Blue Collar Coffee - Don’t sell your soul
Pros
Tips are very good. There are a good amount of regulars that you can get to know and make connections with. They pay for a parking pass for you that works outside of business hours, so you can use it to park for free downtown whenever you want.
Cons
If you work here and have any intention of getting a promotion, they won’t give it to you. They say they prefer to promote from within, but instead, they ALWAYS hire people from outside the company. Because of this, turnover is incredibly high. In my 3 years of working there, I outlasted 5 managers. The day that I left, we had 4 people on staff, when really we should have at least 10. And management had yet to hire anyone else at that point. The company is also run by a Trump supporter who is documented on video talking to politicians about decreasing the strictness of labor laws (essentially meaning she wants to overwork and underpay as much as possible). The cafe is dirty. We had mice there for a year, and no one really tried to get rid of them besides putting out a few traps. There are constantly gnats around. And honestly, you can’t blame most of the baristas for not cleaning because they’re so understaffed. Lastly, HR does nothing. I made 3 complaints about different problems during my time there, and literally nothing got done. I also went through a 3 month leadership training course with this company, and they don’t practice anything they preach. Allegedly, there is a 3 strikes and you’re out policy for write ups. However, not one person who has ever been fired received more than 1 write up. They fired two people over a bad review with no prior write ups. They also fired one person just because he “wasn’t a good fit.” You genuinely cannot feel safe being employed here; they fire people on a whim.
