Pros
- Good chance of (possible) promotion if you show you can be dependable, good at your job, good availability, and overall respectful. Was initially hired as a cashier and got offered a Shift Leader position about 6 months in after being hired. - Flexible hours, and, depending on your Manager, are able to get a fixed schedule if necessary. Especially good for college students or people that aren't available to work certain days/times. My boss in particular was very understanding. - Fast-paced, so you always can find something to do. Good for people who don't like to stare at their toes all day. - Possibly can get free meals depending on who is running the shift and/or your management is like during breaks if you're a regular employee. If not free food, you get a roughly 50% employee discount. If a Shift Leader, you get a 100% manager discount. Of course, this varies by how a location is run. - Full hour shifts are typically 8 hours. For my location, that equaled one 30-minute meal break and two 10 minute breaks. The 10 minute breaks are paid breaks, while the 30 minute break isn't. - Good practice for future customer service jobs. You certainly meet your share of customers both positive and negative. - Possible tight bond with coworkers; they know exactly what you'll possibly be going through while working. Don't be afraid to ask questions. If they're not the nicest coworkers, they'll help regardless as it'll put less of a strain on them. - If you need to call off, and call off in advanced at a suitable time frame (minimum is two hours, but you may get a annoyed response depending on how the day goes, so the earliest you can do the better) the management/Shift Leader in charge is usually understanding and accommodating. - For my position specifically, it does help build up your leadership abilities as Shift Leader. Looks good on resumes for possible future occupations.
Cons
- Extremely stressful. If you can't handle being possibly yelled at or having to do multiple things at once during a "rush", possibly not the best job for you. Especially as a Shift Leader as, if something goes wrong during the shift you're in charge of, you're held liable for it. - For night shifts specifically, especially during weekends, highest chances of being understaffed due to people calling off for various of reasons. Shifts can be understaffed in general. Be prepared for the possibility of being unable to find anyone to cover another's shift and having to accommodate for it. - I was mainly a Night Shift Closing manager. For my location, they piled up all the paperwork and dishes for the Night Shift crew to handle, regardless of whether it was busy or slow. Be prepared for possible stressful nights as you'll have to deal with earlier shifts stuff as well as your own. Yeah, it sucked. For regular employees working night shifts, expect A LOT of detailed cleaning. - Personally for me, I have not received adequate training from my Manager for both my training as a cashier, Foodliner, and eventually Shift Leader. You don't have to like your coworkers, but try to get along with them as they'll most likely be the ones to teach you everything you need to know. Nearly everything I've learnt from this job was from coworkers. - While you can call off on days when you work with any reason ahead of time, as a Shift Leader I have gotten disappointed responses from my manager. "You need to set up a example" or, "We don't have anyone to cover your shift, you need to come". This also applies for saying you can't come in on a day you're not scheduled. They expect more from you being an Shift Leader. - Let's face it --- it's fast food. You're going to meet some of the rudest customers you've ever seen while working here. It'll test your patience. It'll make you feel like you're worthless. You'll have to develop a backbone and can't expect anyone to coddle you. Having the "I'm new" card only carries weight for so long. If you're lucky, you can ask whoever is in charge to switch positions from someone else to have a break from customers. Everyone working there is aware of how bad customers can be. Don't forget that while there's bad customers, there's good ones, too. Don't let the bad ruin your mood and show disdain towards ALL customers, including good ones. - For my location specifically, my boss didn't outright fire anyone --- instead, he continuously cut their hours until they left themselves for numerous of reasons. If your hours get shorter and shorter, it may be possible they're trying to get rid of you. Might be a good time to seek a better employer. - Smiles are very important. Smile smile smile!! If you don't smile enough to customers, it looks bad to your manager. - As Shift Leader, if you run out of anything during a shift and your manager wants you to make a run, you'll be required to drive to the location of another nearby store yourself if you own a car. Be sure to remind them that you'll need to be paid for the gas. For my store personally, they "added hours" for another day to accommodate if you worked a full hour shift that day. - You WILL be taken advantage of. - Favoritism naturally exists for the employees that have worked there for YEARS (5+). Don't let it get to you. - Possible cliques and a lot of gossip from coworkers. The "you don't have to like them, but you have to be professional and get along with them" rule applies here. - All that I can recall from the top of my head, but bottom line is --- there's a lot of cons. It's a minimum wage fast food job. This is based on my personal experience // location. Depending on how you get along with your coworkers and boss, it's a hit-or-miss situation on how your experience at this workplace will be. Good luck! I'm rather neutral on whether I would recommend working at one or not. I wish there was a neutral option. Regardless, Taco Bell is a good starting job to have.