Too Much Religion in the Workplace and Overtime - Customer Solutions Representative WebstaurantStore Employee Review

There is far too much religion being brought into the offices. I am not a religious person, so why am I subject to watching training from church groups or having my coworkers send Bible quotes to everyone in the company? It's absurd to me that in 2017 there wasn't a separation between work and religion. There was also forced overtime- if you get a call at 4:58 and it goes until 5:30 PM, guess who's not getting paid for that overtime? You guessed it. There was also a lawsuit going on when I was there where the company actually paid us a "bonus" to keep quiet and not join the lawsuit. Ridiculous. No clue what happened with that, but I am glad I am out and not dealing with it. Don't drink the kool-aid. This is a call-center job. That's it. They liked to say that there are plenty of "growth-path" opportunities, but at the end of the day you are expected to hit your goals, and any secondary tasks are put on the backburner. They don't like to say it's a call center, but that's what it is. You will be dealing with some of the worst customers in the world (I had some threatening my family, finding me on Facebook, swearing- you name it). Goals are often outrageous. 50 phone calls per day and 35 emails per day was my requirement. If I was on chat it was closer to 80 chats/35 emails. The entire culture there feels like a high-school clique. Everyone has to be included in any activities as to not hurt peoples feelings. The team building activities can be extremely childish. The one that stands out to me was where we made slime as a "team-building" activity. We're adults. We are on salary. Treat us as such and don't force us to participate. Not everyone wants to be included. I was not in a remote location, but if I was I wouldn't have lasted. The turnover in our remote locations was very high. There aren't growth paths in those locations, so don't listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. I feel bad for those who were lied to in the remote locations and told that there were growth paths. In reality, again, it's a call-center job and that's it. Speaking of remote locations- they don't get nearly the perks of the PA office. No gym, no daycare, no test kitchen, nothing. I got a chance to visit the NV office and it was TINY. I don't know how their employees can stand being confined to such a small office daily with no chance of growth. They expanded the warehouse but left the office the same. Management is always trying to make sure everyone is a good culture fit. If you don't fit in terms of a "great employee only" mindset, good luck. They get so caught up on one book-club that they'll try and change the company culture based on it (Ideal Team Player, 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, Emotional Intelligence, etc). They'll stick with one of those ideas until another book comes up and then it's off to the next. Dogs in the workplace might sound fun, but if you're not a dog person you're subject to it against your will, so be prepared. They had scaled this down, but at one point they were sending customers "substitute items". What this means is that if a customer ordered a fairly generic name-brand item, they'd send them a completely different (but similar) item to increase their profit margin. So if I ordered a certain table and paid top-dollar for it, there was a good chance that I'd receive one of their own brand of items that cost half of what I just paid. They would pocket the difference, so then when the customers called in irate that they didn't get what they actually paid for, you had to explain that it was a very similar model and that they did, in fact, get what they paid for (when they didn't). Circle back to dealing with irate customers- now you know why they were mad sometimes. Health care benefits were awful. I got the flu one year and had to pay nearly every penny out of pocket for it. Same with my vision- no free visit, no yearly allotment for glasses, nothing. I honestly don't know how employees with children managed as the healthcare benefits were so poor. This company makes money hand over fist and their profit margins are sky high, but heaven forbid they give their employees decent benefits. Lastly, they almost force employees to write 5-star reviews on Glassdoor and Indeed. Before I left I was advised that it would be "a great idea" to leave a glowing review of the company, regardless of how I felt by my manager. Horrible.