Manager fired for not opening on Thanksgiving

[Whiskey Tango]

Sounds like the parent company "persuaded" the chain to hiring the guy back. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that would NOT have happened if this hadn't made it into the news like it did.

The guy *was* insubordinate however, regardless of his intentions you can't do this kind of thing and not expect a reprimand. I've worked plenty of holidays, it sucks but w/e, life goes on.

 

[terry78]

Basically if you work at some penny ante place, expect to work on holidays. The companies that are more, for lack of a better term, white collar wouldn't dare do that.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

They are greedy...they are getting bad publicity. Wait until next year.

Also, I will be on the manager's side a bit more if everyone was told that they were going to have the day off and then that was switched later on.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

I am happy the situation worked out to the guy's favor. Cases such as this are going to become more common, with Black Friday moving into Thursday (what will that make it? Grey Thursday?) Again, trying to criticize the companies for doing this is criticizing the nature of Capitalism. Capitalism does not care for the family unit, history, or people in general; it's all about cutthroat commerce (which is why I will be snagging my iPod mini tomorrow.)

I support capitalism, but there is definitely an ugly dark side to it.

 

[cheungcheung]

Kmart has been open all day long on thanksgiving starting at 6am. At least Pizza Hut doesn't have those hours....

 

[Octoberist]

It shows how worst these companies are getting. Once they get an inch, they'll take a mile. Not so much Pizza Hut, but places like K-Mart or Wal Mart now. Black Friday is one thing but slowly through the years, it went from 5am to midnight, to 10 PM Thursday. Like with Best Buy.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Well, if it so morally objectionable, then why do American consumers flock to these stores on stat. holidays? The free market is wonderful at fixing itself; if so many Americans find these holidays so damn special, then they wouldn't be going shopping, requiring other Americans to work to serve them. Typical hypocrisy.

 

[Octoberist]

God forbid you're replying to me, with such aggressiveness.

 

[Pink Ranger]

God forbid you're replying to me, with such aggressiveness.

Not to you specifically, but to the so-called hypocritical, sanctimonious public outrage that got the Yum people to reverse their position. Obviously, American consumers want things to be opened on Thanksgiving, or they wouldn't be any business reason for companies to do so.

 

[Octoberist]

Basically if you work at some penny ante place, expect to work on holidays. The companies that are more, for lack of a better term, white collar wouldn't dare do that.

Haha trust me I know. I had to open both on Christmas and New Years morning when I worked at Disneyland as a teen. Even then I knew that was how it was, especially at the House of MOUSE!

 

[Pink Ranger]

Haha trust me I know. I had to open both on Christmas and New Years morning when I worked at Disneyland as a teen. Even then I knew that was how it was, especially at the House of MOUSE!

But of course, you worked at the happiest place on earth, so it was all well and good.

 

[Xeno]

Sounds like the parent company "persuaded" the chain to hiring the guy back. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that would NOT have happened if this hadn't made it into the news like it did.

The guy *was* insubordinate however, regardless of his intentions you can't do this kind of thing and not expect a reprimand. I've worked plenty of holidays, it sucks but w/e, life goes on.

Yeah, but the guy even said in his letter that he knew refusing the order to open on Thanksgiving was insubordination and he'd lose his job. He just chose to force the company to fire him instead of giving in to their demand that he resign. Then he publicized the issue and made his bosses look like jackasses. That's the American Way of handling employment disputes.

 

[Pink Ranger]

I look forward to seeing many uninformed employees try the same tactic, and realizing they can't get their jobs back because the news cycle has moved on.

 

[Xeno]

I look forward to seeing many uninformed employees try the same tactic, and realizing they can't get their jobs back because the news cycle has moved on.

If this one man's story bothers you, just remember that thousands of workers are fired every day, with or without just cause, and you never hear their stories. The vast majority of non-unionized labor in the US are at-will employees who can be terminated for any reason, or no reason. That thought should comfort anyone who feels that a lone Pizza Hut manager's protest against working on a national holiday threatens the very existence of capitalism.

 

[Slushy]

It is about one beliefs. Even at the cost of losing everything. I can respect that.