store manager

business systems analyst

team member

tea room manager

Chatime

I worked for Chatime for about 8 months. My boss started off as nice but very quickly turned. I started off working about 32 hours a week which was great, but my boss often cut my shifts down with no warning, I went to 28 hours a week, then down to 24 hours a week again with no warning or explanation. I'm aware it's casual work but when you are given fixed shifts every week I'd expect some type of warning or explanation for it. I was being made to close the store 4 nights a week and when I asked if I could switch one or two of those shifts to day shifts he cut my hours again. I was also expected to close the store for my manager when he couldn't attend, and then also 1 day a week routinely, with no extra pay - doing these duties were not part of my award so I was being underpaid.

He has also had international workers which I presume he was underpaying. He was often more abusive to the international workers he had for some reason. 

I never had a single sick day at chatime, not because I wasn't sick but because my manager would pressure me into working when I had a cold. I had about 4 colds in the 8 or so months I worked there and wasn't allowed a single day off, I was given no time off to recover which is probably why they were recurring. I would be coughing and sneezing while handling the drinks which is disgusting, but I had no choice as I needed a job to survive at the time, and my boss would imply that he would permanently replace me if I didn't attend work. 
He also has pressured other employees into working while they were unwell. 

My manager asked me last minute to cover someone else's shift that they canceled, when I told him I could not cover the shift (first time ever turning down a shift) he hired new staff and cut my hours with no warning again, which was obviously a very petty and vindictive move on his behalf. 

Payslips were constantly weeks late, and pay-cheques were often days late as well. The award they gave me did not match up to my responsibilities at the store at all, I was expected to do a lot more. I was expected to; close the store on my own, train and supervise staff, and at one point I ran the store on my own while my manager was away. I also did not receive my superfund payment until I had left and asked my boss why I hadn't yet received it - I know that some of my ex-coworkers are still yet to receive their superfund payments.

As a person, my manager is unkind. He has made most of his employees cry at work or at home after work. He is very petty and often criticises his employees on their work ethic for no reason. There were times where I was obviously performing a mandatory task and he would come and tell me off for not working. He constantly stresses out and belittles his employees. He would blame his employees for the store not doing well - as if we could somehow bring in more customers for him. Often telling us we need to improve and that we're not working hard enough, then not actually offering any advice or training on how he'd like us to work. He obviously has no respect for his staff, which is why his store has the highest turnover of any chatime in Victoria. 

The airconditioning unit broke and still hadn't been fixed or replaced after 8 months, which is horrific as they expect their staff to work in summer weather, which was hitting highs of 46 degrees at the start of the year. I had to do an 8 hour shift in a shop that was about 43 degrees, I couldn't handle it and after 5 hours I told my manager that I was feeling too sick to continue, surprisingly he called someone else in to cover the rest of my shift, but then proceeded to talk behind my back implying that I was just lazy and didn't want to work. We were also made to work in weather reaching as low as 6 degrees with no heater, with the shop doors completely open. 

Chatime as a company obviously does not care about their franchisees and employees, as whenever anything would break it would take them at least a month or so to send someone over to fix it. Within 3 months of the store opening the air-conditioner, fridge, ice machine, display fridge and things like doors, cupboard doors, taps were all starting to break. Still to this day something substantial is breaking every couple of weeks. Chatime wants to save as much money for themselves as possible, which is why the quality of the equipment they buy is extremely poor, also the tradespeople they bring often do not do their job properly. 

There's absolutely no one staff can contact at chatime to discuss how their manager is treating them at work, it's really sad that this company does not care about their employees. There should be more opportunity for staff to be able to talk up when things like this are happening, as currently the only person in the company we have contact with are powerless co-workers and abusive managers. 

They need to do better.

I usually took 4-6 hours work per day, and I worked 3 days per week. I learned to make different kind of bubble milk tea beverage based on the formula given, other responsibilities include serving front-desk; cleaning up the kitchen, preparing the ingredients, cleaning and tiding up the common area as well as checking stocks.

We are responsible to manage the shop when the manager wasn't around, it is a challenging part to manage the shop during the peak hour (especially at 5pm), many customers are lining up to purchase the beverage, we are required to do multi-tasking for the time we lack of employees and also when they are a lot of customers. We are required to served customers, prepared the beverage, refill the ingredients and delivered the drinks in a fast-pace environment.

The hardest part of the job is I still have a few kind of 'beverage' that I haven't learn how to make, as there are many different kind of series of beverage to make, and different kind of customer's demand may need different kind of formula to make he drinks, for example, less sugar demand may changed the 'process' of the drinks, as we need to function the 'sugar machine' differently. 

However, the most enjoyable part of the job is I learned all the bits and pieces of the business operation, from making the drinks to serving the drinks, whenever I get praised from customers (especially my acquaintances) for the good taste of drinks that I made it, I will think that is the biggest accomplishment in my daily job as I delivering the highest quality of product to all the customers.

If you're lucky and its not too busy, work is hella chill and relatively easy, you do general in-store stuff and chilling. (mind you, at some point this was rare, and when you work here for a while, you will have to be carry the burden for the incompetence of other workers, which generally, in turn makes you also not want to do your job properly).

In my experience, management was really poor, and there is usually not enough people rostered during shifts, so after just a few shifts of training, you could be put alone, handling customers drinks by yourself, which could be pretty daunting when you're just starting. 

the cons of working here also with little staff is that when it gets super busy, you might not even get a break within an 8 hour shift, + having to stay back overtime. (which is paid but hurts your sanity a bit).

generally tho if management was a little better and your work environment was more supportive i would've enjoyed this job more by 1000%. It isn't entirely an awful job, this job is okay if it is your first job, but these are things I wish I knew before applying as my first job.

I wanted a second job and my friend worked at Chatime so I asked if I could get in. A few weeks later and I’m working there, but left after a month due to the stress involved. Especially at night when lots of people come in and expect your drink to be done in a minute. The manager was also rude, constantly complaining every morning when I woke up to a billion messages from the groupchat as well as not being allowed to take a drink home. I understand there were some people who didn’t do their job but I did everything I was required, and when I worked the same shift as my friend she’d make sure we’d both close up properly and clean the benches. Also if you’re closing you’re most likely going to be there longer than you thought. If you thrive in high stress situations then this is for you but I honestly would not recommend it. There’s better places to work for your first job.

So far Ive worked at two different Chatime locations; The first one being the best experience with the company and the second one was the worst. 

The first one was very fast paced during rush hours but pretty chill during the quieter hours. I was trained well and I caught on pretty quick and the management; the manager and supervisor were the best! They really cared for their employees both mentally and physically. 

The second location I worked at was not the best. They were pretty desperate and hired me as soon as I handed my resume in and even though I had prior experience working in the company, the manager showed no interest in training me and the other new employees, they solely relied on older staff to train us. I worked alone on most days and found it very difficult especially the rush hours. Also ran out of stock quickly as the manager do not check properly and had the supervisor to do it instead. 

if you like to be bossed around, non-dependent, constantly undermined by senior members. then this is the job for you ! 

chatime lowered my work-esteem by 150% i felt safe but constantly felt like management/senior members were judging me and the way i worked. 

i recently quit because when i told my supervisor i am unable to come into work because i have had seizures and not able to come into work i got told that having seizures are “no excuse” and i should come into work because “other team members do.” this place is over-organised, under-staffed & un-trusting. we have to “prove” we cleaned stuff, prove the opening and closing & proved we were never trusted and gaslit when we couldn’t come in for a shift. if you like your integrity i wouldn’t work here 

While the overall experience was not too terrible, all of the smaller issues added up to make it an awful place to work. The main issues were with management, for example:
- The Manager ignored text messages from multiple employees.
- The manager refused to come in to help close the store after the only other 
    employee on shift was injured and had to go to hospital.
- None of the employees were paid correctly for public holidays
- Management expected all employees to always be available to work.
- Management occasionally will remove an employee from the roster with no 
   explanation or response.

However, a few good things were:
- The coworkers are usually friendly and helpful.
- Customers are typically nice.
- Free drinks on shift.

Management could be slightly better with rostering, most shifts are solo, long and suck, without breaks. Constantly understaffed. Employees are really nice, and I've made some great friends through there. manager is scary but he's nice as well. Most of the people employed are 14. Great atmosphere and people often come by the store to chat when they're not on shift.

At first, I worked with all the old employees who were actually the ones who taught me how to do the job instead of my manager. I was pretty happy and really enjoyed working until most of the old employees left and I didn't understand why. I finally understood when I became a store supervisor. Management was a wreck and on top of that, my manager was so passive aggressive, unorganised and often took his anger and stress out on myself and others. We were so short staffed that he would hire incompetent people just for the sake of having staff. Him and my boss would ignore people's availabilities and just roster people on regardless of whether or not they were available. Customers were so overly aggressive, impatient and rude. For my first job experience, I dread it. 

Training was a lot. You were expected to remember around 30 different drink recipes, in a week. Then you take an exam to pass. My manager was strict and failed me because I didn’t put the ingredients in the right order. Kinda ridiculous how much effort on training you have to put in, in a job that is made for young people. I felt like I was applying for a high end job or smth. Then hiring process is so long and draining. After that though, it will be fine. Once you learn the drinks it is better but the job always keeps you on your toes. Pay is also minimum wage.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Store manager 1 salary reported	$51,500 per year
Business systems analyst 2 salaries reported	$85,000 per year
Team member 1 salary reported	$60,976 per year
Tea room manager 1 salary reported	$50,000 per year

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