Apr. 4, 2022 "Applebee’s executive’s email sparks mass resignation: ‘It tipped everyone over the edge’": Today I found this article by Gustaf Kilander on Yahoo news:
An email from a franchise executive caused a mass resignation at an Applebee’s in Kansas after the executive suggested lowering wages amid inflation and higher gas prices.
The email was sent by Wayne Pankratz, an executive at the franchise group in charge of the restaurant in Lawrence west of Kansas City in the eastern part of the state, the company confirmed. The message was sent to other executives and was later forwarded to the Lawrence location.
Mr Pankratz argued in the email that higher gas prices and inflation presented an opportunity to cut wages as workers would be living paycheck to paycheck.
“Most of our employee base and potential employee base live paycheck to paycheck,” Mr Pankratz wrote in the email sent on 9 March.
“Any increase in gas prices cuts into their disposable income.
As inflation continues to climb and gas prices continue to go up, that means more hours employees will need to work to maintain their current level of living.”
“The labor market is about to turn in our favor,” he added.
Former employee Jake Holcomb told Vice News that when he read the email, he quit immediately. Before leaving, he printed a large number of copies of the email, showed them to the other members of staff and put them all over the restaurant.
“I gave everyone in the restaurant their food for free. We didn’t even close the store,” he said. In the week that followed, the restaurant experienced a mass resignation.
Workers say that four of the restaurant’s six managers, as well as at least 10 other employees, left the business.
“This was kind of a straw that broke the camel’s back situation where everyone was feeling unappreciated [and] we were understaffed,” bartender Adrian Kelley told Vice. “And then this email was so atrocious that it kind of just tipped everyone over the edge.”
Former manager Jenna Willis, 23, said “Oh my gosh, I was so mad” after she read the email.
“I let the staff that showed up to open that morning read it, and they were livid. So I told them if we wanted to make money, we would open, but I didn’t really feel like we should at that point,” she told the outlet.
“How can we continue to work for a company that doesn’t care about us?” she added.
Applebee’s and the owner of the Lawrence restaurant – American Franchise (AFC) Brands – have criticized the email. Apple Central LLC is the subsidiary that operates the restaurant.
AFC Brands and Apple Central LLC spokesperson Scott Fischer told the Kansas City Star and the Lawrence Journal-World that the message was “embarrassing”.
Kevin Carroll, Applebee’s chief operations officer, said in a statement that the email was “the opinion of an individual, not Applebee’s”.
On 28 March, Applebee’s corporate office told Vice that Mr Pankratz had been “terminated”.
“Our team members are the lifeblood of our restaurants, and our franchisees are always looking to reward and incentivize team members, new and current, to remain within the Applebee’s family,” Mr Carroll said.
Mr Fischer told the Kansas City Star that Mr Pankratz “doesn’t have the authority to create policy for our company for the brand or anything”.
The Independent has reached out to Mr Pankratz for comment.
Applebee’s executive’s email sparks mass resignation: ‘It tipped everyone over the edge’ (yahoo.com)
My opinion: This reminds me of my Mar. 2021 blog post:
"#MeToo movement becomes #WeToo in in victim-blaming Japan"/ "Outrage as women in Japan told not wear glasses in the workplace"
Aug. 17, 2020 Saying: I found this on Facebook:
"You never look good when you are trying to make someone else look bad."- Unknown
Cham: Sometimes people need to be exposed for who they are hahah or maybe I should stop being petty
Tracy Au: There's a difference between trying to make someone look bad, and exposing them for who they are. It's like those #MeToo accusers and victims, they are plainly telling everybody about the perpetrators. They're not trying to make them look bad.
https://badcb.blogspot.com/2020/08/job-articles-wetoo-gender-gap-done.html
Jul. 13, 2021 "‘We all quit’: Burger King restaurant staff quit en masse as more people ditch jobs post-Covid": Today I found this article by Clara Hill on Yahoo News:
A Burger King restaurant in Nebraska has had a message on its sign outside the restaurant go viral on social media after disgruntled staff spoke out.
The poster above the restaurant in the city of Lincoln read, “WE ALL QUIT” and “SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE”.
Former general manager Rachel Flores told ABC 8 News about the staff’s decision.
She said, “They wanted to put up a sign to say, you know sorry there’s really not going to be anyone here.”
“Just kind of a laugh to upper management. That got put up yesterday before we opened, and I didn’t think anybody was going to notice it, because we did just one sign, and then it went pretty crazy on Facebook. I got a call from my upper management and they told me I needed to take it down.”
Ms Flores said that she had only been in the job since the beginning of the year due to the high level of staff turnover.
“They have gone through so many district managers since I’ve been GM,” she said. “No one has come to the store to help me out. They’re so in and out.”
Ms Flores was ultimately fired over the sign that went up over the weekend of 10 July. It is believed that the location is still open and struggling with low staffing levels.
According to the two former employees who spoke to ABC 8, there are similar problems to the ones they outlined at other branches of the burger chain across the city.
Currently, there is a national shortage of service workers as people have chosen either to leave the industry or don’t feel safe returning to crowded indoor spaces amid the Covid-19 pandemic. In June, the sector was down 2.2 million jobs as people are hesitant to return a job with such low pay and often no employer provided healthcare provision.
“We’ve been through a period of so much stress and uncertainty, and it’s made people really pause and consider what they want their lives to look like as things move back toward normal,” Alison Green, work blogger at Ask A Manager, told PBS News Hour.
My opinion: The manager Rachel Flores shouldn't have been fired for that. It wasn't offensive. This sounds like the plain truth.
She should get reprimanded and maybe suspended for a bit. She can easily get another restaurant job.
"Economic pressure has Canadians trimming restaurant outings: report"/ "How Tim Hortons and other fast-food chains are navigating the value meal wars"
"Tim Hortons, hero pay and the long battle against wage suppression in Canada"/ "How the COVID 'hero pay' scandal prompted Ottawa to make wage-fixing illegal"
Aug. 20, 2024 "‘I lost so much’: California Home Depot fired 70-year-old woman who processed $5K in fraudulent transactions — now she’s suing": Today I found this article by Bethan Moorcraft on Yahoo:
A 72-year-old California woman has sued Home Depot for age discrimination and wrongful termination after the retail giant fired her for failing to stop $5,000 in fraudulent transactions.
Carlene Acevedo “loved working” as a cashier at the San Ramon Home Depot. In her 60s, she won multiple awards for her service — including Cashier of the Year in 2021 — and was understandably “upset” and disorientated when she was fired last July after a scary incident with a shopper.
Acevedo got a “funny feeling” when she was approached at her till by a customer with a “very suspicious” card, who demanded multiple transactions to be processed as cash.
This happened just three months after a loss prevention officer was shot and killed at a nearby Pleasanton Home Depot while trying to stop a theft attempt. Alone and disturbed by the dubious customer, the then-71-year-old processed the fraudulent transactions.
“Four days later, I got fired,” she told the ABC 7 News I-Team, describing her former employer’s response to the incident as totally “devastating.”
"I lost so much,” she said. “I lost my health care [and] my health declined as a result of that. I had difficulty finding work and paying my rent was put into question.”
Ultimately, she decided to sue Home Depot for the ill-treatment she believes she was subjected to. Here’s what happened.
A suspicious customer
Acevedo was working alone in the Garden Center when a man approached her cash register with a “suspicious” card that had instructions on the back to process his transaction as cash. Wary of confrontation, she rang up the first purchase for a little more than $1,300.
Thirty-minutes later, the man “targeted” Acevedo again, this time demanding three additional cash transactions totaling around $4,000 that he wanted done “as fast as possible.”
He “got upset” when she tried to call her supervisor and, “scared” of what he may do, Acevedo ultimately did what the customer asked. She did, however, discreetly make copies of the receipts, which she took to her manager after he left.
Justice for the Victim of the Kolkata Rape and Murder Case
This petition is vital because it addresses the urgent need for systemic reforms to protect women and children in India. By highlighting the recent tragic events, it calls for accountability and justice, ensuring that perpetrators are brought to justice and that such crimes are prevented in the future. The petition seeks to mobilize public support and urge government action to implement stricter laws and safety measures. Ultimately, it aims to create a safer and more equitable society where women and children can live without fear.
Dear Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
We, the undersigned, are writing to you with grave concerns regarding the recent horrific incident in Kolkata, where a young female doctor was brutally raped and murdered. We urge you to take immediate and decisive action to ensure justice and prevent such atrocities in the future.
Stop the Poverty Cycle!!! - Affordable Housing in Canada
Currently, over 10% of the Canadian population live below the poverty line which is 3.7 million people. Canada is in the midst of an affordable housing epidemic, with 1 in 5 households struggling to pay rent. These numbers are worse in racialized communities and, as the cost of living continues to rise, keep increasing.
If this trend does not change, more Canadian will feel the affects of poverty. This is an IMMEDIATE call to action urging the government to take action and create more affordable housing and provide more government funded aid, so EVERY person in the country can have the adequate quality of life they deserve.
Sign this petition to join the fight and help to #breakthepovertycycle
Ikea is trialling an on-line marketplace where customers can connect to buy and sell pre-owned items made by the Swedish furniture manufacturer.
The marketplace, called Ikea Preowned, will run until December and be centered on the cities of Oslo, Norway and Madrid, Spain, according to emailed comments by Tolga Oncu, the head of retail at Ingka Group, the group’s largest franchisee.
The venture into the so-called circular economy comes as the maker of billy bookshelves aims to become climate-positive by the end of this decade.
The investment arm of Ingka has also invested heavily in renewable energy as it seeks to slash emissions along its value chain.
While the pilot platform will be free for customers to use initially, “eventually we could charge a symbolic fee,” a spokesperson for the retailer said.
The roll out of the online marketplace was earlier reported by The Financial Times.
Lawrence Barker says he's frustrated that cashiers at major grocery stores he shops at no longer voluntarily bag his goods.
Barker finds bagging a hassle, as he feels pressured to quickly pack items into his reusable bags before the next customer's goods slide down the conveyor belt.
So he opts for self-checkout, where he can bag at a leisurely pace.
"I am not rushed and haggard and I'm not having all my groceries all piled up like a traffic jam," said Barker, who lives just outside Fenelon, Ont., a rural community near Peterborough. "I go to self checkout just to avoid the stress."
Scotty McCreery paused his concert to help one concertgoer.
The former American Idol winner stopped singing when he saw a man allegedly assault a woman in the audience at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo, Colo., on Saturday, Aug. 24.
Concertgoer Jessica Rosario posted a video that showed McCreery, 30, pausing the show at the beginning of his “It Matters To Her" performance.
“Scotty was talking about his wife [Gabi Dugal's] favorite song in this video,” Rosario exclusively tells PEOPLE. “As he started to sing, he noticed a man who allegedly hit a female and stopped the show and had him removed by security.”
A representative for McCreery tells PEOPLE the singer has declined to comment on the incident.
https://ca.yahoo.com/news/scotty-mccreery-stops-concert-seeing-041022968.html
My opinion: That's good to intervene and stop bad behavior.
Self- love is a journey
You don't have to answer your question before you find love
You don't have to be perfect before you start
You don't have to have all the answers, before you start
You can and should seek answers to your question, and actively find love
