Overall it was very pleasant- until the ACO literally ghosted me after telling me I would hear back in 3-5 business days after doing my On The Job Preview. Then I received no word at all from her or anyone else. I was first invited to an initial zoom interview. The interviewer was pleasant, asked great questions, and was impressed by my current work hours (I work a full teachers schedule and a second job bartending ) and my background in restaurant management. My second interview was supposed to be in person but was switched to zoom. I interviewed with the ACO, who seemed distracted during most of the interview and disinterested. But she told me I would be doing the OTP there following week. Over the next week, there were several texts back and forth between us confirming the things I would need for the OTP. I reported to the store in person in Bedford at the exact time instructed. I waited for an hour for the GM to show up. She did not introduce herself, I was clocked in, given a vague overview of the day, and then a brief instruction on how to use the small wok. Most of my day would be practicing the wok with ice. I spent 30 minutes “woking” ice, then was told to watch the backup chef make batches of fried rice and chow mein, then was told to watch videos of them. I was told to make a batch of fried rice and then chow mein myself. Then broke for lunch. On my way back to the kitchen, the gm handed me a sheet with some math problems on it and had me do them. I’m a little rusty on my accounting math so I got two of four wrong when I missed a step. Then, wok practice with ice again, for over an hour until I couldn’t feel my hands. Due to doing nothing but that and losing feeling in my hands, I got worse instead of better. Every once in a while the head chef would stop and showed me how to make orange chicken. Then, the ACO showed up. She had me do the wok with ice in front of her. The ACO told me I was doing it wrong, then walked away. The ACO had me make a large batch of fried rice, which I did from memory from the one run through that morning. I was given a thumbs up for this from the GM. Then we sat down and had basically the same interview we did over zoom. My resume was the same, the questions were mostly the same. A little more focused on me explaining my own growth areas. I then went back to the kitchen, made more orange chicken for 30 minutes and then was told, by the ACO, “Thank you, that’s it for the day. Leave your shirt, apron, and hat. We’ll be in touch in 3-5 business days.” That was 2 weeks ago. I have messaged ACO 3 times (one message each day after the 3-5 days had elapsed) and received no response. I emailed the hr rep who set up my OTP- no response. I am extremely frustrated with this process. If you don’t want to hire me, fine. But dragging someone through one of the most bizarre kitchen trainings I’ve ever experienced (I was a manager with both Red Lobster and Cheesecake Factory ), performing 3 interviews, a resume and job history that never changed, and then giving me ZERO communication whether I was being passed over or not, was a horrible let down in what I was truly hoping would be an exciting new career. I hope this goes better for others.
