerreal was mad that I stood up against him.
Tom came over the next day and we settled things somewhat. Tom admitted to Jerreal that he ordered us not to flip the line, yet insisted that I have to listen to Jerreal. Jerreal also begun to make his crew clean the morning load of dishes. It appeared as if things were back to normal, but I noticed that Jerreal was notorious for trying to stack more work on me than usual. Jerreal called me in to work on my only day off, a holiday...memorial day, which was a short day. Thankfully, he was reprimanded for that. Jerreal seemed to have developed envy against me because his aggression towards me was becoming obvious. One day, I called twenty minutes early to report that I might be late due to two of my buses being late.
Another coworker said to me that Jerreal accused me of being late all the time, which was not true.
When I came in, Jerreal handed me a disciplinary form for failing to clean the store. He complained that the refrigerator doors were left unclean. I never received any complaints about the doors until that day, and it was absolutely bogus. Granted that some minor things were left unclean, but never on purpose. For all the trouble I've been through on getting that store in tip top shape, it was a huge insult towards me to have been written up over something minimal. I refused to sign the form, and Jerreal once again threatened me to clock out, which I also refused. I demanded to speak with Tom. Tom apparently wanted me to just sign the form. I cried over the phone telling him the action against me was bogus and unfair. No manager has ever written me up over something so small, but they would tell me about my mistakes so I couldn't miss it a second or third time.
However, both Jerreal and Tom backed me to a wall...forcing me to sign that insulting report. I was angry, and tossed the pen after signing the form; causing the phone to fall. I constantly called Tom because I needed to talk to him, but Tom would not answer his phone after a while. I called Kasey,and left a message. Suddenly, Jerreal wanted me to sign a termination form. I refused completely. Jerreal said that Tom agreed with him. I refused to leave, which resulted in Jerreal calling the cops to escort me out. My coworkers looked on in despair, they knew that what happened to me was not right. However, several minutes later, Kasey called me back and admitted that there was a lack of training me as a supervisor. She offered me to work at the Sonterra location.
However, I was upset that they basically agreed with Jerreal's choice of firing me. I wonder how Jerreal is able to get away with so much bullying.
So I worked at Sonterra, and immediately noticed that operations are very different from where I came from. The supervisor there does not have much stress because apparently, Tom does a lot of the paper work. Many of the post supervisor skills I was taught were almost null and void. I was perplexed by how different things were, and ultimately determined that the rules change a lot at Salata. Now to finish this report...as to what caused me to finally quit Salata, Tom is your average dislikeable boss, but he believes that just because he is the boss, he has the right to insult and demean his coworkers, and there is nothing we can do about it. As I said, I was no longer sure how things operate at Salata due to the changes. So, a customer offered me a tip one day. Tom was nearby, so I asked him for clarity sake, on if we take tips. He said we didn't. So, Tom took it upon himself to gather with the supervisor to basically mock me about my question. My answer was that rules change a lot at Salata. Tom became furious and threatened my job.
So...today I came in to prepare for work, and Tom called me over to talk...apparently he was still upset at what I said, and confirmed that he has the right to be insulting towards his workers, and we were suppose to be quiet about it. That was the final straw. I gave him my hat and name tag, and told him that I would report him to corporate...and here I am. No boss has a right to insult and demean their coworkers, and if this is what Salata allows, there will be more trouble coming your way on financial levels. Huebner Oaks is struggling because of bad management, and now I see who is to blame...Tom is.