Wage Slave Revolt

[Oerwinde]

http://www.beyondrobson.com/city/2006/02/mutiny_at_the_cafe/

 

I know stuff like this has probably happened before, but making it so public is awesome. I myself have a crappy manager, so this is even more awesome.

[Judge Hades]

I usually just tazer a bad manager or jump him/her from behind and go all Highlander, but this works.

[astr0creep]

That is just

[taks]

yeah, it totally sucks when people are only paid a slave wage to pour coffee all day and earn tips for doing nothing. no skills required, just pour coffee... why don't those employees a) learn a skill, b) learn a trade, c) get an education and d) quit complaining about getting paid exactly what their existing skills are worth: nothing. if the job were worth so much more, i'd bet not just any idiot that has the penmanship of a first grade child could get hired.

 

taks

[Lyric Suite]

why don't those employees a) learn a skill, b) learn a trade, c) get an education

 

Most people who take those jobs are doing exactly that, or did you just assume all the teenagers working there are just drop outs?

 

and d) quit complaining about getting paid exactly what their existing skills are worth

 

They are not complaining about getting paid squad, they are complaining about being threated like asses.

[taks]

Most people who take those jobs are doing exactly that, or did you just assume all the teenagers working there are just drop outs?

nope, i don't care. when you take a crappy job, you have to expect crap in return. i put up with all sorts of hell to make it through my degrees, and never walked out and demonstrated such immaturity.

 

most people that take such jobs that are doing just that, have a higher level of professionalism than demonstrated here.

 

They are not complaining about getting paid squad, they are complaining about being threated like asses.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

based on some of the comments down the list, their problems with this manager were unique. perhaps they were the problem, not the victims. based on the comments i read, they were being treated exactly as minimum wage employees pouring coffee should expect to be treated. like it or not, the customer IS always right and in the end, nobody was forcing them to work there. i.e. leave, in a professional manner, if you don't like the job.

 

in their note they said "you should have thought more about your staff than your business." i ask, since when is a company there to provide jobs? a company exists solely for the purpose of providing a service or good. it is not only the boss' right to look out for the businees it is his JOB.

 

taks

Edited March 21, 2006 by taks

[Oerwinde]

Just because you're getting paid minimum wage doesn't mean you should be treated like crap. I wouldn't mind being treated like crap if I was getting paid 40 bucks an hour, because I could think to myself "Well, at least I can go home to my giant home theater system". But not when I'm getting paid barely enough to pay rent.

 

Its pretty bad when the managers find more and more ways to screw around their underlings just so they can get a bigger bonus check. Where I work for instance we used to have a really good manager, everyone was getting good hours, we had pretty much the same schedule every week, we had enough staff scheduled to handle the workload without exhausting everyone, it was a great work environment. Then she got promoted. So the new manager came in, decided the store was paying too much in labour, so she cut one person from each shift. So now we have 3 people handing 4 people's workloads every shift, plus the manager keeps coming to get one of the staff members to go do other stuff for her, taking away from our already short staff, plus she totally screwed up the schedule so now its different every week without needing to be. (I used to work 11:30-6:30 M-F. Now its different every week.)

 

And its really hard to find good workers. Since I started we've gone through about 20 new staff members, 3 of which are still there, the rest either quit within the first 2-3 days, or were fired for being horrible workers. So I don't understand why managers would treat the employees who are actually good enough to stay so badly since its so hard to find decent replacements.

[Colrom]

Most likely they did the right thing.

 

When I had a big important job I always wondered why some folks would treat workers badly rather than deal with the issues constructively.

 

This incident is probably the result of bad management.

 

Unfortunately the manager may not have learned anything from it. That happens alot.

Edited March 21, 2006 by Colrom

[astr0creep]

yeah, it totally sucks when people are only paid a slave wage to pour coffee all day and earn tips for doing nothing.  no skills required, just pour coffee... why don't those employees a) learn a skill, b) learn a trade, c) get an education and d) quit complaining about getting paid exactly what their existing skills are worth: nothing.  if the job were worth so much more, i'd bet not just any idiot that has the penmanship of a first grade child could get hired.

 

taks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

From what you wrote, you obviously never worked slave wage in your life.

 

I did. A lot. And it has nothing to do with lack of education or lazyness and it is not as easy as it seems. They don't just poor coffee, there are other tasks to be done that the client is never aware of.

And if your goal in life is to open a restaurant, working in that environment is essential to learning the trade and the skills needed to operate such an establishment.

The client is NOT always right. The client must FEEL like he/she is always right. And some clients you just don't want as clients anyway...

 

If someone cannot afford a higher education, in order to acquire skills to move up in life, one needs those low wage jobs. Like you kinda said, anyone can and will get hired with minimum effort for those jobs however, staying there long enough to learn something is a different matter.

 

I can tell you from experience that those jobs are grueling and those who work them simply cannot just leave, for financial reasons mostly so when the manager is a back orifice as well, it makes everything so much harder and nobody needs that.

 

When you work those jobs, you are basically stuck there until something better comes along(which is rare) or you manage to get out of a "temporary situation"(like going to school at the same time). And what makes these employees' action commendable is that they actually got out.

[~Di]

From what you wrote, you obviously never worked slave wage in your life.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Indeed, rotten bosses make the lives of their employees more miserable than they have to be. Still, the only thing worse than a poor-paying job at the bottom rung of the employment ladder is no job at all. Anyone who doesn't like their job is free to go get another one. Anyone who can't get another one should just suck it in and do what they are paid to do. Nobody starts at the top, bucko.

 

BTW, you may not have meant it to sound arrogant, but presuming that somebody else hasn't experienced working for crappy wages in even crappier working conditions simply because that person isn't gnashing his teeth and bemoaning his fate really was fairly rude. It was probably inaccurate as well, since I dare say that most people who've survived into middle age have paid their dues at some time in their lives by working in very unpleasant conditions for a mere pittance of a wage. But they did so because, as pointed out, a lousy paycheck is better than no paycheck and, again as pointed out, nobody starts at the top.

 

Also, nobody comes into this world entitled to a handout. Some folks are born into privilege; others aren't. Some are lazy bums who think everyone else should take care of them; others grit their teeth, work hard, and earn what they get. Some people work hard all their life, and barely eek out a living. Them's the breaks. Life isn't fair, unfortunately. Pissing and moaning one's lot in life may make us feel better... until we see a one-armed fruit picker with six half-starved children living in the back of a pickup truck. That's when we realize that maybe, just maybe earning minimum wage and putting up with a snotty boss or two really isn't the worst tragedy life could dish out!

 

[astr0creep]

From what you wrote, you obviously never worked slave wage in your life.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Indeed, rotten bosses make the lives of their employees more miserable than they have to be. Still, the only thing worse than a poor-paying job at the bottom rung of the employment ladder is no job at all. Anyone who doesn't like their job is free to go get another one. Anyone who can't get another one should just suck it in and do what they are paid to do. Nobody starts at the top, bucko.

 

BTW, you may not have meant it to sound arrogant, but presuming that somebody else hasn't experienced working for crappy wages in even crappier working conditions simply because that person isn't gnashing his teeth and bemoaning his fate really was fairly rude. It was probably inaccurate as well, since I dare say that most people who've survived into middle age have paid their dues at some time in their lives by working in very unpleasant conditions for a mere pittance of a wage. But they did so because, as pointed out, a lousy paycheck is better than no paycheck and, again as pointed out, nobody starts at the top.

 

Also, nobody comes into this world entitled to a handout. Some folks are born into privilege; others aren't. Some are lazy bums who think everyone else should take care of them; others grit their teeth, work hard, and earn what they get. Some people work hard all their life, and barely eek out a living. Them's the breaks. Life isn't fair, unfortunately. Pissing and moaning one's lot in life may make us feel better... until we see a one-armed fruit picker with six half-starved children living in the back of a pickup truck. That's when we realize that maybe, just maybe earning minimum wage and putting up with a snotty boss or two really isn't the worst tragedy life could dish out!

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Are you flaming me?

Cuz it seems like we are saying basically the same thing with different words.

[~Di]

[

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

Are you flaming me?

Cuz it seems like we are saying basically the same thing with different words.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Not flaming you at all! Just a good-natured scolding for your presumption about others! (I'm a mom. Good-natured scolding is what I do best!) The rest was merely my view of the topic, which was indeed quite similar to your view!

 

BTW, if my employees had left a note like that, I'd have probably fired them all on the spot. It's one thing to speak candidly with one's boss about one's feelings; it's quite another to publicly humiliate said boss in such a rude fashion. If the boss does not fire them, he/she is just asking for further unacceptable behaviors in the future. Good boss or crappy boss, there is a line that subordinates simply cannot cross. And these folks crossed it!

 

In my humble opinion.

Edited March 22, 2006 by ~Di

[Weiser_Cain]

My coworker took two week of vacation then quit. It was pretty funny, but they made him work for 30 mins or he wouldn't get his last check.

[Volourn]

Fire them? Hahaha! I think at the point the employees decided to write such a letter proves they won't cry if they got fired. Obviously the boss in this case was a bad one. Good bosses would *never* allow employees as a group to get to this point in the first place. A good boss would have seen the warning signs, and would have dealt with it one way, or the other.

 

 

Taks is right that the business should always come first for management. He, of course, forgets to mention that dealing with employees is a part of the business. Without staff, a business doesn't work.

 

Anyways, I'm neutral to this situation as I;m not involved so i don't know the details. While it's true that a low paying job shouldn't be the best job it's also true that if you are paying someone minimum wage don't expect them to be extremely loyal or ready to kiss your ass.

 

Minimum wage employees can be replaced easily. So can minimum paying jobs.

 

 

R00fles!

 

 

"My coworker took two week of vacation then quit. It was pretty funny, but they made him work for 30 mins or he wouldn't get his last check."

 

I bet if he bothered to take them to court, he'd be able to force them to pay him what they owed him. At least in Kanada, you can't withhold someone's earnings like that.

Edited March 22, 2006 by Volourn

[taks]

From what you wrote, you obviously never worked slave wage in your life.

uh, you can't read, can you? i've worked nearly 20 jobs in my life. several at minimum wage.

 

the idea of a "slave wage" is a joke. you don't have to work there and, if you had any skills, you could demand more money. duh.

 

They don't just poor coffee, there are other tasks to be done that the client is never aware of.

oh my god! clean the floors. wipe the toilet. UNSKILLED LABOR is unskilled labor and it isn't worth even minimum wage.

 

And if your goal in life is to open a restaurant, working in that environment is essential to learning the trade and the skills needed to operate such an establishment.

yup, and you learn to put up with hell to get to the end of the tunnel where the light is. it's called a work ethic.

 

The client is NOT always right. The client must FEEL like he/she is always right. And some clients you just don't want as clients anyway...

then you've apparently never run a restaurant, eh? sorry, but this statement is flat out wrong. if you want to run the restaurant into the ground, this line of reasoning is a perfect start.

 

i've been on both sides of the management issue - i ran a bar for the last year of my master's degree. most of the time, employees that whine about a bad boss are actually bad employees.

 

If someone cannot afford a higher education, in order to acquire skills to move up in life, one needs those low wage jobs. Like you kinda said, anyone can and will get hired with minimum effort for those jobs however, staying there long enough to learn something is a different matter.

i couldn't afford school, either. the parents helped a little, and i got a bunch of loans, and i worked crap jobs nearly fully time through all of my education.

 

I can tell you from experience that those jobs are grueling and those who work them simply cannot just leave, for financial reasons mostly so when the manager is a back orifice as well, it makes everything so much harder and nobody needs that.

too bad. i did it, and most others have as well. maturity is the answer. deal with it now for the pay off later.

 

And what makes these employees' action commendable is that they actually got out.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

and their lack of professionalism, and obvious idiocy in singing their names, will nearly guarantee anyone that has read thier note will never hire them.

 

fools at best...

 

taks

Edited March 22, 2006 by taks

[taks]

BTW, you may not have meant it to sound arrogant, but presuming that somebody else hasn't experienced working for crappy wages in even crappier working conditions simply because that person isn't gnashing his teeth and bemoaning his fate really was fairly rude.  It was probably inaccurate as well, since I dare say that most people who've survived into middle age have paid their dues at some time in their lives by working in very unpleasant conditions for a mere pittance of a wage.

not to mention the fact that i clearly stated i worked a bunch of crap jobs only two posts earlier.

 

taks

[taks]

Taks is right that the business should always come first for management. He, of course, forgets to mention that dealing with employees is a part of the business. Without staff, a business doesn't work.

but staff as moronic as this aren't a good way to run a business, either. other people that worked for the guy posted and said the job sucked, but the manager was actually pretty good. bad employees always try to make it out to be a bad boss.

 

given that the only hard evidence we have of the situation is the employees' immature, and unprofessional, "resignation", i can only assume bad employees.

 

taks

Edited March 22, 2006 by taks