It’s posts like this that make me think we need a community effort to raise awareness for the places that treat their employees well. I’d love to take my business to those establishments, but a lot of the time you just don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.
Don't go to Trappeze or South then if you want to support companies that care for employees. they have a history of firing workers for absolutely no reason, overworking the managers and then firing them once they make one slip-up. 4 people were fired there for no reason other than being on the bad side of the assistant manager (tara) recently, and that is far from the first time it's happened. they take people who essentially dedicate their lives to the company and then fire them like it's nothing. a guy I know basically worked 2 months without a break, organized and deep-cleaned the bar to make it what it is now, and was set to become FOH manager the next day, and then they fired him for enjoying a drink that he paid for after he clocked out.
When they (Trapeze) bought Hot Corner Coffee out, they told us all they wanted to keep Hot Corner just as it was but wanted to serve better coffee. They had all of us train the new owners in coffee stuff, then they fired us all without telling most of us. They just shut and locked the doors one day; changing the name, remodeling and hiring all new staff.
I say this as a life long Athenian and restaurant worker so please don't be offended, but I really do not think people would continue to patronize union restaurants. The companies/individuals that own them would pass every bit of the expense on to the guests. I have worked for big profitable companies and small business owners that I promise you would rather completely leave this market. It sucks but I have tally given up hope of it ever getting better.
So what's your plan? You gonna keep standing on the corner with your hand out? Why don't you open your own business and live these ideals and values? Instead of planning to pout until the mean ole owner's give you your way. I'm sure you have a working knowledge of how to find rental space/ real estate. If you can do that you'll know how to get an LLC, apply for business loans, acquire other means of financing to get started.... Then you just need to create a menu, a brand, market said brand, keep the doors open long enough to turn a profit... Usually takes about 3 years in my experience. You can even start a union and staff your business from said union.
>I'm sure you have a working knowledge of how to find rental space/ real estate. If you can do that you'll know how to get an LLC, apply for business loans, acquire other means of financing to get started
Well, I sure do! And at every business I've started, and subsequently sold, I've made sure that my team is taken care of, paid well, and given the same considerations that someone in a white collar job would receive in terms of days off, unplanned absences, etc. And guess what? I've never had an employee quit for any reason other than getting a big opportunity elsewhere, often after I wrote them a letter of recommendation for that job.
If you trust in and take care of your people, everything else just falls into place.
Unfortunately, a free market economy doesn’t encourage ethical entrepreneurship. We rely on government and unions for worker protections. Without unions we’d have kids working in factories and people working for scrip at the company store.
Love the lightning-fast transition from “yeah it sucks, it’d be great if workers were treated better but it’s just not practical” to “quit begging for handouts from hard-pressed and socially superior owners, who do all the work really.” It’s like the owner of Clocked found ChatGPT, and ran it twice.
That's the plan. No one ever got rich working for someone else. I work 50 plus hour weeks and take two college courses at a time. I am saving everything I can. I'll finish an associate's degree this summer and I'll have enough saved to make a start. My goal is to be self employed by my 39th birthday. So I have about 3.5 years to make it happen.
People have been telling me some version of that my whole life. No matter what my goals were. I'll go ahead and let you know we won't be interested in you champ.
Well I changed my tune. You are exactly the scrappy underdog from all the hallmark movies. I know you are going to make it, because after all you believe in yourself. The world rewards honest hard work and so obviously you are going to be successful. I just hope by the time you’re rich and famous you will have been able to find it in your brave, salt-of-the-earth heart to forgive little old me and possibly break me off an entry level position in your blooming empire. And never sell that beat up old pickup, because it’s a reminder of where you came from.
You're hilarious if you think restaurant workers have start up money. Truly, you must love the taste of boots in your mouth 😂 go ahead and give the workers the cash to start a restaurant then, since ya know so much.
This is such a bummer to hear about the experience on your end and I’m happy y’all are speaking up. Clocked was one of my fav spots back in the day (to the point that in the last year when I had a very brief chance to show Athens to my partner, it’s where we stopped for late lunch/early dinner but I could *tell* that the staff was stressed - and the food was still amazing but this was back in early October, so bless you for trying for so much longer) and I just really, really hope someone stands the fuck up to take care like they should. This is one of the spots that I’d consider an local institution, which means take care of your people first because they are the foundation for the rest
I don't know y'all and unfortunately I doubt I've ever been there, but major respect as someone whos briefly been through a period where my coworkers and I discussed walking out. It's gotten much better since, thankfully and I hope y'all get what y'all want. Solidarity forever!
Restaurants are making less than ever before. Record high food, labor and insurance costs plus the challenge of building a dependable workforce. I don’t know that anyone could afford to raise the funds to open a new restaurant and even if they did the current interest rates would swallow any profits.
I worked there years ago. A walkout was organized when I worked there too. We were put on server wages, AND tip share,which in 2010 or so was like $2.75 / hour, then the owner was dipping his hand into our tip jar and looked at us and said “I gotta get paid too or you have no place to work.”
Once worked a week of double shifts and got a like $16 on my check. Went to the owner, who was also manager, to complain and he fired me for being “bad at math.”
I can’t say I wasn’t warned by a lot of ex employees when I applied though. So I guess it’s a decades old tradition. Beware working in any downtown Athens historic business. It’s cool place to work, but don’t count on good treatment. Terrible labor laws and insane downtown business rent makes fools of us all.
NOT SUPRISED THIS IS HAPPENING!
I worked there for 2 or 3 years in the late aughts, back of house (Spring Tigers era). Because he knew it was a cool place to work and dine, the owner
was quite at home with the staff and often took on a chummy casual register. This would occasionally turn into teasing, then eventually outright bullying. He introduced me to the term "skullfucking" and said I had a 'shit-eating smile'.
Also can confirm he often grabbed from the tips and paychecks were sometimes like 2 weeks late. There's more, worse stuff but maybe I'll hold back until the article comes out.
Everyone either quit or got fired, it was rare to leave on good terms. I had love for the coworkers and the food. I removed myself from the schedule after the owner fired a friend without warning.
I think we worked there at the same time. But yeah, all this stuff is true I can confirm. I just hope this current team actually goes to the department of labor about things. Otherwise nothing but the article happens and is later forgotten next semester. Labor laws need to change in Georgia and it doesn’t start without the department of labor getting involved and keeping records.
This is around the time I worked there too! I just remembered going to deposit my paycheck one time and it bounced. Everyone on staff was coaching each other on how to navigate around stuff like this. I started just getting the check cashed and found another job soon after that.
Check out the reddit r/antiwork. I'm pretty sure its illegal for an owner to steal tips, they have a lot of posts about this and can give you resources to go after them legally.
Well what were the unsanitary conditions? Were people at risk of food poisoning?
Edit: on second thought, save the stories for the newspaper or a lawyer if it's that bad. If 16 to 17 people left it probably is. Good luck and fuck any shifty working conditions.
Yes, precisely. We were riding the high of actually putting ourselves out there and doing this, and now that there's people covering the story we wanna stay on the low.
At the end of the day, we all just lost our jobs. Now all we can do is look for more, and wait for the press to put out what happened. Until then! Stay tuned 😁
If it makes the press could you post a link, I'd love to know what happened. I'm also so sorry you're all out of a job and even more sorry you weren't treated well.
I’m not trying to be rude here but I’m thinking you’re not familiar with negotiating. If the employees trap up there is room for improvement. If they go spilling the tea they have no room to go back if conditions improved.
Pretty much every time someone has dragged me into Clocked I’ve seen roaches. And if I can see them as a customer god only knows how bad they are in the kitchen. 🤢🤮
That's all I've heard as well, power to the workers though. 16 people don't walk off the job unless the conditions are truly abysmal, not in the anti-labor South for sure.
*Looks at some of the people on the other post about Creature Comforts unionizing*
“Well let’s not rush to conclusions! Maybe there is a perfectly reasonable explanation or the workers are just selfish or something”
The instagram story I saw from a worker said "we all just quit our job at clocked because of the continuous unfair treatment from our boss", which is pretty concise and awesome imo.
I don't need any answers, just think it's awesome y'all walked. I liked the food, but I've only been twice since Covid began. If it was bad enough to walk, more power to y'all.
a paper contacted us shortly after it happened! im reluctant to answer until they post their story. if they leave out important details someone will probably post on here.
i wasnt thinking with the original comment, i realized we shouldnt talk about it until the article is published hence my second statement. if the article doesnt cover it all we will release more details but we are trying to be professional about this :’) its been an big day
I'm hoping that the press has changed in Athens since I lived there a few years ago, but from past experience of living there for over 10+ years, they were never reliable. Seemed like they struggled often with getting facts straight. One thing I've learned it's best to hear it straight from "the horses mouth".
I've only eaten there once, not too long ago, actually, and it was good... Totally believe the workers, though! I'm also industry, and... Aha, I can't get into the details now, but I do *not* like how I've been treated where I am now. By the main manager; other coworkers are great.
I'd gladly donate to an Athens Servers Union. I don't know how to run a union, but If people walk out and strike united with other restaurants, it's hard to imagine we'd lose. Everyone would have to demand representation of the same union for collective donations, no one can do it all on their own. We'd have to raise seed funds so people can strike; a gofund me or some other crowed funding source. Might not even need to strike if the donations get up high enough and the owners realize who has the power. They're interest is in minimizing the financial damage to their business.
I can help connect you with union resources if you’d like! You already have the solidarity it seems. That’s the hardest part of getting a union drive going.
I’ve got to think that it would be really difficult to get an effective union going in a college town. Every year there’s a fresh batch of potential workers coming to town looking for exactly that type of work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not discouraging it. I’d love to see it. But seems even harder than regular organization, which is extremely difficult.
The academic cycle is 4 years and we have a townie population in this industry too. Some workers leave. New ones come in and join the union. Once it’s established it can keep going. Not saying there will never be an exodus situation, but it’s absolutely feasible and sustainable overall.
I think they're a bit optimistic on how practical it would be.... it would be extremely tough to maintain a union with such a large transient population of students. Too bad Athens can't pass a local ordinance to raise minimum wage and/or benefits.
I hope it wouldn't just included downtown. Right now I like my job, we're staffed well, etc but I've also been here for times where coworkers and I have discussed walking out and I'd like what a union could offer truth be told.
Not like it’s completely unexpected tbh but it’s pretty rare that something like that would happen, so inherently stunning.
I liked it a lot when I was there . Although it was kind of a golden era and I was in a pretty nice position so it was good. I was there for 3 years, money was great for food service.
Of course I had hilarious horror stories of ownership etc, but it was more eccentric than horrific at the time.
I do remember the crew of people who were leaving as I was coming in being particularly disdainful of the owner to an almost comical degree. I liked the guy, but definitely knew how to navigate it.
Hmm yea sometimes it feels like this new crop of young service workers have a shorter fuse for... I guess bs? Not saying that’s positive or negative, just an observation. Either way it’s not easy to accomplish walk outs and that type of thing. I’m Curious to see this article about it all.
I want to hear the direct tale from people who worked there. There were still people working there who I hired back in the day. I can totally imagine the behavior being way more extreme now than it was. In order to inspire the walk out.
All I’ll say is that Dave and Lisa have been so much more active at the restaurant in the last six months, with Lisa shift leading for a very short while and then becoming a manager and working 3-4 shifts each week and Dave being around almost every single day.
Oh damn, those poor bastards. Definitely been there. Could you imagine owning your own business and the more time you spend there the less things go well and the less people want to work there? I do feel for them, and can sympathize with their desire to want to be hands-on, but when I was there the periods of time where they would not show up were always the best. It would come in waves. Two weeks of autonomous, paradise, and then two weeks of him being there every day as the stressed out milkshake police, compulsively measuring scoop amounts, trying to see where all the profits are going. When I first started working there, there was so much employee theft that I thought it must’ve been sanctioned, and they were just very generous employers. It was so rampant. I once had a host ask me if she could make FOUR free milkshakes for her and her friends. When I said, no, she was shocked, disgusted, and called me a bitch lol
To the owners, I’m like, you should chill, you have no idea how much worse it was when everyone hated your guts.
Eventually because of all the policing and stress, people started hating their guts again and the whole thing deteriorated. Being a leader can be difficult
Hey guys, just a quick update!
If you stand with us, do us a favor and make that known on the Flagpole Favorites voting. Whether you don't vote at all, or vote for a different burger joint doesn't matter, but the people need to know that they no longer deserve that title.
They also now have job postings up on Indeed that not only show that they've knocked down the base pay for all employees, but that they offer dental and Healthcare.
This is a lie. I, nor any of my coworkers were ever offered any kind of health benefits.
You may have not been offered benefits but they may now be doing it in light of what happened and as a way to incentivize the hiring of new workers. If the very vague things on this thread are as bad as they seem, management/owners will have to make major changes immediately if they hope to survive.
As someone who worked there, I highly doubt it. They lowered their wages, and are scrambling. Trying to introduce Healthcare isn't going to be a top priority.
Curious if this post has been hidden from the sub. Anyone else see it when looking at r/Athens? I don't see it, no matter how I sort the posts.
Edit: Seems to still be visible, but now I have a followup question. Is there a way to not automatically hide posts you upvote?
Residential rents have doubled in Athens over the last few years (5 years by my direct experience). Wages have not. Workers need more money now, just to be as poor as they used to be. The businesses are likely feeling the loss of disposable income too since a lot of (most of?) Athenians (their customers) rent.
That is probably evidence of terrible leadership tbh. When management doesn’t have systems properly in place it’s difficult to run a tight restaurant. I don’t have firsthand knowledge obviously but just want to make sure we’re not throwing service staff under the bus here
I feel like this bit of comic relief is getting unfairly down voted by overly serious people. Walkouts are dope, these workers are rad, but this joke can also be funny.
Y’all should get the baller of the work force to challenge him to a 1 on 1. If y’all win then Daves gotta sell the place and leave town, if Dave wins y’all gotta leave town. Fair is fair
I haven’t heard any update either, however the last time I went there was ATH Fest 2019 . The waitress on duty said my daughter and I couldn’t use their bathroom and instead it was for customers only. Mind you she said this in front of everyone in there & I was stunned at her response bc I just was not expecting that! Baby girl had to have her diaper changed and it was my first time I had found myself in that situation (in my life) and didn’t have my vehicle around. I was so ashamed as a mother and embarrassed bc I guess being refused-that I cried ! I changed her in between two cars parked outside 40 watt. My toddler said “Mommy you’re sweating from your eyes!” It def got my personality back on but Clocked- haven’t been back since!!
It’s posts like this that make me think we need a community effort to raise awareness for the places that treat their employees well. I’d love to take my business to those establishments, but a lot of the time you just don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.
Don't go to Trappeze or South then if you want to support companies that care for employees. they have a history of firing workers for absolutely no reason, overworking the managers and then firing them once they make one slip-up. 4 people were fired there for no reason other than being on the bad side of the assistant manager (tara) recently, and that is far from the first time it's happened. they take people who essentially dedicate their lives to the company and then fire them like it's nothing. a guy I know basically worked 2 months without a break, organized and deep-cleaned the bar to make it what it is now, and was set to become FOH manager the next day, and then they fired him for enjoying a drink that he paid for after he clocked out.
When they (Trapeze) bought Hot Corner Coffee out, they told us all they wanted to keep Hot Corner just as it was but wanted to serve better coffee. They had all of us train the new owners in coffee stuff, then they fired us all without telling most of us. They just shut and locked the doors one day; changing the name, remodeling and hiring all new staff.
Our restaurant employees need to unionize and we need to support their efforts as a community.
10000% this. An injury to one is an injury to all.
Definitely need to involve ACC department of Labor.
I say this as a life long Athenian and restaurant worker so please don't be offended, but I really do not think people would continue to patronize union restaurants. The companies/individuals that own them would pass every bit of the expense on to the guests. I have worked for big profitable companies and small business owners that I promise you would rather completely leave this market. It sucks but I have tally given up hope of it ever getting better.
Great, then people can make that choice. Eating out is an choice, not a mandate. Paying people a living wage (should be) a mandate, not a choice.
Then go stand in the corner doing nothing and don’t stand in our way.
So what's your plan? You gonna keep standing on the corner with your hand out? Why don't you open your own business and live these ideals and values? Instead of planning to pout until the mean ole owner's give you your way. I'm sure you have a working knowledge of how to find rental space/ real estate. If you can do that you'll know how to get an LLC, apply for business loans, acquire other means of financing to get started.... Then you just need to create a menu, a brand, market said brand, keep the doors open long enough to turn a profit... Usually takes about 3 years in my experience. You can even start a union and staff your business from said union.
>I'm sure you have a working knowledge of how to find rental space/ real estate. If you can do that you'll know how to get an LLC, apply for business loans, acquire other means of financing to get started Well, I sure do! And at every business I've started, and subsequently sold, I've made sure that my team is taken care of, paid well, and given the same considerations that someone in a white collar job would receive in terms of days off, unplanned absences, etc. And guess what? I've never had an employee quit for any reason other than getting a big opportunity elsewhere, often after I wrote them a letter of recommendation for that job. If you trust in and take care of your people, everything else just falls into place.
That's exactly my point. More people becoming ethical entrepreneurs is the answer.
Unfortunately, a free market economy doesn’t encourage ethical entrepreneurship. We rely on government and unions for worker protections. Without unions we’d have kids working in factories and people working for scrip at the company store.
Love the lightning-fast transition from “yeah it sucks, it’d be great if workers were treated better but it’s just not practical” to “quit begging for handouts from hard-pressed and socially superior owners, who do all the work really.” It’s like the owner of Clocked found ChatGPT, and ran it twice.
Lol right? Showed their cards pretty quick.
You should start your own restaurant. You clearly share a fondness for the taste of boot.
That's the plan. No one ever got rich working for someone else. I work 50 plus hour weeks and take two college courses at a time. I am saving everything I can. I'll finish an associate's degree this summer and I'll have enough saved to make a start. My goal is to be self employed by my 39th birthday. So I have about 3.5 years to make it happen.
It’s not going to happen for you sport.
People have been telling me some version of that my whole life. No matter what my goals were. I'll go ahead and let you know we won't be interested in you champ.
Well I changed my tune. You are exactly the scrappy underdog from all the hallmark movies. I know you are going to make it, because after all you believe in yourself. The world rewards honest hard work and so obviously you are going to be successful. I just hope by the time you’re rich and famous you will have been able to find it in your brave, salt-of-the-earth heart to forgive little old me and possibly break me off an entry level position in your blooming empire. And never sell that beat up old pickup, because it’s a reminder of where you came from.
You're hilarious if you think restaurant workers have start up money. Truly, you must love the taste of boots in your mouth 😂 go ahead and give the workers the cash to start a restaurant then, since ya know so much.
When I open for business you're welcome to come apply sport.
The Athens-Clarke county department of labor is that community effort. People really need to get them involved.
We are up to 17 now 🥳🥳🥳
We're now 19 strong 😁 thank you all for your support!
This is such a bummer to hear about the experience on your end and I’m happy y’all are speaking up. Clocked was one of my fav spots back in the day (to the point that in the last year when I had a very brief chance to show Athens to my partner, it’s where we stopped for late lunch/early dinner but I could *tell* that the staff was stressed - and the food was still amazing but this was back in early October, so bless you for trying for so much longer) and I just really, really hope someone stands the fuck up to take care like they should. This is one of the spots that I’d consider an local institution, which means take care of your people first because they are the foundation for the rest
I don't know y'all and unfortunately I doubt I've ever been there, but major respect as someone whos briefly been through a period where my coworkers and I discussed walking out. It's gotten much better since, thankfully and I hope y'all get what y'all want. Solidarity forever!
Open your own restaurant. You've already got the compelling founding mythos for your new business. My wife suggests "Clocked Out".
One of our people that walked out has been calling the movement "Clocked Out" since we decided to do this 😉 your wife has good taste in naming things
My fried chicken joint is next door, “cocked out”
You sure that’s not just those people having sex behind Mags?
Breh, “Clocked In” Black Flag and all.
>My wife suggests "Clocked Out". YES!!!
Restaurants are making less than ever before. Record high food, labor and insurance costs plus the challenge of building a dependable workforce. I don’t know that anyone could afford to raise the funds to open a new restaurant and even if they did the current interest rates would swallow any profits.
I worked there years ago. A walkout was organized when I worked there too. We were put on server wages, AND tip share,which in 2010 or so was like $2.75 / hour, then the owner was dipping his hand into our tip jar and looked at us and said “I gotta get paid too or you have no place to work.” Once worked a week of double shifts and got a like $16 on my check. Went to the owner, who was also manager, to complain and he fired me for being “bad at math.” I can’t say I wasn’t warned by a lot of ex employees when I applied though. So I guess it’s a decades old tradition. Beware working in any downtown Athens historic business. It’s cool place to work, but don’t count on good treatment. Terrible labor laws and insane downtown business rent makes fools of us all.
NOT SUPRISED THIS IS HAPPENING! I worked there for 2 or 3 years in the late aughts, back of house (Spring Tigers era). Because he knew it was a cool place to work and dine, the owner was quite at home with the staff and often took on a chummy casual register. This would occasionally turn into teasing, then eventually outright bullying. He introduced me to the term "skullfucking" and said I had a 'shit-eating smile'. Also can confirm he often grabbed from the tips and paychecks were sometimes like 2 weeks late. There's more, worse stuff but maybe I'll hold back until the article comes out. Everyone either quit or got fired, it was rare to leave on good terms. I had love for the coworkers and the food. I removed myself from the schedule after the owner fired a friend without warning.
I think we worked there at the same time. But yeah, all this stuff is true I can confirm. I just hope this current team actually goes to the department of labor about things. Otherwise nothing but the article happens and is later forgotten next semester. Labor laws need to change in Georgia and it doesn’t start without the department of labor getting involved and keeping records.
This is around the time I worked there too! I just remembered going to deposit my paycheck one time and it bounced. Everyone on staff was coaching each other on how to navigate around stuff like this. I started just getting the check cashed and found another job soon after that.
Check out the reddit r/antiwork. I'm pretty sure its illegal for an owner to steal tips, they have a lot of posts about this and can give you resources to go after them legally.
Owners and managers can't participate in tip sharing.
The likelihood of anything happening years after the fact is pretty much zero, unfortunately.
Also one of em, feel free to ask questions :)
Well what were the unsanitary conditions? Were people at risk of food poisoning? Edit: on second thought, save the stories for the newspaper or a lawyer if it's that bad. If 16 to 17 people left it probably is. Good luck and fuck any shifty working conditions.
Asking them to answer questions like this publicly could open them to liability.
Yes, precisely. We were riding the high of actually putting ourselves out there and doing this, and now that there's people covering the story we wanna stay on the low. At the end of the day, we all just lost our jobs. Now all we can do is look for more, and wait for the press to put out what happened. Until then! Stay tuned 😁
If it makes the press could you post a link, I'd love to know what happened. I'm also so sorry you're all out of a job and even more sorry you weren't treated well.
Could you update us when/where a good coverage comes out
Not if its true.
I’m not trying to be rude here but I’m thinking you’re not familiar with negotiating. If the employees trap up there is room for improvement. If they go spilling the tea they have no room to go back if conditions improved.
Oh you sweet summer child. Bless your heart.
Please leave my idealistic innocence alone sir!🤣
Hence why I edited my comment.
Pretty much every time someone has dragged me into Clocked I’ve seen roaches. And if I can see them as a customer god only knows how bad they are in the kitchen. 🤢🤮
my friend and i took a picture for y’all today haha. we were so confused
Thank you!!! We really appreciate it 😁
That's all I've heard as well, power to the workers though. 16 people don't walk off the job unless the conditions are truly abysmal, not in the anti-labor South for sure.
*Looks at some of the people on the other post about Creature Comforts unionizing* “Well let’s not rush to conclusions! Maybe there is a perfectly reasonable explanation or the workers are just selfish or something”
there’s no arguing with them types.
There’s a new post about CC ownership still not recognizing the union and the pro-ownership contingency is out in full force and angry as ever.
Anen. Didn't know it was that bad. Oh well, time to try a new burger place!
The instagram story I saw from a worker said "we all just quit our job at clocked because of the continuous unfair treatment from our boss", which is pretty concise and awesome imo.
I’m one of them :) what do you want to know
I don't need any answers, just think it's awesome y'all walked. I liked the food, but I've only been twice since Covid began. If it was bad enough to walk, more power to y'all.
if anything is missed in the paper we are all very willing to spill :’)
When is the story coming out?
Following on this as well.
Just what made all of you quit? Spill the dirt :)
a paper contacted us shortly after it happened! im reluctant to answer until they post their story. if they leave out important details someone will probably post on here.
Understood. And as other people said, more power to y'all
[удалено]
i wasnt thinking with the original comment, i realized we shouldnt talk about it until the article is published hence my second statement. if the article doesnt cover it all we will release more details but we are trying to be professional about this :’) its been an big day
What paper should we be looking out for?
one of the local papers! whether student run.. or others, we will talk to whoever :)
better question, why give all the power to the press?
Maybe because the community may respect and trust a less-involved third party to report the news in a reliable way
I'm hoping that the press has changed in Athens since I lived there a few years ago, but from past experience of living there for over 10+ years, they were never reliable. Seemed like they struggled often with getting facts straight. One thing I've learned it's best to hear it straight from "the horses mouth".
I worked there many years ago. There’s a reason they have so much staff turn over. I’m pumped to see someone taking a stand about it.
Damn I love that place. But I love people feeling safe and having rights even more. Hope they fix their shit. and do the right thing
I've only eaten there once, not too long ago, actually, and it was good... Totally believe the workers, though! I'm also industry, and... Aha, I can't get into the details now, but I do *not* like how I've been treated where I am now. By the main manager; other coworkers are great.
I wish there could be a union for all service staff downtown.
I'd gladly donate to an Athens Servers Union. I don't know how to run a union, but If people walk out and strike united with other restaurants, it's hard to imagine we'd lose. Everyone would have to demand representation of the same union for collective donations, no one can do it all on their own. We'd have to raise seed funds so people can strike; a gofund me or some other crowed funding source. Might not even need to strike if the donations get up high enough and the owners realize who has the power. They're interest is in minimizing the financial damage to their business.
I can help connect you with union resources if you’d like! You already have the solidarity it seems. That’s the hardest part of getting a union drive going.
DM me brah
It'd be fun trying to watch restaurants/bars attempt to staff an establishment with only people that could pass that union drug test. 😂
I didn't realize drug testing was legally required for unions.
It's not.
I’ve got to think that it would be really difficult to get an effective union going in a college town. Every year there’s a fresh batch of potential workers coming to town looking for exactly that type of work. Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not discouraging it. I’d love to see it. But seems even harder than regular organization, which is extremely difficult.
The academic cycle is 4 years and we have a townie population in this industry too. Some workers leave. New ones come in and join the union. Once it’s established it can keep going. Not saying there will never be an exodus situation, but it’s absolutely feasible and sustainable overall.
Yeah I’m in favor of unions but there’d always be a fresh batch of scabs coming in
If you join the workplace you get to choose to join the union.
I think they're a bit optimistic on how practical it would be.... it would be extremely tough to maintain a union with such a large transient population of students. Too bad Athens can't pass a local ordinance to raise minimum wage and/or benefits.
Not just downtown but county wide. Baristas too.
I hope it wouldn't just included downtown. Right now I like my job, we're staffed well, etc but I've also been here for times where coworkers and I have discussed walking out and I'd like what a union could offer truth be told.
Hahahahaha fuck Dave Zwardt
Is that the owner?
Judging by the downvotes to this question, I'm guessing he's here in the room with us.
Yeah he’s dirty and disheveled and acts like a big paranoid baby. The only thing bigger than his nose are his ego and his debts.
Picking on someone’s physical appearance is kinda wack. Can’t speak to your other points.
I worked there for 3 years. I’m pretty stunned by this
Like surprised cuz it must’ve gotten worse or something? I had a roommate/friend work there a while, he seemed to like it
Not like it’s completely unexpected tbh but it’s pretty rare that something like that would happen, so inherently stunning. I liked it a lot when I was there . Although it was kind of a golden era and I was in a pretty nice position so it was good. I was there for 3 years, money was great for food service. Of course I had hilarious horror stories of ownership etc, but it was more eccentric than horrific at the time. I do remember the crew of people who were leaving as I was coming in being particularly disdainful of the owner to an almost comical degree. I liked the guy, but definitely knew how to navigate it.
Hmm yea sometimes it feels like this new crop of young service workers have a shorter fuse for... I guess bs? Not saying that’s positive or negative, just an observation. Either way it’s not easy to accomplish walk outs and that type of thing. I’m Curious to see this article about it all.
I want to hear the direct tale from people who worked there. There were still people working there who I hired back in the day. I can totally imagine the behavior being way more extreme now than it was. In order to inspire the walk out.
All I’ll say is that Dave and Lisa have been so much more active at the restaurant in the last six months, with Lisa shift leading for a very short while and then becoming a manager and working 3-4 shifts each week and Dave being around almost every single day.
Oh damn, those poor bastards. Definitely been there. Could you imagine owning your own business and the more time you spend there the less things go well and the less people want to work there? I do feel for them, and can sympathize with their desire to want to be hands-on, but when I was there the periods of time where they would not show up were always the best. It would come in waves. Two weeks of autonomous, paradise, and then two weeks of him being there every day as the stressed out milkshake police, compulsively measuring scoop amounts, trying to see where all the profits are going. When I first started working there, there was so much employee theft that I thought it must’ve been sanctioned, and they were just very generous employers. It was so rampant. I once had a host ask me if she could make FOUR free milkshakes for her and her friends. When I said, no, she was shocked, disgusted, and called me a bitch lol To the owners, I’m like, you should chill, you have no idea how much worse it was when everyone hated your guts. Eventually because of all the policing and stress, people started hating their guts again and the whole thing deteriorated. Being a leader can be difficult
Dang that’s crazy that’s my favorite burger joint in Athens
Mine too.
I hope it wasn't unsanitary. I just ate there last week.
If your guts didnt tell u it was, I think you’re okay:)
ive got some bad news
Hey guys, just a quick update! If you stand with us, do us a favor and make that known on the Flagpole Favorites voting. Whether you don't vote at all, or vote for a different burger joint doesn't matter, but the people need to know that they no longer deserve that title. They also now have job postings up on Indeed that not only show that they've knocked down the base pay for all employees, but that they offer dental and Healthcare. This is a lie. I, nor any of my coworkers were ever offered any kind of health benefits.
You may have not been offered benefits but they may now be doing it in light of what happened and as a way to incentivize the hiring of new workers. If the very vague things on this thread are as bad as they seem, management/owners will have to make major changes immediately if they hope to survive.
As someone who worked there, I highly doubt it. They lowered their wages, and are scrambling. Trying to introduce Healthcare isn't going to be a top priority.
Curious if this post has been hidden from the sub. Anyone else see it when looking at r/Athens? I don't see it, no matter how I sort the posts. Edit: Seems to still be visible, but now I have a followup question. Is there a way to not automatically hide posts you upvote?
Shows up for me in the New and Hot tabs.
Came up in my Home feed.
Any update on this? Did anyone find the news article?
Article isn’t out yet. We’ll update on this thread and on the subreddit when it drops.
I was just there Sunday
Sunday afternoon was when we all decided
Guess I shouldn’t have asked for extra napkins… jokes aside hope y’all get what you deserve
Clocked is "urgently hiring." https://i.postimg.cc/yNtbyDZy/Screenshot-2023-01-25-at-12-32-29-AM.png
Where was that listing found?
Indeed
No one wants to work anymore Edit: /s for cryin out loud
...for business that don't want to treat people with respect. There fixed it for you
👢 👅
They were all working. People want to be treated fairly and paid a living wage at thier jobs.
Residential rents have doubled in Athens over the last few years (5 years by my direct experience). Wages have not. Workers need more money now, just to be as poor as they used to be. The businesses are likely feeling the loss of disposable income too since a lot of (most of?) Athenians (their customers) rent.
Anyways
Ate there once and service was slow af. Took 1.5 hrs to get our food. Fuck that place.
That is probably evidence of terrible leadership tbh. When management doesn’t have systems properly in place it’s difficult to run a tight restaurant. I don’t have firsthand knowledge obviously but just want to make sure we’re not throwing service staff under the bus here
They might also have been understaffed.
Which, to be clear, is a management problem
The employees miss your patronage, I'm sure.
Lol
Hey say what you want about Dave but he is a legend at making three-point shots. Once he hit almost 100 in a row, the dude can ball.
I feel like this bit of comic relief is getting unfairly down voted by overly serious people. Walkouts are dope, these workers are rad, but this joke can also be funny.
💀
He's like 6'5", it'd be embarrassing if he couldn't ☠
Y’all should get the baller of the work force to challenge him to a 1 on 1. If y’all win then Daves gotta sell the place and leave town, if Dave wins y’all gotta leave town. Fair is fair
As a former middle school basketball player, I think I can take Dave on. (I’m 5’6”)
I mean unsanitary conditions is on the employees, no?
TomorrowZ WeaponZ, if you know, you know 😂
I haven’t heard any update either, however the last time I went there was ATH Fest 2019 . The waitress on duty said my daughter and I couldn’t use their bathroom and instead it was for customers only. Mind you she said this in front of everyone in there & I was stunned at her response bc I just was not expecting that! Baby girl had to have her diaper changed and it was my first time I had found myself in that situation (in my life) and didn’t have my vehicle around. I was so ashamed as a mother and embarrassed bc I guess being refused-that I cried ! I changed her in between two cars parked outside 40 watt. My toddler said “Mommy you’re sweating from your eyes!” It def got my personality back on but Clocked- haven’t been back since!!