WARNING TO ANY FIRST-TIME WORKING TEENS.
THIS IS ALL BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE AND MY BELIEFS:
This review isn't about being salty over 2 missing hours on a paycheck. This is about warning other young workers, especially those first-time job seekers, about how exploitative and unprofessional this franchise is, and how Sonic corporate turns its back on you the moment things go wrong.
I worked at this Sonic for one week and experienced enough red flags to stay quiet. From the start, the management was disorganized and dismissive. I worked 9-4, 10-4, 10-4--but was only paid for 17 hours total. That was at least 2 hours short. Keep in mind I was originally gonna get paid only 15 hours, but I fought hard for my two extra hours LOL.
When I politely asked the franchise owner (yes, the manager is also the owner of the LLC that owns this Sonic) about the missing hours, he pulled up "MY" punch times from 10am-11am, which were clearly wrong because I wasn't even issued a punch-in card until the afternoon of my last day. That alone shows how sloppy and broken their onboarding process is.
After I pointed this out, and how he was robbing me hours, he ghosted me completely. No replies. No help. Just silence. I had to spam him with calls just to get 2 hours back, leaving me still short. And at that point, I just took the loss, because there's no one to escalate this to. The guy owns the franchise, so who do you report him to?
Not Sonic HR, I tried. I actually got in touch with Sonic's corporate HR and they told me they couldn't help because it's a franchise, meaning they have zero authority over their own brand. That's insane. A national chain with no accountability system for their franchise owners? Unreal.
This guy even tried to gaslight me by pulling up random camera screenshots of the kitchen, trying to prove I wasn't there. Guess what? I wasn't in the kitchen because I was doing paperwork with a LEAD, not even a manager, who was confused as hell to even see me there. He knew I was never properly added to the system nor was he even told I was going to be there that day.
I want to be clear, this is wage theft. But worse than the $20 or so I lost is the fact that I had to just accept it because there's no one to report him to. He owns the store. He signs the checks. He ignores the texts. He is his own lil system.
And that's not even getting into the health violations I saw firsthand. I've worked fast food before, I know the basic rules. Eggs, meat, fries, all of that stuff has time limits. When it expires, you toss it. Not here. Food would sit there from open till it ran out. Eggs cooked at 6-7am were still being served at 3pm. Not a single fryer was ever filtered the entire time I was there. That grease was thick, dark, and disgusting. Customers would have no idea. Ever wonder why them fries were soggy and dry as hell?
So no, I'm not writing this because I'm mad over 2 hours of pay. I'm writing this for the 17-year-old kid who's thinking about applying here, thinking it will be a cute gig to start. The one who'll get hired fast, put on the schedule with no proper paperwork, denied full pay, and then ghosted when they speak up.
This franchise owner is taking advantage of young workers, and Sonic corporate is letting it happen. And that should piss everyone off. read more