by Russ
(Ellenton, Florida)
I was working at a local restaurant as a cook and I turned out to be 1 of 2 people who spoke english in the kitchen, the rest spoke spanish with poor broken english. It caused a lot of issues with getting orders out correctly, being trained in my job, and also a huge stress because of the lack communication.
I found it impossible to learn how things were done and also not being able to speak spanish made it even harder. I had asked the manager if there was anyone else who could train me hopefully someone who spoke english and I was told that there was no one else. It got to the point that I couldn’t deal with not knowing how to do my job and felt that it was an unsafe situation and the best thing for me to do was leave the company.
At the time of my interview I was not told that I would be working with only spanish speaking workers. If I had been told this I feel I would have been able to foresee the problem and just move on to another company.
Since this I have had no luck in finding work which I feel is do to the economy. I have never asked for or received any assistance of any kind before but with the lack of work I feel I have no other choice.
Hi Russ,
Go ahead an apply for unemployment. I’d be curious to know how it turns out for you.
When you tell the state why you quit, focus on the facts that you were not told upon hire of the need to understand and/or speak spanish. Emphasize the reasons this made it an unsafe working environment, and the problems it presented in training you.
You bring up another point too.
“Since this I have had no luck in finding work which I feel is do to the economy. I have never asked for or received any assistance of any kind before, but with the lack of work I feel I have no other choice.”
A whole lot of people are trying to collect unemployment for the first time in their life now and exactly for the reason you are.
The common conception, that if you collect unemployment, you don’t want to work is a bunch of hogwash. People so often carry the fact that they have never used any type of assistance, as some kind of badge of honor….until they do need it. It’s not a badge of honor…you’ve just been fortunate following the time honored tradition of working for someone else.
I hang out a lot on the DOL website and recently noticed they are in the midst of conducting a study on non-filers. I’ll bet the state of the economy will throw off those meticulously gathered statistics in a big way, because the fact is lots of us are filing that never would have considered it a couple years ago.
Russ, I really do wish you good luck with your claim and your continued job search. I really do want to know what the State of Florida decides if you do file.
Chris