It’s certainly no surprise that when it comes to large corporations or chains, there are many, many layers of disconnect between the highest of executives and their minimum wage workers on the floor.
This disconnect was shown no better than via a nasty email sent out by an Applebee’s executive explaining how to further exploit the restaurant’s employees. Thankfully, said employees weren’t standing for it, and a mass resignation took place when they saw what the higher-ups thought of them.
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Last week, a vile email between Applebee execs got leaked.
The email discussed why the rising gas prices could be good for the company. They recognize that “most” of their employees live paycheck to paycheck, and as such, higher gas prices mean those employees will have to come in and work more hours.
The email also encourages “hiring employees in at a lower wage”.
Unsurprisingly, people were shocked and appalled at the way these higher-ups were thinking of and treating the largest part of their workforce. Among those disgusted were those workers the email spoke of, and at one Applebee’s location, an employee decided to take action.
Jake Holcomb works as a shift manager at an Applebee’s in Lawrence, Kansas.
When he came in to have a meal with a friend recently, the friend asked if he’d seen the email. He hadn’t, so the friend showed him.
He quit on the spot, immediately deciding he wasn’t doing to tolerate this kind of abuse. Before he left the building, he printed out about two dozen stacks of the email and stuck them around the restaurant. On tables, on the bar, on the doors, everywhere.
“I gave everyone in the restaurant their food for free. We didn’t even close the store,” Holcomb told Vice .
Holcomb quitting triggered a mass resignation.
Within the next week, fourteen employees either quit on the spot or handed in resignations, citing the email as a “breaking point.”
“This was kind of a straw that broke the camel’s back situation where everyone was feeling unappreciated [and] we were understaffed,” said Adrian Kelley, a bartender and server at the same Applebee’s, who quit Monday. “And then this email was so atrocious that it kind of just tipped everyone over the edge.”
The email even prompted managers to quit right then and there.
Former manager Jenna Willis was furious at the email.
“Oh my gosh, I was so mad. 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.” After that, the store shut down for many hours.
“How can we continue to work for a company that doesn’t care about us?”
The real-world effect this email has had was far from what Applebee’s expected.
The brand has certainly done its damage control, reportedly terminating the executive that sent the email, Wayne Pankratz, and assuring people that his statements were “the opinion of an individual, not Applebee’s.”
h/t: Vice
