Recent comments in /f/pittsburgh

mistie_gish t1_j77fyes wrote

Reply to comment by i-smell_like_beeef in A (now former) Mad Mex Oakland employee weighs in by VacantLot412

I agree, and I think it's their right to do whatever they want with their business. It's just soooooo super shitty to pull the "nobody wants to work" nonsense when what they actually have is a failure to adapt. And a known reputation of treating employees poorly. If they would have said they were closing because of rising costs, lowered revenue, and the changing business environment in Oakland- and actually communicated with their employees- there wouldn't be an issue.

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i-smell_like_beeef t1_j77713e wrote

Reply to comment by i-smell_like_beeef in A (now former) Mad Mex Oakland employee weighs in by VacantLot412

Idk why the downvotes. They have their servers paint their faces for day of the dead, owned and managed almost entirely by white people while serving margaritas made in legitimate trash cans. Not exactly authentic?

On top of that took tons of money in PPP loans and looked at the pandemic as an opportunity to get rid of the employees that they didn’t like after telling them that Covid ‘wasn’t that big of a deal’ and that they shouldn’t be concerned.

I get it that people have nostalgia for the place, but there are tons of other places to get good food who treat employees better than this company.

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Excellent_Ad256 t1_j776n49 wrote

Reply to A (now former) Mad Mex Oakland employee weighs in by VacantLot412

Years ago we ordered delivery from Mad Mex. I got a burrito but what was delivered was an empty burrito shell (folded as if it were filled) with a raw carrot slice on top. I wish I had taken a picture. So I called the store with no answer (so no replacement meal or refund). Emailed them and they said they would mail me a gift card as an apology (pre e-gift cards - they mailed me a physical card). Went out to eat a week or so later at a different, now closed Big Burrito store, gave them my gift card…it was empty. They legit mailed me an empty gift card as an apology for the empty burrito. 😂🙄🤬

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Ryan1006 t1_j76zh3w wrote

Reply to comment by KentuckYSnow in What happened they literally just finished building the upstairs hand out spot? by Dismal-Bumblebee4932

Sure did. I have confidence that it won’t be handled like that ever again. I don’t think either side has the stomach for it again. I know most of the American public doesn’t. And I’ll admit I was wrong because at the time I thought it was the right thing to do.

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KentuckYSnow t1_j76wczq wrote

Reply to comment by greentea1985 in What happened they literally just finished building the upstairs hand out spot? by Dismal-Bumblebee4932

In the past few years it got impossible to find good, and still cheap food. Yeah there was real inflation, but these places started paying workers more to keep up with government subsidies, and there was also some gouging baked in that got labeled as being the fault of inflation. Point is, most people don't want to spend that much. Eventually, all that talk about higher employee wages is just talk, because people aren't going to accept those prices. My regular pizza used to be sub $10 for a plain pie, so I could get 2 for $20, but now it's pushing like $40 bucks, and I don't give a fuck what their costs or wages are, I'm not spending that much for two pizzas. Inflation was supposedly like 10% and I'm seeing a 100% price increase. Fuck that.

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Significant-Nail-987 t1_j76uv2m wrote

Reply to comment by James19991 in A (now former) Mad Mex Oakland employee weighs in by VacantLot412

Busses outside of Oakland arent very good. From their perspective, bus route changes, closures, weather, etc. Lots of things cause people to be late or choose to call off when the commute it's too shitty. Not saying you are like that, but enough employees have been they no longer consider it reliable. I worked for that company for years and years. The reality is, constant calls off and no shows have made them pretty strict. Not saying it's right, but that likely the mindset. Regional and XO chefs were picking up kitchen shifts over that last year's. They probably can't keep up across all the stores. Again not justifying this move in any way.

On the other hand they're probably the only restaurant group that can afford to pay managers and kitchen staff more and actively fight not to and often choose the lesser qualified cheaper person for the job. Leadership in this company had been ravaged before covid. So ultimately it's my opinion, they've done this to themselves.

If anyone was around for when they fired the woman who open Kaya. She was the soul of that place for over twenty years and who made it great, she was that store. They treated her like shit and kicked her to the curb at the end. Big Burrito fucking sucks when it comes to how they view and handle employees. The era of Tom Baron is gone, the company sorely needs him back. They're gonna strangle themselves out because they're selfish, greedy, and don't give a fuck about people....

Edit: it's not -that- bad, I was just irritated after reading the OP. I didn't dislike my time with big Burrito, I learned a lot and working for them definitely made me better. That said I'm glad I moved along. They are big part of service industry workers in the city and have been for a long time. So it sucks when a company who could be an idol in the industry for the city does shady things like the OP posted.

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