Recent hire still waiting for my background check to go through before I can start working. I still currently work for a buffalo wild wings as a cook(going on five years now) which has complete garbage benefits for their employees. State Medicaid has way better coverage. I do make a few more dollars an hour, starting at $11 an hour but in the period of five years I’ve only had my wages increased to $13 an hour, but even then we do so much for so little in regards of pay, healthcare, and overall appreciation. I will say that the way management and corporate have handled my transition is amazing since I started my transition almost 2 years ago. Even more so with the way that they handled employees who have had a problem with me being trans.

Sometimes it all depends on management too! There have been a few times where I’ve helped out another Buffalo wild wings in my area and management does so much more to help out. Whereas when I work different shifts at mine, the way management handles dayshift, compared to Night Shift is really a day and night difference. Most of us in the morning will bust our asses not only doing prep but freezer prep( weighing out and portioning certain frozen appetizer food items such as potato wedges, fried pickles, breaded cheese curds, tater tots, breaded cauliflower, etc) and so much more extra that has to be done regardless of what shift you work. Mondays and Wednesdays in particular I work by myself as the opening prep cook from 7 AM to 5 PM, 10 hours straight without any breaks.

There have been a few times when I have worked with the night crew and suggested that while they have downtime they could help out with some of the freezer prep instead of standing around with their heads up their asses and texting on their phones for 10 minutes until they get a few tables come in.. Of course unless I get a manager involved it never gets done and they end up running out that night which puts more pressure on us in the mornings to get some done to make things so much easier. I’ve noticed that our night crew will also take most of their cooking utensils like spatulas, spoodles, to our dish area earlier in the shift which leads to over portioning certain products and almost running out when I bust my ass to prep more than what the original pars call for in the morning just so that doesn’t happen.

I for one, I am looking forward to starting my new job at sbux ASAP, Especially with the amazing benefits they offer that I can utilize to further my transition. I also live in a red state where most insurances, Including Medicaid which I was able to qualify for, won’t cover transitional needs. I am however lucky that Medicaid in my state will cover HRT. In short I guess what I’m saying is that it could be a lot worse. Hang in there…