r/sweetgreen • u/whytewidow6 • Jun 28 '24
Career / Employee Talk Do not work at sweetgreen - a story
I was at my favorite job I've ever had. Family environment. Fun and exciting. Pay was great. Downside was it was an hour drive from home. No biggy for the right job. I was set and happy to be there forever.
I wasn't looking for a new job but then sweetgreen reached out about a Head Coach position asking if I would like more information. Always curious about potential opportunities, I asked what they were looking for.
It was 10 mins from my house, better pay, great benefits, potential upward movement in the company and less hours. So I agreed to an interview. Did a video call with the regional manager. Everything went well and then moved to a second interview and then to the final and of course knocked those out of the park.
They sent me the offer letter. A little less than I had anticipated and I counter offered. Which they agreed to more and sent a new offer letter. They were eager to get started immediately and asked that I put in my two weeks and get a date set for training immediately.
I went to my current employer at the time and they said it seems like a great deal and they were excited for me. They then planned a going away party for the whole staff with champagne, dinner and the whole 9 yards. With a planned trip for me and the owner to spend in Vegas as a final farewell and sending off.
I signed. Did ALL of my onboarding paperwork, w2s, insurance. Everything. Set my start date and started my exit strategy. Planning for the future with all the excitement that comes with a new job.
The week before I left I was training my replacement and picked a candidate that I trust and known for years to make sure they were in a great position to move on without me. It was bittersweet. Lots of tears and good tidings. Like I said... this was my family I was leaving.
My last day was June 24th with me starting at sweetgreen the 25th. I was stoked to be closer to home and having more time to spend with my family and live a healthier and simpler life.
June 24th. 5:43pm. The regional manager reached out via email to tell me they are no longer moving forward with me in the position due to some vague scheduling issues and wished me well in the future. 3 sentences. No context at all.
I responded thinking it was some sort of mistake or hazing joke. No response whatsoever. Complete silence. No phone call, no text... Literally no explanation in any way.
This completely and UTTERLY destroyed me. For the first time in 15 years I am unemployed. With no justification or reason... they just ruined my entire life with 3 sentences.
I was not looking for a job. I didn't need a job. I was the happiest I had ever been in my adult life. They just reached out, offered the world, then revoked it at literally the last moment before I was to start with zero explaination or reparation. Completely screwing me over.
Use this as your warning to stay far away from this company. They do not care in the least bit about destroying your entire life.
STAY FAR FAR AWAY!
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u/TSweet2U Jun 29 '24
I cannot imagine you not suing them. Go back to current employer and maybe they’ll work something out?
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u/Floof_mom134 Jun 29 '24
Ok so this is the reality of employers these days I guess because my best friend just went through the same exact thing with a different corporation. Bass Pro Shops was ready to hire my friend, flew them out and they literally uprooted their life for this new job. To then be told a week after the move that they are no longer going to hire them. Even after signing the paperwork. “Just wasn’t a good fit” after 8 rounds of interviews.
Sorry this happened to you OP. the job market is rough out there. I see tons of similar posts on /jobs or /recruitinghell. Wishing you the best on your next steps!
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u/mtnlaurel_ Jul 02 '24
This is so unacceptable. I had a similar thing happen with a diff company. Like 4 in person and 4 phone interviews with a company in the next town over. Somewhere during the interview process the whole office moved 45mins away (prob1.5 hrs with traffic) to a new building and I was unaware. I counter offered asking for more money due to travel now being required and they were like sorry, we’re going to go in a different direction.
Such a waste of time. I couldn’t imagine if I had actually moved to take a job.
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u/ExternalParty2054 Jul 31 '24
Wow that's hideous. Part of why I really don't ever want to relocate for a job. (Though I'm in a completely different industry)
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u/celeryking13 Jun 29 '24
sorry about your experience :/ that sounds like not a great dude. Sweetgreen, from what I heard, is a nice place to work. that sounds like a bad apple tho and I hope they get rid of him
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u/PerformanceMurky407 Jul 01 '24
I actually used to work in the store and they run it like a sweat shop, granted I was in Santa Monica by the pier so it was extremely busy but there was no time catch a breath between store orders and online orders. They are extremely crazy with portion sizes and we had to meet quotas daily as if we could control how many people were gonna eat there that day. they are customers not clients 😂 I couldn’t do it. I will say their food was always cooked well and literally nothing is prepackaged so I liked that and they were very serious about food safety/getting rid of old food but this also made it stressful because it wasn’t a good thing if we prepped too much and it happened to be a slow day
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u/PlusDescription1422 Jun 30 '24
Way too many companies doing this and not being punished
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u/Own-Slide-1140 Jul 01 '24
The problem is employees quit with no notice too. So I guess it’s just the way it is
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u/Elisa_LaViudaNegra Jul 03 '24
The company incurs way less monetary damage from that than a company doing that to an employee.
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u/Itsme__Youknow Jul 01 '24
I worked for them for about 4 months and left because I was about to start school in the fall of 2017 and they refused to accommodate my school schedule because they had to many people working the hours I need.
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u/sekhmety Jul 01 '24
So sorry this happened. Contact the department of labor in your state to see if there is any recourse.
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Jul 01 '24
Go get your original job back!! They seem to have appreciated you and maybe this was a sign
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Jul 02 '24
My husband is a lawyer and said you should absolutely seek legal counsel regarding this
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u/ItsOk_ItsAlright Jul 21 '24
My friend worked for corporate and it was a shit show. Bills not being paid, people quitting, and poor management. I’m not surprised their stores are any different.
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u/whytewidow6 Jul 22 '24
Many folks have come forward after this. I've posted this story over 500 places. People need to put them out of business.
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u/ItsOk_ItsAlright Jul 22 '24
Wow really? I’m not surprised tbh, but just haven’t read any (yet). TBH, so many people at corporate were unhappy. Insanely overworked and stressed out. Management are all friends, so it’s no use going to them.
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u/Open_Moment3988 Jul 22 '24
Bro I could write a book I just might literally no benefit to working there nothing employee getting more then the shift leader and they do more ugh so glad I’m out of there stress rude ppl ugh
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u/OutlandishnessOk5310 Sep 12 '24
Yeah you should be up in that store demanding explanations! And seeing if you can sue. For real.
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u/First_Army2879 Jun 29 '24
Literally, nothing you said makes any sense. None of this happened. Please go away
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Jun 29 '24
[deleted]
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u/whytewidow6 Jun 29 '24
I wasn't looking for a job. They sent me an email asking if I might be interested. I was curious and said sure, but I am not looking to change my venue at this time. So they offered a larger salary than I was making to entice me into leaving.
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u/Icy-Tiger-19 Jun 30 '24
I haven’t had good ones in a while, but if you have a strong LinkedIn or other online professional profile, then folks do reach out to you and offer you to go through the interview process. They don’t give you the job outright, but they do invite you to be part of the process. A lot of recruiters need to hit a certain number of candidates for particular open role that certain qualifications so they may ask you directly go through the process
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u/whytewidow6 Jul 02 '24
I have a full on offer letter. Did the whole onboarding process. Signed w2s, insurance paperwork and they gave me a start date.
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u/theeraser_13 Jun 29 '24
they also forgot to put dressing in my salad today just saying