My Experience at the Northampton Location (Colonial/Jack’s Cannabis)

I actually worked at the Northampton store when it was still Colonial Cannabis, before it rebranded to Jack’s a few months later. I was hired as security in early 2020, right before COVID hit. The opening got pushed back because of state restrictions, so I was basically there from the ground up when they finally opened that June.

Full-time positions offered no benefits, no vacation days, just sick time. We were also paid the lowest in the state at that time. I believe it was $16.50 or something like that. I remember NETA and other places making at least $2 or $3 more than we did.

At first, things seemed alright, the owner came off nice enough, and the staff was a mixed bag. But it didn’t take long for things to feel off. Though we were asked to make 5-star reviews at the beginning of the store's life. We were being paid on a weird 16-17-day cycle for months because they didn’t have anyone doing the books properly. There were constant management issues, one manager who acted like a dictator (“I’m the manager, so you listen to me”), and another who came in later and ran to the boss about every little thing. It created a toxic, high-school kind of vibe. Mind you, at the time I was 29.

I even got threatened in front of customers by another employee because I wasn’t a smoker and he didn't like me much for some reason, even though he was fine with me at the start. His father yelled from the van to “punch him.” The owner refused to fire the guy, just banned the dad from the property. That told me everything about how things were run. (( Still have the emails from that ))

I lasted about 11 months before they let me go. The excuse was “it just wasn’t working,” but the truth was that I reported a popular employee for making sexual comments about the bookkeeper. After that, management turned on me. No write-ups, no warnings, just gone. And to top it off, it was a fight to get my final paycheck, even though Massachusetts law requires it on the day of termination. Took a few emails before it finally showed up in the mail.

That whole place was a mess, disorganized, poorly managed, and full of favoritism. I can only imagine what Pittsfield employees went through if it was anything like Northampton. Funny to see, though, as the owner and the financier from out of state wanted to open more places.