u/bigflowersguy

been every position in a restaurant from BOH to FOH including management, been having a hell of a time finding stable work. if anyone knows of any places in the area, looking for whatever at the moment. appreciate anything in advance.

Hey, just sharing my personal experience working at Abracadabra. I went in pretty blind, I had been there a few times and thought it was cute, walking distance from my house and it seemed cool. I had not looked into them at all on Reddit/socials etc. and I wish I did prior.

I came in to interview, which was incredibly disorganized. Everything was as others have mentioned, very vibes based without much logistic consideration.

On first interaction with the owners, I was belittled for not being able to make flawless latte art, which felt terrible, but they said “we are looking for a bartender so maybe we’ll give you a chance.” Next thing, the owner is sitting me down and telling me that he wants to start me as a salaried position (I have a lot of bar experience and I’ve built up programs in the city that have gotten multi million annual revenues) and have me impulse the bar business. This to him would entail organizing events, developing menus and executing promotional campaigns. I voiced that I’d like to be making a certain salary for that work and they said don’t worry, that’s easy.

I was scheduled for training at a base wage and told that my salary would start after that period.

Once I began training, I asked the owner when my salaried position would begin, because he was pressuring me to come up with drinks and events as I am still learning the operations, and I am not being paid for that job yet. He then revealed to me that I was not going to be paid salary, rather that I’d be receiving minimum wage plus tips just like the other baristas, yet my expectation was to still execute the responsibilities listed above. That’s exploitative and immoral imo.

The owner would consistently verbalize shifts to me, not input them on the schedule and then change the times that he’d want me to be there the day I was supposed to work. He also told me I’d be working 12-9 with no break (against labor laws) and when I asked him why i was not going to get a break he told me I wasn’t going to fit with the culture of the place and fired me through text.

In the time I was there, I witnessed him verbally harass people for being in the space too long and only ordering a coffee, berate the other employees for not doing a good enough job (they were literally doing the lords work and way more than they should have for the pay they were receiving).

I do also have to note that the place is just filthy. I asked when the place was deep cleaned regularly and they responded that it had never been deep cleaned (and it shows).

I developed a drink or two in the time there, and it was really nice to see the clientele resonate with it, but the ownership is far more concerned with making money than providing a haven for the community, and making good food. This place is a bastion of desperate capital, not magic.

On top of being rude, impersonal and exploitative, the ownership is built off of lying, cheating and manipulation. And then you can scour the rest of this sub to find out how they handle their tips, which is super shady. So many other spots that deserve your patronage, shout out Everest Grocery & Deli, shout out Topos (Too), shout out Peg’s Cavalier.

If you have any info to help prevent people from being taken advantage of by this business pls drop below. Thanks🫶🏼