Bennigan's: Chapter 7

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

I should have known someone would try to defend the corporation.

WTF were the employees going to steal? Hamburger patties? Barstools? Starbucks better watch out, they gave plenty of advance warning, i guess their entire store locations will be disassembled and sold for scrap by departing employees.

Sometimes i just don't get you man.

You obviously have no experience with employee and vendor theft, which dwarf any kind of theft by customers.

Yes, employees and vendors will steal ANYTHING. You are absolutely clueless on this one. I don't even know where to begin with how little you know about some stuff you spout off on. Your views on visiting Vietnam sound intelligent and well-informed compared to this one.

[m21sniper]

I have been self employed for 10+ years and have had several employees in that time.

My father has been self employed for 30 years (first the bar business and now car sales) and i've worked for him in many capacities in that time, including the handling of hiring and firings.

So, care to guess again?

BTW: As several other security conscious posters posted in the Vietnam thread (F350 lawman and Seahawk to name a few that i recall off the top of my head), my views were completely sound in that thread. I even recieved several PMs from other Pelicans voicing support for my common sense observations. I simply stated facts and made some very painfully obvious observations in highlighting well known risks.

So stick that in your cornflakes and chew on it sports fan.

Originally Posted by ricklee

Yes, employees and vendors will steal ANYTHING.

Hire better people or don't treat them so poorly. No employee of mine has ever stolen anything from me that i know of. I have been ripped off by some employers though.

Originally Posted by corrected version

Yes, corporations will screw ANYONE.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by m21sniper

I have been self employed for 12 years and have had several employees in that time.

Care to guess again?

Sure, I'll guess what you posted above demonstrates you still have no idea what you're talking about wrt the restaurant business.

FWIW, there was a Bennigans in the mall in Springfield, VA. It was where all the servers from the other big local restaurants went to drink when they were off duty, since you're usually not allowed to even sit at the bar in a restaurant you work at, even when off duty - too likely the bartender will give you too much for free. (Are you getting this Sniper?) That Bennigans bar was just a huge free for all and everyone in the local restaurant biz knew it. The servers who worked there hooked all the other servers up from the other restaurants. I don't know how it went on for so long without anyone getting wise. But it was rampant. When I moonlit at the Bertucci's nearby, I never paid for anything after the first drink at that Bennigans. I didn't even know the people there. They just knew I was a server at Bertucci's.

[m21sniper]

My old man owned 3 bars and a nightclub (over the years) after he got off the police force.

I worked at all of them, in pretty much all capacities at one time or another.

Please do tell me about the 'restaurant business', since i am so totally clueless. If we were talking about architecture firms, you'd have me, i don't know squat about them, but i do know quite a little something about employees and the bar business.

As i said, hire better people and TREAT THEM WELL. A certain amount of theft is going to occur in any business, but this is no damn excuse for simply closing your doors and screwing every employee you have. When my old man closed his bars and moved to the automotive business nobody stole anything of any significant value off of him because he treated his employees well and kept them well informed. (in fact many of those same former employees still come to him to buy cars to this day)
Were some ashtrays stolen? Sure, who gives a crap, none of the liquor was. He gave quite a lot of it away though, to valued long time employees.

When you treat people like animals, they will act like them. Amazing that.

[Rick Lee]

I'm not defending how it works, just stating that's how it works and why it's that way.

Think about it. If you're a server or a cook in a restaurant and they tell you they're closing down on X date, what are the odds all the staff is going to keep coming to work until that day? How about zero? It's not like the salaried white collar world where people give two weeks or more notice and then collect their vacation pay. In fact, the only time I ever saw notice given in a restaurant is when students told the boss when they were going back to school. Vendor and employee theft doesn't mean the employees are treated poorly or even underpaid. It's just the nature of the business. I never felt mistreated or underpaid. I knew going in that servers got $2.10 per hour plus tips, which usually averaged out to $10 per hour or close to $100 per shift, plus a decent meal. You think I turned him down when the bar manager used to feed me beers in the parking lot when I was 18 or 19? He was stealing and, technically, I probably was too, not to mention putting their liquor license at risk. And I was one of the straighter arrows.

When I went to work at McConkey's and the doors were locked, I didn't even go home. I went to apply for jobs at three more restaurants. The last one I went to said they had nothing, but to fill out an application anyway. Five min. after I got home from that, the phone rang, they had just fired someone and asked me to come right back for dinner rush. So, although I was laid off and had never felt mistreated at that job, I basically missed not a single day's work and landed an even better job within a few hours. That was 18 yrs. ago and that restaurant is still there.

Sure, I've worked for some a$shole managers, but I never complained about the general restaurant business culture. I liked it. It's the customers I usually couldn't stand.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I'm not defending how it works, just stating that's how it works and why it's that way.

And i'm just saying it really sucks.

People treat you how you treat them, mostly. These big corporations treat their service staffs like total crap, and pay them accordingly. Of course these people will steal, not show up, show no pride in their work. It's a vicious cycle, but it starts at the top. These companies have the problems they do because of failures of foresight and leadership.

[Rick Lee]

And why would a company with severe financial problems be helping themselves by paying employees more than their competitors pay their employees? No one goes into the restaurant business because they want to be a career server or bus boy. People tend to fall into those jobs and leave as soon as something better comes along. Again, it's the nature of the business. Unless you studied hotel and restaurant mgt. in college, chances are you didn't grow up dreaming about working on the floor of any restaurant, owning one perhaps, not working the floor.

[scottmandue]

Oh sure I'm a famous actor but I'm just doing it until my dream job comes along... I want to be a waiter... I want to serve people... yes, people say I'm crazy bit someday I'm going to make it!

[m21sniper]

You may note that their competitors are not the ones going out of business now Rick.

I only employ 1 person in my business, but i treat him like a friend, and am treated as one in return. If i treated him like an Edited - language removed, Z-man, i am sure he would look for any chance to steal off me or not show up for work. In the bar business it's the same. And the auto sales bidness too. Same was the case in the Military, though you wouldn't treat someone as a friend necessarily as you would in civilian life, you would treat them with respect. Those NCO's or Officers that didn't were not respected in return, and were generally ineffective.

Maybe if Bennigans offered them severance pay the employees would still show up for work and not rob the place blind in the waning weeks of it's existence. Starbucks has announced it's closings well in advance, have all those sites seen extensive theft?

I honestly believe that your employees will treat you as you treat them. Just because people are poor doesn't mean anything. There are plenty of quite decent poor people.

[jyl]

Apples vs oranges.

Starbucks has to and is able to treat employees decently because Starbucks is staying in business. They are only closing a small percentage of underperforming stores. They'd like the better baristas and managers to come work at the 95% of stores that are staying open, they don't want customers to walk into a locked door, get pissed off, and start going to Peets (which any real coffee lover would do . . . ), and they are still very profitable and able to afford it.

Bennigans is going out of business, they don't care about their goodwill among employees or customers, and they have likely burned through their cash anyway. The only Bennigans that are staying open are the franchised ones, if the franchisees want to try and tough it out.