Pizza Time Owner Cuts Off Heat, Tells Employees To Work In Subfreezing Temperatures Or Quit
The owner of a Pizza Time in Washington state has cut off the heat at his store after an employee forgot to turn the heat off one night, and is threatening to suspend employees who complain. The manager (the owner's wife) has a space heater in her office.
The owner wrote the above message (which we've dramatically reenacted) on a dry erase board at the store.
Although one could argue that, as with a similar story, the workers are free to quit if they don't like the working conditions, we can probably agree that this is a really crappy way to treat your employees.
Pizza Employees Ordered to Work in Cold [King5 NBC]
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Ebeneezer.....Ebeneezer...
Honestly I would have said I quit beotch! That isn't a way to run a business.
If the grammar is accurate, perhaps the boss should take two weeks off to go back to the third grade.
Of course it's not the manager's fault for not reminding her employees about the heat. She can have a space heater -_-
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.
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
@smileboot: Not to mention water pipes freezing...It was probably just set down to 50 something I would guess.
I wonder how they keep the pizza warm after it comes out of the oven...sit on it.
I see that the state labor department doesn't say anything, but have they checked into OSHA?
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.
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.
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.
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.
@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!
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.
@Corporate-Shill: Plus, it would be terrible if the place suddenly came down with say.."unsanitary conditions."
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.
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: You obviously didn't bother to watch the video, the air gets sucked up the chimney, and it's been unseasonably cold here.
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
@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...
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.
*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.
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.
@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.
@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.
It is a crappy way to treat your employees but if everyone of them quits im sure Pizza Time would change their ways.