I'm 17 and just finished my first shift at Chick-fil-A on Thursday. At the beginning, everything actually felt exciting—lunch rush was fun, yelling out orders (really loud and i got complimented by a manager) making drinks, frosted sodas, milkshakes, running food. I really enjoyed those parts.
But around 5 hours in, I realized the more experienced people were using me because I was new and eager. I'd been doing basically all the running, carry-out, DoorDash, and drinks by myself. When the closing shift finally came in, I got a bit of help. A team leader told me to just focus on running food out, DoorDash, and carry-out orders, and said someone else would handle drinks since it wasn't too busy. I stuck to what they asked.
Then we suddenly fell 20 drinks behind. The SAME team leader got mad at me like it was my fault. By my 6th hour, my feet hurt so badly I couldn't put any weight on them without it feeling like they were on fire or bleeding. I had to crouch or fully sit down to restock sauces (only when it was dead quiet—no orders for 5+ minutes). I started limping really hard. Customers noticed—a nurse even pushed and said it looked like way too much pain for a first day and that it "shouldn't be that bad."
Later I told a manager I couldn't do 10-hour shifts every time because of the physical toll, and offered 8 hours instead. He was totally fine with it, but I still felt guilty.
About 1.5 hours before I clocked out, the director asked how my first day was going. I told her it was okay, but my whole body was shaking badly and I felt like I was going to pass out. She said "it's normal when you first start" and that my body would get used to it. She didn't offer any help or adjustments.
I talked to one coworker (started 4 weeks ago) who was really nice. She said the director is super hard on teens especially, and that the foot pain "doesn't really get much better" (at least from her experience).
When my grandma picked me up, I cried for hours from the pain and emotional overload.
For my second day, I'm trying to set myself up better, I got wide Skechers (my first pair was narrow and digging in), gel insoles, and compression socks (Which my grandma gave me who works 11 hour days at her shop so theyre pretty high end). I'm also planning to take 2 extra-strength Tylenol and 1 ibuprofen before the shift.
Is this normal?? Do managers really just brush off minors telling them they're shaking/near passing out?