Restaurants People Hate To Work At

Even though I'm a so-called struggling artist, I have yet to work in a restaurant. However, I really applaud anyone who has or is currently working in one. It's not easy to keep a smiling face while multiple people complain that their Bloomin' Onion isn't "bloomin' enough," or serving a table having a family reunion for three hours only to be stiffed when it comes to getting a tip. But sometimes it's not the customers who make working for a restaurant difficult, it's the management. The smiling faces on your servers may be painted on, especially if you're in one of these chains that are notoriously hard to work for. The establishments on this list are chains you've probably dined at once, twice, or even several times before.

Carl's Jr. and their sister restaurant, Hardee's, are trying to shed their sexist past when it comes to their advertising, but it's going to take more than a new brand image to take care of the appalling ways they treat their employees, especially women.

According to The Guardian, the advocacy group Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) United found that a staggering 66 percent of female workers at CKE Group, the parent company of restaurants like Hardee's and Carl's Jr, have suffered from workplace sexual harassment. One employee who was interviewed said customers ask her why she doesn't dress like the models in the restaurant's commercials, another said customers follow her to her car.

The ROC United survey also discovered that one-third of employees suffer from wage theft, and over 79 percent of those in the survey have worked while sick. CKE Group's CEO, Andrew Puzder not only defends the company's sexist image and is firmly against raising the minimum wage, but has also been classified as anti-worker, being one of the most outspoken CEOs in the food industry to go fully automated. He stated in an interview with Business Insider that robot workers are better because, "they're always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there's never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case." Sounds like a great guy to work for, right?

This sports bar who specializes in chicken wings and beer was not only considered the worst casual chain restaurant by the Fiscal Times in 2016, but a letter written by one of B-Dub's biggest investors went viral for calling out the chain on its poor management skills. It probably goes without saying that employees at Buffalo Wild Wings aren't that happy either. Out of nearly 3,000 reviews on Glassdoor, the chain only has a 3.3 star rating with 57 percent of employees recommending to work there. Most of the complaints from employees have to do with the management, with workers stating that managers either make them work long hours or are given very few hours with no schedule balance. However, even management at the store level have complaints about schedules. One assistant manager at B-Dubs in Arkansas said they frequently work 13-hour shifts with no breaks.

Buffalo Wild Wings is known for underpaying employees and lost a lawsuit because of it. The chain also has a history of lawsuits related to discrimination and sexual harassment.

Cooks at Buffalo Wild Wings also despise customers who try to customize their order way too much. In an AMA Reddit a Buffalo Wild Wings cooks said, "We HATE people who are incredibly picky with wings. If it's too wet, not enough sauce, especially when you want people who get crispy wings. They are the absolute worst, because if it's not crispy enough you have to remake the whole order and it just gets frustrating. Then they want wet and crispy which is literally impossible because the sauce makes them not crispy anymore."

If you ask an employee at McDonald's if they're "lovin' it" when it comes to their job, you'll probably receive a snide remark. McDonald's is one of the largest employers in the world, yet the brand has a lot of work to do to shed its stigma around being a McJob. It's the first job for many young, inexperienced workers, but the fact is the majority of the labor force at McDonald's are not teenagers at all.

The fast food giant came under fire in 2013 for releasing a budget worksheet for their employees with unrealistic dollar figures like $0 for heat, $20 for health care, and no money set aside for clothing or even food. McDonald's also assumed their workers have other jobs — which you probably have to do to live on their wages. 

Despite the low pay, it's apparently not a great environment, either. A former employee and blogger at Unwritten said the hours given to her were unreasonable and that the smell, which she described as "a combination of spoiled milk, fried food, sweat, and maybe some tears," was unbearable.

Their tagline is, "In here it's always Friday," but employees at T.G.I. Friday's are always working for the weekend (unless of course they're scheduled to work then). If you've ever been there, you know they sing to customers on their birthdays — and there always seem to be a LOT of birthdays. From a customer's standpoint listening to, "I don't know, but I've been told! Someone here is getting old..." gets pretty old. It's hard to imagine singing it all day long. You know it's bad when the song was parodied in the 2005 comedy film, Waiting.

Not only does Friday's have a low 3.1 star rating on Glassdoor from over 1,000 employee reviews, but the chain was slapped with a lawsuit back in 2014 for violating labor laws. Friday's was accused of having tipped employees start their shifts before serving customers and staying after hours without receiving overtime pay. 

As an added blow, Friday's employees despised the chain's $10 endless appetizer promotion where customers would sit at a booth all day and stuff their face with mozzarella sticks — and then finally leave hours later leaving only a meager tip that aligns with their $10 check. Because it was such a hit with customers, Friday's decided to make it a permanent fixture on their menu.

This California-based chain has been slinging burgers since 1951, but after 66 years in the business you would think that the company who used to have awesome and cutting edge commercials in the '90s and '00s would learn a little something about treating employees well. Out of over 800 reviews on Glassdoor, Jack in the Box has a 3.2 star rating and only 48 percent of employees would recommend working there.

Employees hate Jack because of poor management, setting expectations too high, and dealing with drunk, dangerous, and unruly customers. Jack in the Box has been hit with multiple class action lawsuits including one in Oregon that they lost in 2016 regarding not compensating workers for overtime pay. Back in 2015, they were slammed with a class action lawsuit over the same reason, but in the state of California.