Last week’s Red Lobster shutdown hit home. My sister, Wendy, along with dozens of other employees working at 48 locations in New York, Texas, Illinois and other parts of the country learned that they were out of jobs. My sister found out in a telephone call from a manager who showed up for work to find the restaurant on Maple Road in Amherst all locked up.
There were concerns that the chain was heading in the wrong direction financially for several months, however, to say the actual restaurant closures came abruptly would be putting it mildly. For my sister, a dedicated employee with 44 years of service, it represented a shocking and immediate life change. Not only was she out of a job, she later learned her health insurance was gone, too.
In classic corporate America fashion, the Red Lobster chain recently gave her an award honoring her decades of dedicated service to the company and its customers. The award cost $400, she was told. Her bonus for earning it: Zero.
Don’t worry about her. Our parents raised us to lean into work so she’s already got another job at another local restaurant chain which, hopefully, will treat her better all the way around and really appreciate the hard work the workers do to keep management and shareholders rolling in the dough. It wasn’t always as bad as it has been at Red Lobster in recent years.
My sister raised her children and paid her monthly bills on her wages. There was a time when she could count on some sizable tip money at a res.
