![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-75647-100x100.png\")
Ebeneezer.....Ebeneezer...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-5714-100x100.png\")
@loueloui:
How would the bookkeepers like to be suddenly...UNEMPLOYED?
HEAT WAVE! This is my island, in de sun...
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-201356-100x100.png\")
@loueloui: Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn't replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-730550-100x100.png\")
Honestly I would have said I quit beotch! That isn't a way to run a business.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-326654-100x100.png\")
If the grammar is accurate, perhaps the boss should take two weeks off to go back to the third grade.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/css/images/default.gif\")
@InfiniTrent: Its probably just the transcription from the cell phone toting teens he has working for him.
@Ryan Duff: It's transcribed from a picture of the board. Nice job belittling the employees who work for this asshat.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-665153-100x100.png\")
Of course it's not the manager's fault for not reminding her employees about the heat. She can have a space heater -_-
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-122843-100x100.png\")
@batsy: If it's a small non-franchise restaurant, it's likely the manager skips out early rather than staying til 1am or whatever... so a driver or cook is responsible for the heat.
A driver or cook... not ALL drivers and ALL cooks.
If I was the owner I would have gone and bought some weatherstripping and silicone caulk and had the forgetful employee de-draft the building, and then given him a week off if it was warranted.
@InThrees: Really? De-drafting the building to drive home the point, MAYBE. But if you RTA, the normal temp maintained there was 55 degrees. Hardly warm and comfy. The owner is clearly cheap, but leaving the furnace set for 55 overnight for one night? Cry me a damn river, that's not going to cost much. Giving them a week off would be massive overkill.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-248249-100x100.png\")
@failurate: That's the FIRST THING I thought of when I read the headline. I have a $33 one from Home Depot that I can set different temps for 4 different times a day, for each of 7 days a week. The manager is to blame here for not putting one up and programming it to his ridiculously low settings.
Also, leaving the heat turned up is not NEARLY as bad as leaving a pizza oven turned on. THAT would actually cost a few $.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-143777-100x100.png\")
@failurate: No kidding. Have these people never heard of programmable thermostats? They're like $20 at Home Depot. And they're not hard to install.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-394934-100x100.png\")
Bet they'll remember to turn off the heat next time. Although this boss could get nominated for \"crappy boss of the year\" award too.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-83192-100x100.png\")
I am pretty sure that if it actually is freezing. health and safety is being violated and whoever deals with that in the US/that state should pay them a visit
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-327517-100x100.png\")
@smileboot: This story has been on our local news in Portland a few times now, and one report claimed they first had it down to 55, then they shut it off entirely and one morning the temperature inside the building was 12 degrees. This is the news that reported this, for what it's worth.
I think they're a franchisee and if they are they're likely to get hell from the company. The news said the story was harming business at other Pizza Time locations not owned by these two modern day scrooges. If anything they've done enough PR damage to their own business to shut it down.
@smileboot: Not to mention water pipes freezing...It was probably just set down to 50 something I would guess.
@CountSmackula: I find it funny you assume this is a big enough story that people would even need to read an entire article or watch an entire news report on it, before being able to make a quickie comment about it in a blog before moving along to the next story. (No, I don't feel like watching the video or reading the article either.)
@corbyz: And yet you assume that anyone would appreciate reading an uninformed comment that may have nothing to do with the actual situation.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1037-100x100.png\")
@AuntieEm - check out cafepress.com/121608:
The employees should just open up this thread and use the flames to warm themselves.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-4676-100x100.png\")
This springs to mind on a Federal Level: [www.osha.gov] although I'm not sure cold would be covered under a work hazard in a pizza shop.
Bottom line: Owner is a Jackass. Quit, work for another pizza place if you're able.
wow i would quit...but then again the economy is bad, a job, any job is better then no job
i am assuming there is no pizza-worker union.
@tenio: \"i am assuming there is no pizza-worker union. \"
Not unless you want your pizza to cost $40 a pie...
Is this actually legal?
If I lived in that area I would boycott that place. I'm sure the pizza sucks now if it's coming out of the oven to 25 degree weather. Even though it looks like the douchey boss didn't break any laws, all of his employees should quit. It sounds like something much deeper and darker is going on with this guy...
There are too many pizza places to choose from as it is. We should all thank this owner for removing one potential choice from the list. I'd never order food from a place that treats its workers like this and I hope people there don't either when this story gets around.
Is he deliberately trying to tank his business? If the workers all quit and word gets around so that nobody else wants the job and no customers want the pizza, what else is he going to do?
@yevarechecha: There are a million pizza places here too, so if I found out one is doing this, it would be very easy to avoid them and just go to the next competitor. Yeah I live near Buffalo, NY and the pizza offerings are pretty much endless here and in most cities in Western NY. Pretty much all the pizza places here have good pizza too and if there is a shady one in the bunch if you live here you tend to know which businesses are shady and which are good through word of mouth. Since there are so many places if one sucks it usually closes within a couple months of opening, we hold our pizza to pretty high standards here.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-98237-100x100.png\")
@yevarechecha: You're exactly right, thanks. He doesn't need to be deliberately trying to tank his business; he only needs to act like it.
His competitors should be happy. Remember what they say about wars... they aren't won so much as they are lost (due to mistakes and missteps on the losing side).
Similar thing happened at a Radio Shack I worked at back in 91 during High School. No heat and it was 2 days before Christmas. Everyone, from the assistant manager down to the seasonal temp worker quit, walked off the job in the middle of the day.
Manager was such a jackass he desperately tried to run the store all by himself and failed miserably. Corp. replaced him the day after Christmas.
Ahhh Pizza Time. When I went to college in Tacoma 15 years ago their pizza was like cardboard. The only saving grace was that they were the cheapest. And being college students that was the only thing that mattered.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-435401-100x100.png\")
hmmm... well I know it was barely above freezing and snowing earlier here in my part of WA south of Tacoma, sure as heck isn't how I'd want to be working. The owner's \"lesson\" seems to morph from a reckless attempt at somehow educating his employees to simply abusing them when considering the managing wife has her own heater. plus, I've never frequented any pizza time locations here as there seems to be a plague of shady looking food joints around here with \"time\" in their name like taco time, pizza time, burger time, etc.
just doesn't seem too appealing... especially now.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6173-100x100.png\")
@crazyasianman: I can't believe it's not illegal in WA state to have people work without heat. Heat's one of those things they take seriously north of the Mason-Dixon!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6798-100x100.png\")
@Eyebrows McGee: Most other years it wouldn't be as much of an issue in western Washington. The snow and low temps they've had this year are anomalous.
I wonder how they keep the pizza warm after it comes out of the oven...sit on it.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-570288-100x100.png\")
@ageshin: Wouldn't the pizza ovens at least warm the place a little bit? I think this would be worse if it was an ice-cream store.
@calquist: But still unacceptable. There are better ways to manage than to threaten and disrespect others.
@calquist: Tell my old boss that. If we hadn't met our monthly sales goal by two or three days before the end of the month, we'd see signs hanging in our cubicles that said, \"Three more or you're out the door!\"
I see that the state labor department doesn't say anything, but have they checked into OSHA?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-53248-100x100.png\")
The space heater in the wife's office is a nice touch. This is a perfect example of \"rules (of conduct) are for little people.\"
I was a head cook at a couple of Italian places for over 6 years. I can tell you right off the bat that employee turnover is a big problem at any food service place. Doing something like this tanks morale and they will not be able to keep anyone when you can literally walk into any pizza place and get a job. These are not hard jobs to get. On the flip side, working in a pizza joint is one of the hottest professions, cooking a pizza in a bank of ovens running 500 degrees isn't going to freeze you. Even a conveyor oven or a gas fired one is going to throw off so BTU's it's not funny.
@Nick_Bentley: This. I worked in a pizzeria in the Buffalo area (it gets plenty cold here!) for a few years, and between the ovens, the fryers and the grill, the kitchen is PLENTY warm. Space heater in the office makes sense, since the office is going to be much colder than the kitchen. The owner may be a dick, but this is hardly the tragedy people here are making it out to be...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-730546-100x100.png\")
@BfloAnonChick: The tragedy is the reverse: working in a pizza place in the summer with no A/C. I did this for four years through college. It was absolutely miserable. Unless that Pizza Time location is in a cavernous warehouse, anyone in the kitchen will be plenty warm.
That being said, it's still an unwise move to punish ALL your employees for the mistake of one employee.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-437936-100x100.png\")
@b.k.: Why should an employee be responsible for setting the thermostat? Let the manager or owner do it when they leave or lock up. I bet the hen-pecked husband/manager forgot and blamed it on an employee.
I'd be worried about eating at a place that was that penny pinching.
Time to call the department of public health. Yes the good ole state agency.
DPH is usually reporting agency to OSHA. Which means DPH can perform an inspection and report to OSHA.
When I was a wet behind the ear teen I had an employer that pulled the same kind of crap.... a cold work place but we (the employees) were not allowed to wear appropriate clothing to protect us from the cold.
The business manager was more than pissed when he was visited by the agency manager seeking business contact information to complete the OSHA reporting forms.
Had heat within the hour.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-21380-100x100.png\")
@Corporate-Shill: Plus, it would be terrible if the place suddenly came down with say..\"unsanitary conditions.\"
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-337083-100x100.png\")
I worked in a pizza place in the winter. I think the thermostat was set so low that the dough never needed refrigeration unless the ovens were on.
And what is all this \"Well those employees should quit\" nonsense? Why isn't anybody saying \"Hey, this is a great idea for the guy to save some dough, 'cuz we're not gonna buy anything from him\"? Vote with your wallets or shut the hell up.
@fuzzmanmatt: You're right! From now on, I'll never go to this place I've never even heard of until now and is on the other side of the country again! That'll show him!
Sorry for feeding the troll, but I just had to say that \"Vote with your wallets!\" is not universally applicable.
As I reported on King5's website, the owners name is Gretchen Lynn Benjamin and she also owns accurate accounting. Boycott both businesses.
Hopefully this story will generate plenty of bad publicity for that jackass of a manager.
With any luck, the place will go out of business and the resulting increase in business for competitors will result in some new jobs opening up in the other pizza shops.
Pathetic little Napoleon.
I too worked pizza for several several years. I really liked it when it was cold. In fact the opposite was always true - the turbo ovens would easily heat the while shop to 90-110 degrees. The AC and the box-fan in the door didn't help either. The walk in freezer was a place of refuge.
If I worked there, I'd just crank as many of the heat producing appliances to max and use them as de-facto space heaters.
I'd also be on the phone to any local TV station that runs one of those consumer protection shows, see if they want a chilly exclusive.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-90186-100x100.png\")
I've eaten pizza from that pizza time, because its close to my parents house. No more pizza time for us.
\"Owner Luke Benjamin stands by his chilly stance.
...
\"It doesn't look good, but she's my wife and my boss and she tells me what she's going to do and I'm not going to argue with her,\" said Benjamin.\"
Maybe this idiot should realize that if he's just listening to what his wife says then *his* store will (hopefully) be out of business soon?
Whooo! My city in the Consumerist! On topic though, this place makes crappy pizza, I'm not surprised that the work quality sucks.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-232165-100x100.png\")
why does a pizza place need a heater?
The ovens are at least 300 degrees so it's cold in the morning wear a sweater.
They should have turned off the heat before they left. I'm sick of people shucking the responsibility of their actions. They should quit so people who want responsibility can take over.
@Skankingmike: Exactly. It's not like the owner could have installed electric heat controls that would allow him to automatically turn off the heat at night or anything...
Oh wait...
@Skankingmike: You obviously didn't bother to watch the video, the air gets sucked up the chimney, and it's been unseasonably cold here.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-21984-100x100.png\")
@CharlieInSeattle: Right there the owners are losing money if they exhaust the vent heat versus recapturing it. Stoopid...
*watched video,
If the heat was only ever at 55 and it's at 55 when the news walked in (a space heater that small was not heating up the whole place) than the guy complaining is just dumb. 55 is ok to begin with.
I used to unload tractor trailers and in the summer time they can be upwards of 100 degrees in those trucks and the winter as cold as it is outside ( i worked in Mass. at the time). He's not violating any laws they should shut and work or just quit.
Not a lot of jobs out but somebody is always hiring.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-257467-100x100.png\")
@Skankingmike: On the day in question, 55 was just above the outside temperature for most of the day.
Today it's been in the 30s all day. Oops.
@Skankingmike: Which part of it's been unseasonably cold didn't you understand. Just because that day it was warmer doesn't mean it is that way all the time. But hey we always measure everything on a single day now don't we. I used to hang and stock drywall in the middle of summer in Arizona. We will put this asshole out of business.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-739072-100x100.png\")
Wow. If an employer can treat his employees like that and not have any remorse or guilt, I don't think I'm going to give him my business anymore. And I really liked that Pizza Time...
This is just wrong wrong wrong.
If we don't like the owner's behavior he can just go out of business.
Join this facebook group
Boycott Pizza Time
Ah, the things that are legal in the USA...from slave wages (+ tips!) to crazy working conditions.
If any boss tried to pull this stunt in the rest of the western world, there would be all kinds of legal recource without even needing to tell the consumerist.
1) I'm sure that the manager asked his employees to remember to turn down the heat before they leave numerous times. This looks like a last resort solution. Hey, energy costs aren't cheap.
2) This IS a pizza pallor isn't it? Last I knew Pizza ovens put out a decent amount of heat.
3) If it was really that cold he wouldn't get customers in his store.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6536-100x100.png\")
I'm sure that the manager asked his employees to remember to turn down the heat before they leave numerous times.
@Scatter: You're not sure, you're guessing. According to the employee interviewed leaving the heat on only happened once.
This IS a pizza pallor isn't it? Last I knew Pizza ovens put out a decent amount of heat.
\"When it's really, really cold, like when it's 19 (degrees) outside, it will be 25 in the store,\" said Baxter.
@Scatter: And how much is an automatic thermostat? If he was truly that concerned about the heat that is the simple solution. Oh wait I just introduced humanity and logic. Lost on people like you.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-8575-100x100.png\")
Programmable thermostats only cost about $35...
The owner is a jackass and Pizza Time is crappy pizza.
Worst boss in the world.
Hahaha, if this is the pizza time I'm thinking of (it looks like it!), the owners are both grade a fuckheads to begin with.
And his comment about \"lots of jobs\" is laughable. The state itself is on a hiring freeze for state jobs, and we're about to have budget cuts, which means more qualified people are flooding the already crappy economy. And most of the folks I know who work there are doing it to pay for college or because they don't have the experience to work elsewhere. So yeah, find other jobs. Right.
PS it looks like whoever wrote the article went to the same school that the owner w/his whiteboard did.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-517211-100x100.png\")
What a tightwad, too cheap to pay for heat, and obviously too cheap to buy a programmable thermostat.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-273996-100x100.png\")
I worked in a pizza shop for years, there is no way the exhaust fans pull out nearly every drop of heat coming from those ovens. We usually had the heat on very low and allowed the ovens to do the rest.
@InfiniTrent: Other pizza places will get the business, or someone will buy up the franchise, either way it's a win for the employees.
the owner of this pizza place isn't smart at all. Their employees are the one dealing with the customers and their employees are also the one who make pizza. therefore, they are the one who determine the future of this pathetic shop. If this owner keeps pushing the button, one day one of the employee might do something to the pizza that the owner will lose everything in the lawsuits.
I'm going to order a dozen pizzas from the place today. And I live in Indiana.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-129735-100x100.png\")
Two words...Programmable Thermostat. If turning down the heat at closing time is so important to the bottom line, invest $50 into a programmable thermostat that would tun on and off the heat at appropriate times throughout the day.
Who was supposed to be responsible for turning off the heat? Couldn't he have just dinged them for the cost of heating over night or for the programmable thermostat he ought to be using anyway?
At worst the heat should have only stayed off for one day to make up for the night it was left on.
@Skankingmike: I think this is a pretty extreme punishment for forgetting to turn off the heat one time. Instead, dock the culpable employee(s) pay. Then, use the saved money to buy a digital thermostat which is more efficient than the old style and which can change the heat automatically. They're downright cheap and easy to install, and many states and utility companies offer incentives for installing them.
A real pizza place has an oven that can reach 800 degrees. This being a place called Pizza Time in Arizona, I suspect it's instead making a bready, Domino's-style pizza. Still, you can't keep that heat inside. The carbon monoxide alone would hurt the employees.
I'm wondering how customers feel about this. If they used to have seating and people ate inside, that's going to stop quickly.
My local pizza hut is working out of a little trailer while the store gets remodeled (wing street yay!) My understanding is that they pretty much had to fire half the staff for 6months, and the rest are working out of one of those little trailers they use at fairs etc. It gets pretty cold here but at least they all get to wear heavy coats while working. I still feel bad for them though (although I did construction one winter, and we worked in pretty much any temperature as long as it wasn't blizzarding)
Here's the F'd up thing. Yes, everyone of these employees should have told this guy to F-off, got up and walked out. Let this douche bag make his own pizzas. The problem here is that most of these folks likely don't want to be without a job or pay. Given this, employers think they can treat people however they like. And they often do. F' this guy and his pizza business. If I were a local, I'd never order a pie from this place again.
gotta love america
If I were an employee, I'd just *call the health dept*. and request an inspection (yes you can do this).
A few things I'd mention:
My bulky jacket gets in the dough while I put on toppings.
25 degrees (as said in the article) is below freezing. The frost on the floor is creating a safety hazard for employees and customers.
Lower immune systems due to cold are causing employees to work more often while sick, creating a further health hazard.
My employer _knowingly_ created these violations and is threatening me with financial hardship should I report them.
What say you health dept.?
Easy enough.
*Dept. of labor may not see a violation, but I bet the health dept. does.*
Should get protection via Whistleblowers Act since these are all violations.
I'm sure if you dig, there are many more. Managers like this are chronic. They don't break a few codes, they break them all.
Personally... I wouldn't eat in a place like that. Managers with that little regard for safety... who the hell knows what's in the food.
OK, two things I have to say...
1) He's the *owner*, and his wife is the *manager*, but she's his boss? Outside the obvious marital joke here, how the HELL does that work? I'm pretty sure if you own the place, you trump the manager when it comes to decisions.
Also, who wants to bet that franchisee also has the universal standard clauses in their employment contracts forbidding nepotism? Double standard, anyone?
2) There has to be a violation of health and safety laws going on here...
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-159178-100x100.png\")
@Sidecutter: As his wife, she's probably listed as an owner also. So, nepotism is not an issue, at least not contract wise.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-350835-100x100.png\")
Well the management/owner team must not be too bright since they didn't invest $30 in an electronic \"setback\" thermostat... These little devices are great... they always do as they are programed and never forget... I wonder if the fines they get for employee abuse are worth it?
Actually it looks like the one he has is a programmable thermostat. He's probably too much of an idiot to use it. There are ways to get him, and I hope someone does. The health dept is a good way to go about it. I believe there are food safety issues in storing hot food in too cold a place. Forcing your employees to work in sub-freezing temperatures for a full shift is not safe, especially when they have to have exposed hands to work.
Personally, if I lived in the area, I'd so never buy there. Another thought, if he skimps on heat for his employees, what else does he skimp on?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-738213-100x100.png\")
She is spending at least as much running that space heater as the more efficient furnace would be cranking out even a passable amount of heat to the place.
Don't they have hot pizza ovens?
Wouldn't the pizza ovens keep the place warm?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-505944-100x100.png\")
One winter the heat went out at the shop where I worked. Since the high that week was to be around 20F, the owner decided that we'd be closed until the heat could be repaired -- and he'd pay us all for one full shift each because it was hardly our fault that we wouldn't be working that week. No doubt you'll all be shocked to hear that an employer like that had a ridiculously low amount of turnover for the industry.
My biggest concern with going to a pizza place that seems to be pinching pennies to that extent would be with the food. How, exactly, are they skimping on things like cheese and sauce?
And what are the angry employees doing in retaliation?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-469349-100x100.png\")
If this Pizza Time place were worth saving...it would be time for a visit from \"Kitchen Nightmares\". Gordon has earned himself an owner that deserves a beating... ;-)
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-333088-100x100.png\")
I would totally boycott Pizza Time if I weren't already boycotting them because they make shitty pizza.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-125641-100x100.png\")
OK, as long as it's the boss's responsibility when the pipes freeze.
I don't think 19 degrees external temp will equal a 25 degree internal temp, unless it has been 19 degrees or less for several days, the building was not in use for several days, all the windows were open, and the Sun went on sabbatical.
Ah... the stories people tell. Putting that on a board for the employees to see is still really stupid.
@failurate: As we are talking about Western Washington, the sun did go on a sabbatical. We won't see it again until a brief stint in February.
In all seriousness, Pizza Time is a horrible establishment. It is a chain and the pizza is inedible. There are some wonderful, locally owned pizza places in this area (try Vic's in Olympia, for example) to get good quality pizza. I hope people do boycott Pizza Time and hold this owner accountable. Good for King5 for taking on this piece.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-189889-100x100.png\")
Has anyone posted a phone number for this joint yet?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-743193-100x100.png\")
I'm guessing it doesn't get below freezing there? Normally shutting off the heat is a bad idea because the pipes freeze and burst.
In any event, this sounds like a real safety issue (besides being mean) and should be reported as Corporate-Shill points out. What happens when employees try to warm the place up by cranking up the ovens (I'm assuming they have gas, could be wrong) or when the space heater in the wife's office starts the carpet on fire?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-389492-100x100.png\")
@burnedout: yeah, i was just wondering why the heat isn't always intentionally left on at least to a minimum if the outside temperatures are in the range of freezing... aren't frozen solid exploding water pipes a lot more expensive than a few extra bucks on the power bill?
So you can be an ass an harass the remaining employees with phone calls? Try Yp.Yahoo.com.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-333123-100x100.png\")
Someone else mentioned constructive discharge. There is an exception to the \"if you quit, you can't file for unemployment\" and that is called \"constructive discharge\" or \"constructive dismissal.\"
This is a situation when an employee quits a job but is still eligible for unemployment benefits because of the work situation. For example, if an employer makes a change in the working conditions that a reasonable person would not tolerate or which makes it difficult or impossible to perform one's job (like turning off the heat!), then an employee can quit and it's regarded as \"constructive discharge\" and benefits are awarded.
Business owners are the ones who are ultimately responsible for the well being of their business. Blaming a bunch of worker making $8-$10 an hour for not caring about enough about the utility bills of your pizza shop is just plain lazy.
I wonder if the owner hangs out long enough at the end of the night to count de money (wink) why can't they switch off the heat?
It is apparent that many commenters did not read the article before posting.
I certainly wouldn't buy pizza from a place that treated their employees so badly.
Employees who hate their jobs usually don't do a very good one.
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Why doesnt he just lower the temp by 5 degrees for a month. That will make up the cost. That aside Pizza ovens should keep that place fairly warm when its open.
@parad0x360: uhm...that guy is a dick though and their should be some kind of law against employee abuse like that.
1 guy forgets to shut off the heat which probably cost the guy like $5 and he is punishing everyone? Screw him. Everyone there should call out sick on a Friday night when this guy is working. If he doesnt work then just call out anyways...in fact everyone on Friday morning should too.
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doesn't this place have customers? i'm sure they don't appreciate the arctic temperature either.
Picket sign. Get out front and picket. They do not deserve to be in business.
I've been following and posting on this story, and I think we've all fallen for a tall tale. This employee was already suspended and possibly looking to get back at his employer. There's no evidence the thermostat was ever set lower than 55 degrees... with pizza ovens going.
Dan Butler solicited donations online for himself and possibly pressured the owners to pay him $10K+ to make the controversy go away. Now he's on unemployment, playing video games and probably coming down off his 15 minutes of fame. Check it out:
[www.franchisepick.com]
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It is a crappy way to treat your employees but if everyone of them quits im sure Pizza Time would change their ways.
@Daniel Lamin: Just hurt them during a busy rush and everyone should walk out at the same time. A friend of mine in high school worked at Pizza hut and the manager promoted a girl he was sleeping with. 9 people walked out on a friday night leaving just him and her to run the business. It was funny because one of them knew a district manager at at Papa Johns and anyone who wanted a job there got one.
@Daniel Lamin: The problem is, the employer is apparently banking on most of the employees not being self-respecting enough to quit. Obviously, he also doesn't care much about the quality of workers he employs -- anybody who was worth anything wouldn't put up with that. I guess he figures you don't really need good employees at a place like that; only warm bodies.
@Daniel Lamin: Turnover in the food service industry is astronomical; the typical fast food employee quits (or is fired) within 6 months of starting a job. If everyone quits at the same time, it might affect their business but likely not as much as you'd think given that they rely on cheap, non-skilled, disposable labour.
That being said not providing heat is likely illegal, the owner is setting themselves up for trouble down the line either through fines or (unlikely in this case as we're talking about low paying jobs at a pizza place) constructive dismissal claims.
@Daniel Lamin:
1. Not likely. In a minimum/low wage environment, and especially in a shit economy, people working there are doing so because the need the job and cannot do better and therefore . . .
2. Good luck building a united front in such an environment. The instigator will leave and everyone else will pretend to chicken out (when they had no intentions of following in the first place).
No, better that this get the media exposure, so that the customers can shame the owner. Further, better that someone call the state labour board.