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When I worked at Subway as a teenager in the early 90s in Seattle... our manager was the owner. He was a real stickler for bathroom cleanliness. The bathrooms w

When I worked at Subway as a teenager in the early 90s in Seattle... our manager was the owner. He was a real stickler for bathroom cleanliness. The bathrooms were inspected and tidied up every hour, and cleaned every 4 hours. He always threatened to fire "the whole team" if he ever stopped by and found a bathroom that he would feel "embarrassed to have his mother use." (I don't think he ever fired anyone, he would just call you over and make you re-do something if it wasn't done right. Honestly he was a really good boss for a kid to have.) I think there's been a big shift away from the franchise owners being the day-to-day managers, and they just hire someone and near-minimum wage to be the manager now. Gut feeling on it anyway. Doesn't feel like anyone who works there cares or takes any personal pride in the cleanliness of the bathrooms. (Ha, is this what getting old feels like?)

adamomada 2y ago
Re getting old, 90s teenager here as well. I remember being able to get two high-quality footlong sandwiches plus sub stamps (member those? ) for a bonus 10% for about an hour’s work at “crappy” minimum wages. Now? Maybe one lousy quality sandwich. You got a lot more working crappy jobs back then vs working crappy jobs now.
- dbg31415 2y ago
  Stamps and punch cards were our apps back then. One perk of working at Subway was that my boss didn’t mind if we made sandwiches for ourselves. My go-to was roast beef and tuna. And I could trade a Subway sandwich for a burrito at the place next door, or even a video at the video rental place. Lots of little perks I remember.
JohnFen 2y ago
> I think there's been a big shift away from the franchise owners being the day-to-day managers An interesting thing that I've noticed in the last several years in my area is that most of the franchise shops around here are owned by a handful of investment companies rather than actual people.

adamomada 2y ago

Re getting old, 90s teenager here as well. I remember being able to get two high-quality footlong sandwiches plus sub stamps (member those? ) for a bonus 10% for about an hour’s work at “crappy” minimum wages. Now? Maybe one lousy quality sandwich. You got a lot more working crappy jobs back then vs working crappy jobs now.

dbg31415 2y ago
Stamps and punch cards were our apps back then. One perk of working at Subway was that my boss didn’t mind if we made sandwiches for ourselves. My go-to was roast beef and tuna. And I could trade a Subway sandwich for a burrito at the place next door, or even a video at the video rental place. Lots of little perks I remember.

JohnFen 2y ago

> I think there's been a big shift away from the franchise owners being the day-to-day managers An interesting thing that I've noticed in the last several years in my area is that most of the franchise shops around here are owned by a handful of investment companies rather than actual people.