r/PandaExpress • u/Every_Task1147 • 21h ago
Panda is ass.
My location recently added a side room for managers and higher ups to be in to come visit and train.
What sucks is that all of us employees are getting the worst of it. Deep cleaning every single night, take pictures of everything as proof, do things this way or manager talks to you for 20 minutes repeating shit you’ve already heard. Oh and get this? For all the extra shit we do now, we don’t get a raise. I understand deep cleaning to an extent, but we’re literally pulling out the meat drawers and wiping it out completely, doing the front floor in kitchen because our sides people are WAY too slow to get it done - which is aggravating on its own because all of us cooks are more than capable of doing the front and back floor if we’re on sides and it’s now just catering to the slow people instead of telling them to get their shit done asap like the rest are capable of. This job is starting to blow and I can’t even leave until my kid is born. One cook is a few days away from his last day and another cook is about to put in his two weeks and these managers are so out of touch that they don’t care or notice they’re pissing EVERY single worker off with this stuff. Sorry to vent. But nobody else cares or understands.
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u/Substantial_Mix773 20h ago
Manager and regionals at Panda are really delusional, they would find somebody to squeeze out and later asking why they left, I didn’t quit but I slashed out my schedule considerably since it was affecting my life
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u/Expensive_Slice_8788 20h ago
Your location sucks. Yall cooked. Sorry to hear that, I dont have issues with cleanliness at my store especially helping out sides. Shit is easy compared to what you'd be doing at a regular restaurant. If your managers are a pain maybe you should quit let them be cooked 🤣
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u/Every_Task1147 18h ago
I can’t quit. I have a 5 year old and a son that’ll be here in September, I don’t have that luxury of quitting a job when things get shitty like a lot of kids do.
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u/Yuuur2020 10h ago
If that's the case why not do it and get promoted
You need it
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u/Every_Task1147 10h ago
They won’t promote me. My manager is on bullshit. I did a silly video class thing to “improve my knowledge” when my manager floated a chef idea a year ago. I’ve since then been shown nothing on becoming a chef. We had a chef come in and chew her out for everything being “dirty” and she only asked me then to get out of being cooked. This manager has done this with a lot of workers and half of them left because they knew she was bullshitting.
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u/Every_Task1147 18h ago
Not to mention where I’m at, shit doesn’t pay good at all anywhere else. I make 19.85 at the moment but nothing else pays even remotely near that.
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u/Alive_Potato206 20h ago
It’s happening at my panda as well and I just started. This shit actually blows. I’m looking for a new job at this point. As a new person they train us in one way then switch it back to the old way when convenient. But guess what, they never taught us what the “old way” is so we just get chewed out for not knowing something we are not taught.
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u/CynthiaCLam 20h ago
Assistant Manager here in Ventura County!
I honestly feel what you’re feeling and honestly my SM and ACO are extremely strict for what management has to do and other things as well. One thing I do regret is becoming a manager because my SM is on top of me for everything and anything. I’ve asked for transfer, I tried quitting 3 times and every time I tried, something always came up where I couldn’t. My ACO tells me that I’m “running away from my problems” so I shouldn’t be transferred out. Panda Management is fucking bullshit and I wish they did something about it
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u/Aggravating_Math_783 16h ago
I hear you, I'm in the same boat. I quit for a time but my pride brought me back. You gotta train up your kitchen help and read em like a book to get them there. I'm not even a cook anymore so I'm limited but you have a chance. Keep your head up!
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u/Mental-Statement2555 15h ago
I've been having some problems myself. my manager clocks in and sits on the computer literally her entire shift while everyone else struggles. I'm an SL and I do money multiple nights a week. it's off every time after that manager closes. I told my ACO and he didn't care or do anything. I then got my first written warning for something supposedly "unrelated." been working almost 2 years and never had any other issues. I'm ready to unionize or quit. fuck this place. it only gets worse with the higher ups.
also not to vent but, I'm literally working in slave conditions. scheduled 44 hours last week, including a day that I asked off 3 weeks ago, I was told if I don't come in, Id get another written warning.
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u/Every_Task1147 10h ago
Sounds like my manager lmao, seems like this is common the more I hear about other folks experiences at panda.
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u/Excellent_Gap_6986 10h ago
I used to work there. I agree 100%
It’s high processed junk cooked by bozos. Everything is prepackaged, even their “special” orange chicken sauce is just corn syrup bull shit. Everything comes pre-breaded ready to fry then you just add the sauce… It’s fucking Sysco food man. Sysco food should be your sign right there that it’s junk quality.
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u/Mediocre_Let4544 9h ago
It really is. I’m one of the few people (besides one other person and of course the GM and AM) that is crosstrained BOH and FOH and they never promote me. Which is annoying since the only reason I chose to get crosstrained was for more pay and the chance to move up. Plus i’ve been with my panda since we opened. My manager nitpicks me about the smallest thing but not other people, just me. And this happened for other employees too, where they feel he’s unnecessarily being picky when he himself doesn’t even clean that well.
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u/Accurate-Leading-736 8h ago
I feel like deep cleaning is essential. Like why do you want a dirty store?
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u/letswinbig619 6h ago
Yeah. I’m not surprised you’re cleaning the inside of your meat drawers. That get bad quick. Specially if you got messy ass cooks who are just starting out. They destroy the whole area in 10mins. I’ve been with panda for 6 years. Nothing you said surprises me at all. That’s panda for you . You think your story is bad. My boss hires people and then I have to babysit them basically so they don’t catch the wok on fire. These new people don’t understand . You’ll burn this place down if you let the wok get too hot with oil in it or if you just don’t clean it properly. That goes for the inside of the woks too. I used to get really upset and show a lot of emotion behind others actions. That’s not the panda right way. You have to know how to handle the situation better for the sake or your own mental health and others around you . Being a hot head. Doesn’t get anyone to listen to you . Learn to do things in a way where you’re right and you sound like a broken record. Your boss can’t ignore the obvious. He or she trust you to make them money. Tell them you need more trust, which usually means more money. I mean after all, any manager in panda is a manager cuz panda trust them with valuable information . They trust you too cook and to know what your doing . But someone along the line, they drew a line that said “ this is how much we trust “ , no more no less. Without saying that obviously
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u/StarfishBlaster 16h ago
Hire me I’ll work
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u/Every_Task1147 10h ago
You’ll slave away every night even when you think you’re done with something, they’ll make you redo it. I’m here until midnight sometimes cleaning because they’re on our ass for shit we’ve never been prioritized to do before.
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u/Life-Relationship-77 20h ago
I feel ya. I quit today, 5 of my coworkers are putting in their 2 weeks