Would you say no to this job offer?
Quick backstory: This position is for a barista at a cafe with bakery. I've been a barista before, with a good location, and two bad ones (where management was taking advantage of me)
So I dropped off my resume after seeing an instagram job listing. I had been talking with one of the assistant managers recently, and was establishing good rapport. The day before I dropped off the resume, I find out he's leaving. Bummer, I liked him a lot, he seemed like he'd be a good boss.
The job description seems alright, doable, and the money is good. Strangely enough, by coincidence alone, I was at work at my other job that night (a restaurant) one of the other supervisors came in to eat! So I established more rapport and good vibes. I dropped off my resume with her the next day, and scored an interview the following day.
So here's the interview, and was subsequently offered the job (great, right?)
But I had red flags...
1) They had me test my workmanship and put me on the espresso machine to pull a shot and make a drink. Totally fine, and happy to do so. It wasn't my best work, especially with the milk steaming and latte art. I know I could have done better. But the supervisor was like "that's 10/10, you're hired, haha!) and the higher up manager kind of parroted that.
It's telling me their bar is kind of low, they're willing to take anyone who has some skills... but I have a decent background in coffee, have spent 10 year learning about it, despite working in only a handful of cafes.
2) During the interview there was some decent rapport and it felt good and open, but almost too open. Twice she was like "FULL DISCLOSURE...such and such" and "TO BE TOTALLY TRANSPARENT..." but the thing is (and maybe this is a rant and red flag on such things in modern culture) these weren't appropriate things to be telling a potential interview.
What did she tell me?
She told me the previous supervisor (who left and I was bummed about) took a position somewhere else because he got offered more money.
That's none of my business, I didn't ask, and immediately looks bad.
Then she went on to say something similar later, that the company in general doesn't pay people very well. (I think, in her opinion, not in fact)
But that's a HUGE no-no and red flag for an interview, for the interviewer to basically be bashing their own company/higher management.
Another red flag is that multiple people have left in the past 6 months to year, in terms of supervisors. That one guy, then that other person (who stopped into my restaurant) is leaving too, so I asked who is going to be my supervisor in two weeks??? And she was basically giggly about it, like theres a whirlpool of uncertainty of something, so it's basically her that will be my boss..
Another red flag, possibly, is that she said the company, specifically that cafe, is going through a transition or a lot of changes. Another red flag was she was quick to say "they've never really done anything right here" or something along that lines. Curious why she said that, thinking maybe she just came onboard herself (an outsider having a different perspective on things) I asked how long she'd been with the company, to which she said since the beginning, so the past 3 years. And she only recently got promoted to assistant manager, but confided to me in the interview that she'd basically much rather be doing pastry work.
So that's it. Sorry for the long-haul read. I'm desperate but not desperate for a job. There's ongoing issues at my restaurant that make me want to leave or reduce my hours. I loved being a barista in the past, and it did seem like I could enjoy working there. Pay would be decent, same for hours. But that interview, while it wasn't atrocious, and still left feeling on good vibes, there were more than a couple statements made by her that left me with that little 'cringe' inside that didn't know how to respond back.
I don't like that at all.
I don't like to see anyone openly criticizing or bashing their employer while at work, it's super unprofessional and breeds toxicity. And for the love of god, it's NOT about being transparent! Not everything should be transparent! Imagine if it was! Some things are meant to be private, personal, business, or rather above my pay grade.
What would you do?