Ritas Italian Ice

I am writing to inform you of a distressing experience with a Rita's located in Oakland, PA. The address is 3712 Fifth Ave Oakland, PA 15213.

I was hired at this location on Friday, August 19th.

I am writing to you, less than a week later, after working one shift, and being terminated from the position. I want to preface this by stating that I have worked at two locations in Harrisburg, PA as a loyal employee since March 2021 and I have had nothing but positive experiences. I moved into the University of Pittsburgh last week as a freshman and decided I should apply to work at the Rita's nearby because of my experience and love for Rita's. I figured it would be a seamless transition.

I walked up to the counter on Thursday, August 18th and described my experience at Rita's and was invited to come back the next day when the hiring manager, Caroline Willig, would be working.

The next day, I was invited into the store, filled out some paperwork, and was on my home with a secured job as a treat team member. After discussing my availability, I was added to the schedule for Wednesday, August 24th for my training shift.

My shift went okay. I did all of my duties and cleaned up my messes. I paid for the two treats I took home that night.

However, The manager on duty seemed a bit hostile towards me the whole time. She did not make eye contact with me or introduce herself and she would not talk to me unless ordering me to do something. The environment that she created during this shift made me hesitant about the job. I decided not to think too much about it.

Tonight, less than a week after being hired, I received a vague text from the hiring manager saying that she changed her mind about my employment.

I have attached screenshots of our conversation to this email. As you can see, The email is vague and unprofessional. Before she could even respond about my upcoming scheduled shifts, she had removed my access to this location's homebase.

As I explained to Caroline in the text messages, we agreed on a few shifts per week. My availability was fairly open and I had requested time off for the upcoming Jewish Holidays in the fall, trying to be proactive.

In addition, I turned down other job offers on campus because of this. I received no heads up or notice and was not even permitted to work my scheduled shifts. I blocked my time off for the upcoming shifts and it feels inconsiderate to take them away from me.

I do not think that the text message Caroline wrote to me, firing me, was appropriate. My name was not capitalized, there was little punctuation making it difficult to understand, and it felt overall very unprofessional.

When I asked for the number to Human Resources, Caroline claimed she "is HR".

This is a very difficult experience for me considering how much I love working for Rita's and how excited I was to begin this job. I am hoping something can be done about this as I feel I was wrongfully terminated, my time was wasted, and I was taken advantage of. If someone would be willing to discuss this with me in greater detail and hopefully resolve this issue, I would be happy to provide more information. I am hoping this can be resolved easily.

You can contact me at punkybrodsky@***.com or via phone call at 717-829-****.

Thank you for your time. I look Forward to hearing from you.

Best,

Erin Brodsky

I have been in this store every few days for weeks and the scanner never work, therefore I cannot get my points that I am earning. I have been calling customer service and just get told I have to wait for someone to get back to me.

I have several receipts and should have already been able to redeem my free item, yet cannot do anything because I have to wait for a call back. I really would appreciate someone getting the scanner working at the Brentwood, 94513 location in California. I am wasting time having to reach out and wait for someone to get back to me. If you cannot reach me on my cell, please call my work at 925-253-****.

I actually love this place and am obsessed.

I am driving several miles a day coming out to buy this stuff, its the greatest ever, I just buy so darn much, I would like my reward. Thank you.