Oarweed Restaurant, Ogunquit,Maine, Prestige Education

Experience with agency Prestige Education was positive.
All praise for the work of the Agency , when I had a problem at work they solved it during the same day .

Experience with location Ogunquit, ME was positive.
The possibility of finding another job is great only when you do not want ti work and do not want another job you can not find it. I specifically worked in five different restaurants. As far as the locals over there have very little of them . The majority of population consists of students during the season (Serbs , Bulgarians , Romanians ) , a lot of Jamaicans who has come to work and Canadians who are there tourists . Employers are people who live all over the winter mainly in Florida and work here over the summers. As far as the night life there are two bars which are open until 1h in the morning, which one of those is a gay bar . Many gay people are there so that you have to get used to but thay are not too offensive, they see that you're straight and do not bother you .

Experience with employer Oarweed Restaurant was negative.
Hourly rate: $ 8.5 Number of hours per week: 40 Average tips: 0 The first month I washed dishes but I spent the rest of the program working on the line specifically on making salads. In the morning there was cleaning of the restaurant after which you continue with your work. Simply disregard the employees first we come to the fact that you are paid for the job $ 8.5 and the American next to you for the same 11 $ -12 $. Dish washing is a hard job, you wash dishes for 8.5 $ for 450-500 people per shift, in any other restaurant minimun for this position is $ 11 to $ 15 depending on the quantity of work. In the season two people are working at the salads and two at the dishwashing but as soon as the job drops a little immediately they send you home so count on any schedule MINIMUM about 5-6 hours less. A lot of people came worked for a month and left so every year because they generally do not pay enough workers and everyone leaves. To stay they will blackmail you with accommodation which is hard to find. Three workers were gone in a month J-1 students and they immediately throw them out on that day when they resigned from the accommodation. Basically they will smile to your face and say OK for everythng especially Rick Young. His wife who is the coordinator for the New England Christina Young with whom I have primarily a negative experience because she was blackmailing me and a guy who I will not name at work here and she sent him a message that will be logged by the immigration service if he leave the job what he did. At the end I asked to work some 25h only for accommodation and food which they allowed me while three other guys worked 80h because they could not hire anyone else because no one would not work for them. Primarily it is difficult to withstand working there 30h, because they treat you like a slave. For the whole season will give you a one t-shirt to wear while you are working, and if you're a good and exemplary perhaps another one which is 10 years old that they wore till 2-3 years ago. The contract states that we have a meal while working in the kitchen, which we did not see a single stand illogical because everyone who works in the kitchen, as a rule everyone should per shift have one meal. We had a 50% discount on some food as well as servers which is wrong because we do the work for $ 8.5 per hour while those $ 200-300 per shift. Very crowded restaurant in the season after having 12 servers, you never can be a server there because they have a policy that only Americans can be at that position. You are expected to do everything and be quiet. For example, oneday it was raining outside and I needed to bring in the rubber track mats in the kitchen that are brought in every night for cleaning. When I asked the boss (there are five of them) if they have a raincoat that we can borrow while we bring it in so that we do not get wet they said they don't have it than I have asked them for another shirt they told me that they have bu they would not give it, I told them that I would be totally wet and after 6 hours of work that I will catch cold. I get the answer that they are not interested in what I'm going to catch a cold, and that if I need a raincoat I can get into a big trash bag and so protect myself from the rain. After half an hour I came across an American colleague who lent me a raincoat so I would not get wet until I bring those stuff in. This is just one thing but there are still a lot. Get away from this Oarweed as the devil from the cross you do not need this in your life. On the other job in Cafee Pregola I worked as a barista and I was very happy and on the third job Jonathans restaurant La Pizzeria as a food runner / server also satisfied.

This review represents personal opinion of Vladimir Radosavljevic who was participating Work & Travel program in year of 2015 with agency Prestige Education, working at Oarweed Restaurant in Ogunquit, ME.

Aug 12, 2016