cashier

cook

dishwasher

prep cook

busser

LA MADELEINE

In the beginning everything was okay, i started in the summer and the work load was light and easy. I could tell that the general manager had a issue with me, but i kept it professional, doing as she said not be disrespectful to her etc. In the fall/winter the work load picked up which i was okay with. I was scheduled to come in at 5 in the morning and when i was finished prepping the pastries for the next day i would leave (typically around 1 on light days). When the workload got heavier i had to stay later, in which the general manager would be mad at me for taking longer and not recognizing that making more pastries is going to take longer. Another issue i had with the management was when i got sick/injured. one day i called out because i had a wrist injury and wouldn't be able to work, in which the manager yelled at me over the phone. the next week i got a pretty bad cold, i got it Saturday night and came in Sunday morning completely sick. My plan was to just get the pastries i needed done and go home, but someone called out upfront and she forced me to change stations and help her for a hour, it was horrible because i had a gross cough runny nose and just overall grossness. I asked her to not put me up there and she just yelled at me. She then cut my hours and wouldn't tell me why. the next  time i got sick it wast that bad, so i went into work. I started getting horrible stomach cramps and could barely stand, but i still did my work cutting fruit and prepping my station for the day. When the manager called me over to talk to her, during that conversation she yelled at me for getting sick again and hinted at firing me. I went back to work and decided to ask her to treat me a little better. I was a good employee i followed the rules i was rarely late and i got all my work done. She said she treats me great and went on about how much of a problem i am for her. When i told i was quitting she said good. This manager has no respect for her employees and will get rid of whoever she doesnt like personally.

Overall, working for la Madeleine was not the worst thing that has ever happened to me. That being said, the six months I spent with them could have been spent with another company that placed more emphasis on treating the employees like human beings and creating a quality product for the price. Uneven shift responsibilities, hostility in the workplace, and bizarre scheduling practices were all highly annoying factors, but by far the worst part was the excess of managers.

At the risk of sounding racist, "Too many chiefs, not enough indians" was la Madeleine's greatest downfall. As opposed to training a skilled, effective management team of one general manager and one, maybe two assistant managers, all FOUR managers were at the same level of authority and thus, individually, assumed themselves the "one in charge". I couldn't tell you how many times I was instructed specifically to complete a task or focus on a particular project, to be told moments later by another supervisor that not only was this incorrect, but I was clearly in need of "employee development" if I thought this was the correct course of action. While this sort of confusion is present, occasionally, in all workplace environments, this situation happened on a daily basis and made having a clear idea as to my and my coworkers' duties and responsibilities nearly impossible. This, in turn, created a great deal of frustration among the employees, made only worse by the management's exceptionally poor communication skills.

Even to those somewhat desperate for employment, I would not recommend la Madeleine unless they had no other choice. The situations I listed above, and many more that would make this review a real page-turner, made my time with that company a frustrating mess.

With 15 years of corporate IT experience I can safely say this is the worst managed IT department I've ever had to work for.  No project planning with everything being haphazard last-minute emergencies.  Large scale changes are made to the network with massive outages and downtime.  The IT managers treat their staff horribly:  openly yelling at you in front of your peers or bad mouthing you behind your back.  No training, no advancement and you are stuck in your job role - very compartmentalized.  They have zero respect for you and it is a very demeaning and degrading place to work.  Managers are openly hostile and bully their staff directly and passive aggressively and everything is a double standard with them.  They’ll take constant vacations, but don’t dare ask to use yours.  No matter how well you do or how much work you get done, you’re never good enough because they only see the negative and never the positive.  This is the most hostile environment I've ever seen.  

The HR department is 100% on the manager’s side and employees are 100% disposable.  The IT managers get away with anything and everything and if you dare bring up an issue, you’ll see the door.

Stay far far far away from this place, nobody deserves to be treated as a sub-human for a paycheck.

Company offers you 401K and benefits as well as 10 days PTO and the longer you stay the more PTO you get.
You are trained for two months under a training general manager in one location before getting transferred to another location. They want to teach you every aspect of the job so you are basically starting from the bottom. They are trying to see who will hang in there.
During and after your training you are expected to constantly buss tables, serve, clean and cook as well as doing inventory count and ordering which they don't teach you right away ( it takes a month to start learning). Basically you are someone doing everybody's job by running around not to get criticized.The more stressed you get, the more you please your boss.
 There is no resting during work, managers expected to work 50 hours+ a week on their feet, not just helping out to associates but doing their jobs most of the time. It takes more than 2-3 months for you to have your own shift and you are bound by GM's decisions on how to do things all the time. You are not expected to be creative, as long as you are doing the things along with company policies you won't be in trouble. You are also expected to participate in catering events for no additional pay, catering specialist receives the pay. Work hours are between 5am-11pm.

This job is an alright job. I would mostly suggest this job for younger workers as the pay rate and tasks are more geared towards high school and college age students overall. Management can be spotty depending on the manager. I had great managers and I had managers who were unprofessional and whom I experienced some workplace conflicts with over things like wages. The job isn't hard, but if you find this kind of job (food service) stressful, it maybe isn't the option for you. Sometimes it's slow, and sometimes it's really busy, and depending on how well you can manage personal stress and your work tasks will determine how great of a fit this job is for you. One thing about La Madeline, and I worked at two locations and experienced this, is they are forever understaffed, running on a skeleton crew, and if you let them, they will take advantage of you to cover spots in the schedule. Be prepared to take on more work tasks because of a lack of team members around. The food is enjoyable and you do get an employee discount that's really good so that's a definite plus!! When I worked at La Madeleine, it helped me worry about food less because my wages weren't exactly covering groceries. All in all, this job isn't bad.

A typical day consists of bussing tables, making sure guests receive their food accurately and quickly, and replenishing bread, coffee, tea, silverware, cups, and other necessities. Making sure bathrooms are clean and stocked every night, and many other duties.

A busser has the most work to do when closing, and often times you're scheduled by yourself, even when it gets busy. You're supposed to get out and finish closing by 10:30.

I've been having some slight trouble trying to get out on time and so usually I wouldn't finish closing until 11.
Based on one's luck and relationship with the coworkers one might get lucky enough to receive a small amount of help.

I've been stressed due to some life events and with not being able to receive fulltime - not to mention not getting a stable schedule in the first place, it's hard for me to cope.

The managers are ok, but I've been rudely compared to an elderly busser as means to "motivate me to do my job better".

Best part of the job is probably the decent food and desserts that are discounted.

I would work mostly morning shifts so when I would get there I would start start on my morning prep. Like weighing out my proteins on my scale, cut my own vegetables, refill my dressings for my sandwich station. Restock my sandwich line and made sure I had back ups before the rush hour. Rush hour would start around 11 or 12 in the afternoon. It would get extremely busy so I would have to work at a very fast pace because I would get multiple orders at once mostly like 15 to 20 sandwiches at once. There would be only two people in the kitchen me and the morning cook, so team work played a big role. I would have to say rush hour was the hardest part of the day. After rush hour the morning cook would leave around 2 and I would work both stations till 5. So I would cook and make sandwiches at once. Multitasking and working at a fast pace was a big requirement in the kitchen. The managers were helpful at moments but were mainly focused on customer service and paper work. The most enjoyable part about the job was that almost everyone got along and was cracked jokes. La Madeleine keeps you busy and sometimes it can be enjoyable.

The pay was rather sub-standard, good for college or high school students but not what one could live on. There was also a rather high turn over rate for employees, and managers were shuffled between the stores way too often in my opinion. I worked here for 2.5 years and in that time I saw a full replacement of all managers twice. When you have a good relationship with your superiors and your work atmosphere is pleasant, it can be really disheartening when they're transferred to a new part of the district. It doesn't promote cooperation and connection between employees and management. Hence the high turn over rate for employees. The tasks there are straight forward and rather simple. Management was, on average, personable and they worked with complicated schedules really well. If it weren't for the pay and the occasional ridiculously late nights (I'm talking 1am), I probably would have stayed there.

Like the title says, it's definitely not the worst food service job out there. Employees get health insurance even if they're only part time, and you can rack up PTO if you work 30 or more hours a week. Problem is though, is that you can only accrue up to five days of PTO a year if you're just a regular, hourly restaurant associate. Health insurance also isn't the best, but it is something and it's great that they extend it to even part time employees. 
Workplace culture seems a bit more laidback compared to other restaurants I've worked in, most of the managers are competent and agreeable people. 
I would say the worst thing about working here is the customers, I have no idea what it is but the customer base here is far worse than at any other restaurant I have ever worked in. Extraordinarily demanding and rude people, who never tip. 

It was a great place to work. I had great coworkers and once I learned everything, I was set to go! Management was pretty bad, but if you asked for your break (not during the busy hours) and stayed on their good sides, it was enjoyable. I loved my coworkers, during our quieter hours, I would talk with them a lot. You could move around a lot position-wise. I learned a lot of the job positions. However, officially, my pay and title didn't change to reflect my increased skill and work load. I worked there for over a year and I never got a raise or officially raised from cashier (which I hadn't been for over 6 months). It requires a lot of people for everything to go smoothly but since we were short-staffed, that meant longer hours and less days off. Still over-all a great place to work. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Cashier 65 salaries reported	$13.23 per hour
Cook 56 salaries reported	$13.64 per hour
Dishwasher 51 salaries reported	$13.18 per hour
Prep cook 25 salaries reported	$13.52 per hour
Busser 26 salaries reported	$12.49 per hour

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