Burger King Employees Receive Overwhelming Support On Social Media After Controversial Move
After sending a powerful message to upper management—via a sign—employees of a Lincoln, Neb. Burger King are getting overwhelming support on social media.
Nine staffers of the local Burger King decided to quit their jobs over difficult working conditions, according to KLKN-TV, and did so all in the same afternoon by posting their collective notice on the restaurant's large display sign. "WE ALL QUIT," it read. "SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE."
"WE ALL QUIT."
The local Burger King message that was recently taken down is generating a lot of buzz. We spoke with two former employees about the message.https://t.co/JZNIK4mwNS— Channel 8 KLKN-TV (@Channel8ABC) July 12, 2021
The disgruntled employees told Channel 8 they decided to make the drastic move because of poor management making their jobs unbearable.
"They have gone through so many district managers since I've been GM," said the now-former general manager Rachael Flores. "No one has come to the store to help me out. They're so in and out."
Flores, who started working at the Burger King location in January, accused the restaurant's work conditions of landing her in the hospital. She said employees were forced to work in the kitchen with no air conditioning for weeks, where temperatures sometimes reached over 90 degrees. However, when she complained to her boss, he told her she was being a "baby," according to KLKN.
Flores said the kitchen at the Burger King location was understaffed and she would work 50- to 60-hour weeks. When Flores decided to put in her two-week notice, eight of her coworkers followed.
"They wanted to put up a sign to say, you know sorry there's really not going to be anyone here," she said of the sign. "Just kind of a laugh to upper management."
However, a picture of the sign quickly went viral on social media and prompted an outpouring of support for Flores and her team.
Good for them. Don't create unsafe working environments and maybe your employees won't leave.
— Brian Coate Stays Inside (for your health.) (@bcoate42) July 12, 2021
Upper management is learning without your people there is no business. Glad workers are also waking up to that power.
— Ɱ (@MAJikMARCer) July 12, 2021
Good. More people need to stand up to this bullshit. Your life, your time, your effort is worth more than what these companies are willing to pay. Make them pay or let them collapse.
— Starscape ☭ (@StarscapeBBS) July 12, 2021
Some had harsh criticism for the burger giant.
My brother worked at BK and got abused to the point that he quit, so did everyone else he worked with.
Burger King abuses and underpays their workers blatantly, all while spending tens of millions a year on advertisements.
It's disgusting.— ?Ⓣ̲̅Ⓞ̲̅Ⓐ̲̅Ⓓ̲̅Ⓛ̲̅Ⓞ̲̅Ⓝ̲̅? (@Toadlon) July 12, 2021
Dealing with food in the heat with no Air-conditioning and proper food temperature, can be extremely dangerous to serve. Department of Health should move in, for inspection's. Not cool what they did to the workers. And the public.?
— Constantine?? (@Bidgeline3) July 13, 2021
No one should have to work like this, Burger King needs to redo a lot of store, Food doesn't look ? good and employees and managers are not nice and they don't respect customer
— carolyn cowan (@carolyncowan15) July 12, 2021
Flores said once the post about their sign caught began trending on Facebook, upper management asked her to take the sign down, then fired her.
"The work experience described at this location is not in line with our brand values," Burger King said in a statement to Eat This, Not That! "Our franchisee is looking into this situation to ensure this doesn't happen in the future."
For more, check out:
- This Burger Chain Just Won a Lawsuit That Claimed It Had Fake Worms In Its Food
- The Most Popular West Coast Burger Chain Is Accused of Mistreating Its Workers
- This Pizza Chain's Decline Is Due to "Bad" Food, Customers Say
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