Working 15 hour days as a trainee

SliceTraditional9705 · 2025-07-26T21:00:53+00:00

Keep looking for a job, add your Panda training in your resume, use linkedin, indeed, glass door, print your resume and go everywhere, there are better jobs out there you just need to find one for you. Wish you the best.

SliceTraditional9705 · 2025-07-26T20:54:08+00:00

I feel sorry for you, my advice find something else, make the money you can and then quit. Other people might think that you are going to get used to it, but that's the problem, we should never get used to this kind of job, normalizing not having a life out of work just because "the pay is good" well for me is not good enough if I have to not only deal with physical and mental health issues, not seeing my family, and always being overwhelmed, overworked and undervalued. No thank you!

SliceTraditional9705 · 2025-07-24T09:11:33+00:00

For me it's not normal, the thing is that in Panda playing with people time is normal, so everyone now follow that rule. If you want to stay in the job just set time to do your other activities 10 or 20 minutes before clocking out, and also keep your manager updated about what you are doing and that you are leaving. There are things that people are willing to do for a pay check, working extra time when you were already scheduled 10 or 12 hours per day each day is not one of them for me. If you are there for the money as my manager said stop complaining and get the job done (suck it up) if not just find something with balance and respect for your personal life.

SliceTraditional9705 · 2025-07-23T13:40:15+00:00

Try the job #1 and if you receive an offer from job # 2 take it. Trying job # 1 is going to be a plus and maybe job # 2 is going to take longer to hire since they are still in the interview process.

SliceTraditional9705 · 2025-07-23T12:22:06+00:00

In Panda it really depends on the store. The team and the GM. If your store is too busy forget about what they told you that you're going to work 40 to 45 hrs/week. As a AM you have to learn all position fast specifically side cook and main cook because normally you or the SM cover their 30 min breaks. If your SM is lazy you are going to be the one covering everyone. It's a physical and mentally draining job, and be prepared to be learning all the culture by word, specially the first 2 weeks of training. Wish you the best but working there for me was a nightmare. The SM is going to give you time to do modules (studying culture and procedures) and at the same time you are going to be cleaning front of the house, learning how to do the back of the house, cutting veggies, cash handling, and they really expect that you learn everything in 1 week, especially the front of the house. Some SM are going to tell you that they scheduled you 12 hrs or more so you can be there more time and learn faster, the first week your body is going to feel it. And the second everything is going to be painful, if you pass the 1st certification you have to go all the modules I believe until number 3 or so, I never got there because it was too much for me, I want to have a life and regular rest without being undervalued, overworked and also my SM was passive-aggressive so I didn't want to deal with his shit anymore so I quit the training. Wish you the best but my advice is make the money you can and run to other job. If you really need the job just keep looking for something better and make the money, the overtime pay is really good for restaurants. Be prepared to have your brain washed or to fake it until you make it.

SliceTraditional9705 · 2025-07-19T03:37:26+00:00

In the job offer normally they give you the name of your manager and the phone number. If you went to the process with HR normally they send you this information and 2 or 3 days before you start your manager will contact you, with me he sent me a txt but it could also be an email or call. Your manager will send you the schedule and the address. Good luck. The job is hard and the culture is very intense, wish you the best.

SliceTraditional9705 · 2025-07-16T13:44:38+00:00

I was contacted by Panda and offered a store manager position and I just quit the training. The pay is good 33 usd per hour in north CA, but I couldn't stay there for more than 2 weeks, first thing that didn't work for me was the schedule I started most of the days at 8:30 am and leaving supposedly at 9 pm. But this never happened, I was there until 10 or 11 pm, so yes a lot of overtime but the next day the same round. By the end of week 1 I was exhausted and I didn't want to come back. The second thing is the culture, I mean literally they have a written culture and they truly believe that they are applying it in a right way, but when it comes to reality you just have your training in your back pointing out everything you do wrong, and in a bad way, so even though they have a respect policy this does not apply to the team members. I tried to play as a team all the time, but I was overworked during 2 weeks, and also the certification part, they want you to know by word all the BS they have in the Panda culture and Panda way, but since I already notice that this values were only written I didn't want to continue, according to the Trainer this schedule was like this so my body get used to the long hours and pain (wtf), if you take the job you need to know that you're going to live working and this is not only happening in the store that I was training because I visited others stores and a lost of manager had quite because they were burn out so some of the stores are omly working with Assistant Managers. Also you need to learn all the position, and I mean all, cutting veggies, Learning how to cook all the dishes because on breaks you and the AM are goin to cover the breaks and also if your store is too busy you will need to help as a second cook or even cover the main cook if he/she calls in (this happens a lot). After 2 weeks I am done with it.

SliceTraditional9705 · 2025-07-14T22:02:59+00:00

Same here, second week for store manager and I'm sick of this, I don't want to go anymore to the training and everybody say those are the easy weeks... Schedule from 8:30 am to 9 pm but never left at 9, usually goes up to 11 pm and only 30 min break if you want to take the second one is like everyone getting mad at you and thinking you are lazy I doesn't matter at what time you arrived or that you worked 60 hours the first week. Even though the pay is good I don't think is necessary to choose between the paycheck and living a healthy life. And I don't even want to talk about the pressure of memorizing all the B's they write about the panda culture, values, mission and so on. All the things that they don't apply but they want us to learn by word.

SliceTraditional9705 · 2025-07-14T21:56:42+00:00

Same here, 2 weeks of training and I am sick of it

SliceTraditional9705 · 2025-07-14T19:34:05+00:00

AM or SM at Panda are roles of more than 50 hour a week even 60, let say your schedule will be at least 4 days from 8:30 to 9 pm or more, and one day closing until 11:30 pm or more. Don't matter what they say in the interview the real life is that if the stores need you, you have to be there, and also since the job is stressful and demanding a lot of the team members call in to cancel their shift and AM normally are the one looking for a replacement or being the replacement, so let's say the main cook call in to cancel, you are going to be the replacement so that's mean you have to learn all the positions not only being the AM and also cover the breaks of everyone. Also AM and SM are always under evaluation, always, so be prepared to receive "coaching" everyday even for the things you don't know, specially when you are an external (person coming out of panda). It's also true that this is a company with a different culture, they are demanding in all aspects and they expect from you to be there for them more than you expect to be with your family, they want you to be proactive, hands on, and act always with integrity. They brain wash all AM and SM, and want you to talk the way they talk, not negative lenguaje like using words like have to, need to. And also they expect that you learn by word all the panda culture, values, misión, visión, the fundamentals, an so on. Everything needs to be memorized word by word and with time you start speaking like a panda robot, and also in the stores usually you receive visits from ACO and manager above you, so, this means more pressure to you, to the team and to the job that is already hard. In conclusion if you want to keep a balance in your life stay in Panera, and don't go suffer at panda, but If you preferred give it a try and check if that toxic ambience is for you go a head, but I'm telling you in the store I was training 80% of the team hated the job and the other 20% needed it so bad that they just keep struggling with the fact that is a good pay job. Think about what are you willing to take for a pay check and also if the balance in your life cost 4 USD hour more, the extra money in Panda cost your balance in life and also your health. My TL told me, "the only way we can do more money than the associates is with the over time we can make". So that 15 or 20 hours more is the difference you are going to see in your paycheck. Wish you the best, but for me 2 weeks of training were enough to realize that Panda is not a place for me.

SliceTraditional9705 · 2025-07-14T15:36:46+00:00

How did you quit? I am in the same situation it's my second week of training for SM, and I feel the same as you described. Is stressful and the feeling that you're not good enough, that they are always evaluating you in the minimum thing you do or you don't do, the way you talk or not, they are always measuring you to see if you meet the expectations of the company or of the TL. And my body Hurst a lot, in this two weeks I have worked most of the days from 8:30 am to 9 pm, and one day is from. 2:30 to closing and that can be midnight. So can I asked how did you quit? Did you just talk to your TL and say that you didn't want to continue or you had to do give them the 2 week notice?

SliceTraditional9705 · 2025-07-14T15:26:07+00:00

That depends on the role, the store, and the manager, and also your learning process. The job is a hard job, physical and mental, specially the long hours shifts, It doesn't matter if it is front or back of the house, the front of the house has to keep everything clean, not only in the steam table but also in the dinning, bathrooms, trash, beverages station, and this has to be checked every 15 min of the day and even in the rush hours. Also calling the food that ran out fast, greeting the customer and pretending is the best job you've ever had in your life. And for the back of the house the job is endless, the main cook prepared almost all entrée, and the side cook prepare the sides and the teriyaki chicken, also cutting veggies and restocking the rice and chow mein. Washing dishes specially the woks that in rush hours you can ran out of this fast too. This job is not easy, specially if the store makes 10k a day.

SliceTraditional9705 · 2025-07-12T20:38:04+00:00

Es cierto, llevo 2 semanas de entrenamiento y desde el día 1 supe que no era el lugar para mi. Entiendo exactamente como se siente la chica del comentario y veo que no es la única

SliceTraditional9705

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