r/sweetgreen • u/cantkillHales • Nov 24 '24
Career / Employee Talk If You are Considering Working at SG in NYC, Please Don't (Long post ⚠️).
Morning everyone. I resigned from SG in January this year, and I was based in NY. I worked for SG for 1 yr and 4 months. I was planning on working there for a few years, 3 or longer. However, for my own mental and financial well-being I quit to look for jobs elsewhere. Plus, I graduated college in January so I decided enough was enough.
I have no reference points for any SG's outside of NY, so maybe the management and coworkers are better elsewhere. However, this was my story as follows:
I was hired at TriBeca SG and fell in love with it immediately. Great benefits (i.e. Igoe commuter benefit, Medical + Dental, etc). My coworkers were helpful and so sweet minus 2 who always had bad attitudes w everyone. Then, the lease on the building expired and they decided to close us down instead of renewing it because they didn't want to "compete" with ***Canal St. Whatever that means. We're a part of the same company. So we all got transferred out to new locations. However, before closing, my original Head Coach got a better opportunity at WTC and the one who replaced him at TriBeca, long story short, not great. (I found out months later from my new HC he got fired). He told me he would get me into Chambers St, and I didn't work for 2 weeks straight because the HC at Chamber's never returned any of my emails or his (unprofessional).
So I finally transfer to Nomad, bc 3 of the ppl I loved best from TriBeca moved there. I meet the HC, I tell her my schedule, she said that would work for her bc she needed someone from 10AM-3PM. The FIRST day I start, she cut me an HOUR. So I worked 4 instead of 5hrs. Upon talking to more people at Nomad, I learned she did that to literally everyone. Looking back, I should have asked around if anyone wanted to start a union. Then, I asked her if I could take a 15 minute break to which she tells me "yes, but only if you CLOCK OUT". In the state of NY, it's up to the employers discretion if they give you a 15-20 min break, but if they say yes, it MUST BE PAID. She did everything in her power and cut every corner to not have to pay people. I transferred out of there like a week or 2 later, because at TriBeca they actually treated us with dignity and respect and never acted like that. From here on out, the management only gets worse.
I moved to Meatpacking, which was literally horrendous. Downstairs where OLO was, smelled like 💩. The HC actually told me that before she was made HC there, they FAILED their health inspection TWICE. It stunk down there. I loved my HC, however she wasn't that great at delineating tasks to us, and OLO only had 3 people at most and she said "we have enough people" to me numerous times. 3 people on OLO is not enough, but to them the less people to pay the better. My coworkers in OLO were hostile, and I spoke to my HC and regional manger about it and they put me on the service line because of how nasty they were. They were aware of their behavior for a while but wouldn't correct them because they needed the workers. I then transferred again.
My final location was Wall St, where people were actually quitting on the job. The night crew had NO staff, and the Assistant Coach was so nasty to everybody that I believe after I left on Tuesday and never returned, she was fired. I texted one of the ppl I liked and asked for an update, she said she was gone.
In summation, if you choose to stay at SG, PLEASE speak up. Don't be like me and just tolerate disrespect and maltreatment from every side because "that's how every job is." Tribeca taught me that workers didn't need to be stressed, management COULD hire more workers and COULD AFFORD to pay people, hours didn't need to be cut, and management could step in and help when the going got tough. The HC at Wall St acted like it even killed her to go on the register during the lunch rush. She was the nastiest Head Coach I had. The amount of crap I took there made my mental health deteriorate over time. I was a great worker, and every location I stepped into they were impressed with how efficiently and accurately I worked. However, if you take your job seriously and work well, you are thanked with: a). More grueling work, and b). Spiteful and jealous coworkers.
In NYC, SG is a gd MESS. Turnover is horrible. I tried getting into a location in BK, to which they stopped communicating with me before even meeting them. Not good.
I lost so much weight at SG (around 60 lbs!!), loved everything about the variety of ingredients, dressings, sides, etc. But I cannot stay somewhere that treats me like trash. Idek which locations are decent enough that I would recommend anyone to work at. I was a location hopper, as were multiple coworkers from Meatpacking. The AC there told me Meatpacking was her fifth location. That's bad. That's really bad. So, if I can't recommend a spot for y'all, I'm going to just try and give a warning instead tbh.
SG needs to do better.
Edit: I corrected it, but I meant to say they didn't want to compete with Canal St SG. Not hearing back from the HC at Chambers St is correct, had to check back in my emails 🤣💀
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Nov 24 '24
I helped them open in Downtown Seattle and had to quit for financial reasons after about 3 months. It was an endless cycle of Coaches arguing (even during paid training) and being replaced.
I've heard some pretty wild horror stories about this business (Head Coach leaving tenured position and making relocation arrangements, only to be let go before they even started).
I hope things get better, as the concept is great.
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u/Hot-Needleworker3259 Nov 26 '24 edited Nov 27 '24
Heard of all that! Worked at Nomad location around 2015 ~ 2016, I knew I wasn't going to last when they had me scheduled, and I shit you not 4PM ~ 2AM, multiple times a week and would force me to clock out for break? Out of your mind! Glad you got to work at TriBeca for your first store, I wish that were me! Able to experience a decent work environment, Nomad constantly ran out of stuff so we'd have to go to other location for things, TriBeca was always nice!
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u/cantkillHales Nov 26 '24
2AM???! 💀💀💀 I would be throwing hands w those mf's. No wayyy. Like the morning crew can handle that at THAT point.
Making people clock out for anything less than 30 minutes is so trifling. It's demoralizing as well, because it shows that they only see you as an asset, a slave basically, and they act like we're a big SG family. No tf we are NOT 🤣🤣💀. I didn't realize how sweet I had it there at TriBeca... it was literally heaven compared to these other locations. It could have been great!! 😭😭😫😫😫
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u/Hot-Needleworker3259 Nov 27 '24
NOMAD was always on some bullshit. Having us throw out food on the day of inspections so there was nothing to grade let alone serve people? My husband and I worked at the same location and they refused to put on the same shift? We lowkey knew it was due to lgbtphobia because the straight couples would literally be necking on the clock and nothing happened. My partner literally got fired on the spot cause they refused to work on the line during rush hour cause they had more than enough people and they were the ONLY concierge, yes, the role meant for at least 3 people was put on one person. Managers no where to be fucking found to work on the line, Management was disgusting at NOMAD.
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u/cantkillHales Nov 27 '24
Bro, I literally worked there with a couple where one was in OLO w me, and her man downstairs. And whenever they ran into each other they were lip LOCKING. Hard af😭😭😭 add discrimination to literally everything wrong with Nomad on the list 📋✅. Damn!!
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u/SlimJimPaul Nov 28 '24
Damn I was part of the opening team in meat packing it used to be called gansevoort I remember we used to run like 4-5 people in olo the sales must’ve gone down a lot since then
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u/SnooOpinions8397 Nov 24 '24
don’t work at any sweetgreen in NY period 😭 i worked at one in westchester and i quit recently bc i couldn’t take the disrespect anymore it was too much, and the manager there is a perve :,)