i currently work as a barista at a small chain cafe. i make $5 an hour and heavily rely on tips. my paychecks only average out to about $11 an hour if i’m really lucky $12. i’ve been there since november 2025
the company i’ve been working for is absolutely horrible. i work over 35 hours a week and my paychecks are still small. i’m made to do so much more beyond my job description. the store im at is constantly having issues but when me or my coworkers report it to our manager he does nothing about it. so far we’ve had multiple fridges break down months ago and still haven’t gotten them fixed.
when summer started we started having a really bad ant problem which my manager has done nothing about. instead we were told to kill the ants with bleach. of course it didn’t help and i was inhaling a large amount of bleach every day for weeks which caused me to have multiple asthma flare ups.
a couple months back the ac in the store broke (for reference i live in texas) the store was getting up to the high 80’s and it was impossible to work. they didn’t fix the ac for 3 weeks until a customer complained on our behalf to the property manager.
this past week the ac broke again but now that it’s summer it’s been worse. it reached up to 99 degrees (mind you that was on a rainy day, imagine if the sun was out.) and my manager refused to let me or my coworker close the store early. after leaving i felt so horrible and sick standing in the hot humid air for 8 hours with no break whatsoever.
i seriously can’t stay at this job anymore and i don’t know what to do. i’m 19 and starting college and i need money to pay for classes but i seriously can’t do this anymore. i have some money in my savings but i’m not sure how long it’ll take to find another job but i don’t think i can stay there another day.
i don’t know what to do anymore. i haven’t quit yet but i think i might i don’t think i can last another shift there.