See how he likes that. Why some Denny's manager would tell a customer something like that, I can't figure out, in the first place. In the second, I'd tell him off for it, pay my bill and never come back. But I'd let him know that his assholery is why.

and tell him I'm spreading the word.

Jerk!

go back. I'm thinking a letter to the editor of the local paper might also be in order regarding this. Just the facts of what this moron said, and his nickel and dime operation.

Nothing pisses me off more than some petty dictator informing me of his or her assholery, assuming that I'll be in agreement with it. Generally, that leads to me telling the asshole off, pointedly, and is followed up with further communication up the chain. I don't have to listen to that crap and be silent, so I'm not.

saying you looked up the figures and determined this is what you should have been charged extra.

Last edited Thu Jan 2, 2014, 08:05 AM - Edit history (1)

take $2.00 and tell him you'll pay for his staff's entire shift.

I'd go back with a hat cam or some such and ask the guy just how much extra it was gonna cost to pay all his wait staff to cover the increases for a month. Have a blank personal check ready to fill out for the amount. WhatEVER the dweeb said would be worthy of YouTube.

You are one of the more thoughtful and reasonable DUers. I try to do that as well.

But something like this would get my goat as well. I would probably not respond in anger, but instead use sarcasm. And I like the LTTE idea as well. Few people know that this is an important community outreach path. People generally like to read them.

manager is trying to hurt their business sounds like a wonderful way to use a couple of hours to great effect.

The more sunlight such attitude gets the harder it is to maintain.

I'm a letter writer. I've found that it works pretty well.

is a waste of time and air...

more money to spend and in the long run he would probably get more business. He said the high prices will just
drive customers away and he will have to cut jobs. I assume he is one that watches Faux News. What
would a manager make at Denny's a little more than minimum wage anyway I bet.

Odds are that the person you talked to doesn't really have the authority to do what he said, anyhow, unless he's the franchise owner. He's just a loudmouthed moron who thinks everyone agrees with him.

If there are enough customers, he will need the staff. A restaurant is especially simple that way. He'd be biting off his nose to spite his face. Probably lying, or he's no good at running a business anyway.

One of my brother's is a Faux News guy and - while I avoid political conversation with him - commented a couple of days ago that "the government is passing a law to raise the minimum wage to $15.00!"

I corrected him, rather severely, but it was clear that he had gotten another gigantic stinking wad of disinformation from the steaming pile that is Fox.

I think the manager told them that prices would have to go up and he would have to lay off people because he wanted them to blame the workers and the people who supported increasing the minimum wage. He also wanted them to be angry at the workers and the supporters of an increased minimum wage.

unless he has an underclass of people that he knows and has power over.....he doesn't feel good about himself. If those "people" he lacks empathy after all...get treated just a teeny tiny bit better...that means they are suffering less....which means his position is less because he sees it as an end sum game.

sick but true...

expected to be the ones to make up for the companies that do not pay their employees
enough to live on...first it started with waitresses and various other low paying jobs and now it is just about everything...

In the UK, in most places there is a truly optional 10% rule of thumb. Most people don't tip at all, or just a symbolic 5% or so. I do not know how much waiters are paid in the UK these days, but at least they have health care from the single payer system. So, in the end, they are probably OK...

Well I'll have to not eat here again--plenty of restaurants.

We had the same thing happen at Wintzell's in Mobile--their prices had massively increased, and there wasn't even an increase in wages. We've not been back.

The truth is, were a manager to actually pay well, I'd go pay a bit more to eat.

Give the waitstaff a nice fat cash tip in front of the manager.

Denny's has had problems in the past, and letting upper management know they'e STILL got idiot managers running their places would be a very good thing.

i can't imagine him ever doing something like that. i'm also friendly with some of the waitresses. one of them told me she makes about $1,000 a month with tips.

in my state $2.13 per hour for tipped employees = $85.86 a week

$1000 a month = $232.56 a week

total take home (before taxes FICA etc) =$318.42 a week = $16,557.77 a year.

the federal poverty level for 1 person is $11,490. for 2 ppl (if the waitress has a child) $15,510. and if she has two kids? $19,530.

not a great job.

she had a job where she made 3x that a few years ago but the job was eliminated. she does have some kind of state health care.

but when wall street steal her tax payers dollars so some ceo can have a $6000 trash basket...
they cheer

I wonder if it is even true

to any place that does what he says.

Just a hunch, obviously. But I would not be at all surprised.

Go to your favorite hardware store and buy two tubes of caulking compound, a caulking gun and a roll of masking tape. Then go to a store that sells boxes, Christmas wrap and tape. Wrap it all up into a festive package (that'll cost you less than twenty bucks) and write a nice letter that reads: Dear Manager, yesterday you told me that thanks to Ohio's higher minimum wage you will have to cut employees and raise prices. Thinking that the increase was several dollars an hour, I went to the Ohio Department of Labor's website...only to learn the increase is only five cents per hour. If your margins are so thin you'll have to cut staff and raise prices to survive after having your employee costs raised by a whole buck an hour, your heating bill must be outrageous. Caulking the windows and door jambs in your restaurant will save you more than a dollar an hour and allow you to continue operating without firing anyone."

Then call a TV station before you give it to him.

The guy is full of shit, no doubt.

Fuck 'em. Fuck 'em hard.

Zoiks. Boo!

...then why didn't he cut them as soon as they became "extra"? That's bad management, keeping on more people than you need.

Point that out to him next time. See how much he likes it. "So, then, the extra nickel an hour finally made you look at your staffing and notice the excess employees? Well, it should pay for itself by this time tomorrow. Next time, spend some more effort in Denny's management college and check your staffing on a regular schedule."




What a maroon.

.... this "I gotta cut people" is total bullshit. No restaurant, retail or any other business has 1 person standing around that they don't actually need.

Just another right-wing dupe.

but what ya gonna do he, the manager is probably a relative of the franchise owner.

It never ends!!!! Oh, noesssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!

One nickel for each of his tipped workers and a dime for his minimum waged non-tipped workers (his bussers and prep workers).

If he was a medium sized Denny's that was open 24 hours/7 days, he'd probably have his four six-hour shifts staffed with 6 waitstaff for two busy shifts, and 4 waitstaff for the off shifts, and three bussers and one prep cook for the busy shifts and two bussers doubling up the prep worker on the off shifts.

So (6 times .05) + (4 times .10), times 2 = 1.40 extra per hour for the busy shifts, and (4 times .05) + (2 x .10), times two = .80 per hour for the off shifts.
That's $1.40 + $0.80 combined per hour for an additional average of $2.20 per hour. Multiply by six, and that's your additional per day - $13.20 per day. Less than two "dropped" or returned plates of food and broken crockery through mistakes or accidents in the line and kitchen or on the floor he probably sees each shift.

$13.20 per day times 365 is a total of $4818.00 per year.
And he gets to write that off as deductible operating expenses, so some of that is recoverable as part of revenue.
Add 15% to cover additional tax, unemployment, or other employee-based fee liabilities that may occur that don't and he'll be out an entire whopping $5540.17 a year. Again, he can write it off.

It's less than the cost of waste he carries, and if his employees are happier for that extra nickel or dime an hour, he'll be able to recover the rest of the cost of that additional burden of "higher cost" he's forced to cover - with better service that brings in a greater amount of return customers, and less waste in the kitchen.

His cashier and/or hostess (or floor head) is not usually tipped, and not usually minimum wage, neither are his assistant managers, cooks, or senior staff, so he won't necessarily have to raise their wages.

A staff that is treated better tends to work better.

Haele

and are only used during high volume periods like Sunday morning, bar rush, Easter. There is ONE dedicated prep cook position which means 2 people do it because even in the restaurant industry we get at least one day off. The prep cook does not go home until the prep is done. It's that simple. If volume dictates more prep then the prep cook gets faster, gets help in the form of a line cook in between orders, gets help in the form of an additional prep cook or gets fired and they try to find one that can handle the increase. I've seen it handled in all those ways. You also failed to mention any line cooks. At a Denny's, Perkins, Village Inn, etc. there will be up to 6 line cooks during high volume periods and only one during not high volume periods. The actual number will vary depending on volume.

As for wait staff, during high volume periods each server should have no more than 5 four top tables although many managers prefer to limit that to 4 four top tables. In other words each server should never be waiting on more than 16-20 people during heavy volume times. You may also employ a food runner, an expediter, a coffee/water person and multiple host/hostesses. Off peak staffing is normally ONE server for the entire place, no busser and maybe a host/hostess but probably not. I have worked a few places that always have a minimum of 2 servers and a hostess. Many place will utilize an assistant manager to help out in the event of an unexpected surge during slow times.

There is also no mention of a dish washer in your analysis. Again, during heavy volume periods there will be 2 dish washers (or one really, REALLY good one but that is rare as pots and pans are piling up in addition to all the flat wear and utensils and such) ) and only one during off peak hours. I recently worked at a restaurant where we had 3 dish washers and the kitchen manager would still have to help out at times but that's an exceptionally busy restaurant.

Where you are right is the additional labor costs in this case are minuscule. There are so many different ways to cut costs and increase profits besides reducing labor. Cutting labor costs is the lazy manager's way, assuming that the labor costs are in line with established goals, usually 18 to 20 percent of sales.

Other than that, I agree.

It was a local family "chain". Bussers did prep and dishwashing at this place. Line cooks were not minimum wage - they didn't make much more than minimum, true, but they weren't minimum wage.

I suspect Denny's line cooks won't be affected by a minimum wage raise.

Haele

I think my post came across a bit condescending and I sure didn't mean to be that way. I'm a Professional Food Service Worker and yes, I put that on my resume, with 25 something years experience and still experiencing! hehe So I was pretty stoned, saw your example and in less than an hour and a half I had created that ramble.

There's a million ways to do any one thing and I've seen lots of them including a one guy does it all, nobody does it ALL just most, servers doing their own dishes and yes, even bussers prepping. Yeah, I really wasn't trying to correct but I guess be more precise and show that with the larger staff an effective manager could still increase profits through a number of measures besides cutting labor costs or raising prices.

And yeah, those hoity toity line cooks! What elitists! But then again, I'm a prep cook! lol

Then I decided to join the Navy. I've had to manage workshops and project crews over the year, so I know about that "million ways to do one thing" - especially since half of them don't work with the crew you have...
I like to cook and at the time, didn't listen to my parents and thought that might be a good job to get a college fund going. However, in the mid-1970's, most restaurant jobs would not have advanced me much above the minimum wage bussing and prep jobs - cooking was a "man's profession" for the most part. Unless it was a Mom's Kitchen/everyone in the family works there sort of place, women were expected to be waitresses or hostesses and hope to make up for the below minimum-wage salary with tips.

We had three line cooks at the place I worked at; two sous and a head cook. The prep cook usually did dishes with the help of one or both the bussers between maintaining the mis-en-place and replacing ingredients. Heck, even in boot camp, I could see that prep cooks should have had a whole lot more responsibility than the restaurant I worked at gave them. I think the owners started out with an IHOP that failed and thought that with a little tweaking (more salt, dried chili peppers, and oregano) "Italian Family" recipes from the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook would translate well into a small diner chain.

I hope you've got a good manager for your restaurant, and they understand the quality of the prep work does just as much for the quality of the food as the quality of the cook. You need wicked sharp knife skills (pun intended), consistency and a good sense of timing for that job.

Haele

it would more than pay for the extra costs. I figure he is just a Rethug loser
that wants to voice his opinion on minimum wage. It probably has more to do with the
push to raise the national minimum wage than the 5 cents Ohio mandates. My niece works at
Cracker Barrel, shae says with her $3.93 and tips she basically makes the $7.85 minimum.

local eateries have better food (often locally obtained), better service and all of the money spent stays in the community.....even when I travel, I seek out local restaurants and avoid the national chains.

I don't know whether the local restaurants pay their employees any better but I figure that spending money in a locally-owned restaurant will keep the money local. The one percenters don't own these local small eateries.

It's not as if they don't have a track record of being a horrible company. Why would you even step foot in the place? They're like a Walmart of bad food.

is closed. Not any great fan of Denny's anyway.

Earlier this year the feed store where I live laid off some employees and said it was because of obamacare. Got them all riled up, got the farmers riled up, so last few weeks I go in the store and they're physically expanding the building and bringing in new stock, turns out this was a corporate decision to revamp their stores and they are going to expand their customer base to include the expanding burbs out here, so they have a whole new dog bed department with little toys etc. We had several local people laid off and they are replaced now with these young folks who aren't from around here. I don't know why they told the obamacare lie but I told them I don't like their new business plan and I'm not going back to them. I'm sure when this business plan fails they will blame it on obama however what the corporate office doesn't get is we don't buy beds for our dogs here, we buy sheep drench and goat hoof nippers. If we want a bed for the dog we can take the old cushion from the couch out on the porch and give it to the dog. My dogs like chewing rocks, I don't have to buy them.

I wanna hear that BS from managers. Keep it to yourself and get me my grand slam...

We travel from Florida to NY a few times a year. All there are are these fast food chains. If I could go to a local diner along the way, I certainly would over these Denny's, McD's, Cracker Barrel, etc.

Some of the best food I have eaten over the decades have been at local Mom and Pop Diner type places.

quality and cleanliness have gone way down and my hubby and I quit going to Denny's. The last time we ate in one hubby's eggs were greasy and my elbows stuck to the table. It was the last straw and we have not stepped foot in a Denny's since then.

Unless it's in the diagonally-opposite end of the state, I may be up for a road trip.

in redneck land.

although I won't be down that way until around Jan. 11, by which time I would hope that the jackhole manager is thoroughly chastised. It would mean taking a detour, but I could stop by and give him a piece of my mind. I'm not worried about being banned-for-life, as there's exactly zero probability of ever requiring emergency nourishment that badly.

tell them you will not patronize this establishment again.

their job because I don't agree with them, I figure it was just one Faux brainwashed nitwit not any corporate policy. After all the guy is probably not paid much more than minimum wage to start with.

The manager was the one who was bringing it up to a customer. That could be seen as highly inappropriate (if he were working in my company I sure would see it that way). The guy brought it on himself, let his nuts roast on the fire for it.

it was a 7 1/2 cent raise. That was sixty years ago! When 7 1/2 cents (given every hour, forty hours every week) actually meant a little something. And not even then: they had to sing the union into accepting it. What a skinflinty rise in the minimum wage for Ohio!

that no wage increase would make prices of goods rise, because of this little theory called
[Font Color=Red]Supply & Demand[/font].

If Denny's raises prices there will be less demand and more supply forcing Denny's to cut prices to reduce supply. Cutomers will only pay so much for their breakfast.

Wage increases only dip into their profits.

This guy isn't greedy, he's plain stupid. If cutting employees over a nickle an hour, he deserves to be waiting the tables by his lonesome.

by people driving the 'petty' capitalist system. Disgusting and sickening. I'm retired, forcefully, yet I feel sorry for today's young people in this petty system. American at it's 'exceptional' best.

It's as if the manager thought no one else could do simple math. As a retired surveyor of twenty five years I have eaten chili dogs in 42 states and Central America. I find this a lot at the so-called mid range eateries like Friday's or Applebees when you question the bill the kid looks at you as if to say "this machine says you owe this much" said machine of course being infallable......... as if you couldn't add three items in your head and add eight percent. It's the curse of having dealt with numbers daily for fifty years.

Get you all angry at Obama? Discourage you from eating there again? Ruin your breakfast? What an idiot.

I have to admit this is one time it would come in handy.
Trust but verify - and then call the bastard out on his crap.

....I'd tell him I was going there from now on AND I'd send an email to Denny's headquarters and tell them what you experienced.

Denny's doesn't need that kind of publicity.

Thanks in advance.

the product drops. (assuming you weren't overstaffed to begin with). If costs go up, whether it's labor cost, food cost, or other reasons you increase the price of the goods being sold. If the market won't bear the higher price you will adjust accordingly. The only problem a business has when an entire industry has the same increase in costs is if the price increase makes people switch to a different product. (price of TGIFriday's goes up people go to Denny's). I think we can agree that a small increase in labor costs, which is only a fraction of the total cost of your lunch anyway, will hardly motivate someone to start eating at a lower cost alternative.

I agree with the earlier poster in that this shouldn't be left unanswered. I hope you will write an editorial, do the caulk thing or inform the corporation hierarchy. He's an embarrassment to Denny's if he's trying force his political views on his customers, using lies in the process. I think Denny's is still burning from their franchisee Dennis Metz who wanted to cut his employees hours and add a surcharge of 5% to customers checks to cover Obamacare.

FYI, payroll costs for that type of food service is usually about 18-20%. When you add management, office, and benefits it jumps up but none of those things will be affected.

I treated myself to breakfast at Dennys a week or so ago as I like country fried steak. I think it was like $11.99 + $2.99 for a fucking cup of shitty coffee.

I'll never go in another one. I'll never go to Mc Donalds again after I read what their burgers were made of. All in all, I am boycotting ALL corporate establishments. No Wally world, Homeless Depot, etc.

I wish all Americans would do the same. One thing never changes. You get what you pay for (Except at Dennys).

Their food is already overpriced. It's not surprising for a franchise that costs at least 2 million to start and then has to kick a percentage of sales up to corporate. They have to get that money back somehow. So they sell overpriced junk. The last time I went (only because they were the only diner open at the time), I paid I around $12 for a bowl of spaghetti that tasted previously and frozen microwaved, a couple of meatballs that tasted worse than fast food beef, stale bread and a salad that was not close to being fresh.

There are many independent diners where I live to choose from. I can get food just as good or better for half the price. The servers are surprised to get a $5 tip on a $4 or $5 meal, but they do remember me and the service is excellent.

I want to hear about how great the lobster is today, not about his financial and labor issues.

you are paying for his employees' fucking wage increases out your own pocket for the first year so he doesn't fucking suffer the financially devastating increase of 5¢ and 10¢ to his employees part-time earnings.

It would have be interesting if you had asked him about it because I'm sure he would have complained about that too.

I would have given the guy a quarter and told him to call someone who cared.

Even if it's true.

power.

I doubt he even has the power to cut hours, unless he owns a franchise.

He's likely just a low-wage blowhard.

First of all no company concerned with profit hires more people than they need to meet demand, so he cant cut hours or employees.
At most a Denny's has 10-12 employees on their busiest shifts during the day so hes basically saying to save at most 24 bucks a day he has to raises prices by much more than that and lay off people, its complete and total bullshit.

Your intelligence was insulted by this dumb ass.

...find all the store's SNAP signs arrayed in the candy aisle.

Its a political tantrum from one of the wannabe Masters Of The Universe who think we fall for that crap (anymore).

I've mentioned before that my estranged father is a right-wing nut job. He's a typical conservative.

He owned very successful fast-food restaurants and I was often on the receiving ends of his rants. He would be infuriated when an increase in the minimum wage was discussed in the national media. He didn't care about his workers. He cared about his profits. And he wasn't worried that the minimum wage would sink his business. It wouldn't. He once told me that the money didn't even really matter at this point. He had so much of it. He actually said, "Now, the numbers are about keeping score."

It was a game. He just wanted his numbers up. These people whine about having to raise prices or fire people if the minimum wage increases. They are bluffing. They are being big babies and offering up a false argument--that they know is a lie. Because really--they're "keeping score" and they don't like it when the government tries to tell them what to do.

My father lived in a huge house, drove very expensive cars and worried about nothing when it came to money. Even making 100k less a year wouldn't have put a noticeable dent in his lifestyle. But these egomaniac narcissists love to "keep score" and control that score. That's all that this is about.

Don't get me started about these types. I've witnessed this man's rabid refusal to make one of his restaurants handicap accessible when the ADA was passed. Too costly. He was also a sexist pig and an abuser. He often ranted about how teachers were paid too much. He was also a racist who only hired one minority during a 30 year span and she was fired quickly. He explained to me, "You know how they are." I was supposed to be impressed that he gave "one of them" a shot. He routinely made fun of the homeless, the poor and often asked me if I wanted to drive around in his Mercedes and "laugh at the lower half."

These people are sick. These people are selfish, malignant jerks. And I don't think this is rare. All of his Republican business-owner buddies were just like him. Against regulations. Pissed off at state inspectors. And fighting to keep people poor with a stalled minimum wage.

Most people believe that business owners who fight a minimum wage are being profit-centric. We can rationalize that they're business owners and they need to watch expenses. Sure, this is the reality for a minority of these business owners. However, the vast majority of socially conservative business owners who fight social justice--are seething sociopaths. People are objects to them. They could care less about their suffering. They are oblivious. And these are the Republicans who have the ears and attention of their local and national politicians. They are the reason that those Republican scumbags in Congress fight so hard to keep the minimum wage rock-bottom. The politicians are merely placating their rich, sociopathic powerbrokers who are vocal and who donate to their campaigns.

I could write a book about what I've seen and heart from my family of origin. Most people have NO IDEA how sick these people are. Let me tell you--it's mind blowing.

...but I'll bet he was against the minimum wage increases. When lower level workers get their wages raised, often that trickles down and other wages are set higher as well.

I'm often mystified by these Republicans who not only vote against their own best interests, they vociferously advocate for these policies. They fight against universal healthcare, which could put thousands in their pockets each year. They fight for lower taxes for millionaires and billionaires, which enrich the elites and put the tax burden on the rest of us. Of course, they're against the EPA, climate-change laws and other laws that would only help them life a safer life. But no...they've been brainwashed by the sociopaths at the top.

Glad we both survived our nutty families!

Though my father was always opinionated and very preachy, he didn't become a RW full-on nutjob till about 10 years ago. I don't think I could have tolerated growing up with that.

Another funny thing is that he hates this group or that, unions/labor etc, unless he personally knows in one of those groups personally. You'd think he's figure his compass is off...but that would entail him admitting he was wrong. No can do with him.

Yesterday I was in Southern Maine with my sister and a friend - we went downstate to spend New Years Eve at a concert. The following morning, we were looking around for breakfast restaurants, and I said, "Too bad there isn't a Denny's here, I hear they're pretty good." This guy though... cutting employees and raising prices over a 10 cent difference in wages? If this is the policy of management within the Denny's chain, then I have no interest in going there - ever -. If it's just a personal one for this jerk, well, someone should let corporate know what he's up to.

did either. He is just an asshole that likes firing people and feeling powerful because he can control other people's lives.

well, the official inflation rate anyway. Well, with almost (but not quite) a penny left over.

The 3.93 -> 3.98 is also a 1.27% increase. Beats inflation with almost (but not quite) a half-penny left over.

The latest 12-month CPI figure is the November 2013 vs. November 2012, 1.2%
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/

That's the way it's done in the "heartland."

Or tell him he needs to "work harder."

What are you doing in that grease pit anyway?

are free to eat where they want. You eat what you want and let me eat what I want. I like a nice thick steak occasionally. A nice farmers omelet at times. Good rich lasagna can be so good.

Who prefers a miserable, desperate, ancious, sad workforce? Makes no sense to me. Trust me, happy, contented workers are much more likely to make a business soar, especially in the service industry. Even if you don't care how your workers feel, do you care about how their feelings, even inadvertently or subtly, might impact your customers' experience?

Ultimately, it's about power and having the upper hand. Whatever positives you list of having contented workers, would go sour in his mouth because he didn't bring it about through his "managing".

Or to put it in other words: "I don't have to be nice to my employees to do a better job: They will or ELSE. Dammitt, I'm the boss!!!"

It would be one thing if his costs went up and he had to react ( even though we know, given past wage increase histories, that's specious ) but for him to make an unsolicited crack like that before the issue would even have time to affect him, makes it obvious the comment was 100 percent politically motivated.

He's an inept manager if he lets political feelings to dictate his business decisions: Looking at it from purely logical considerations, one would only hire more employees if the current amount can't meet demand ( NOT because of lower taxes, less regs etc ) AND only shed employees if demand for his product can be met by less. This guy's a first-class jerkoff.

That is my first reaction.

Did they ever get around to finally allowing black Americans into their establishment?

levels will go down. If service levels go down, so will his business. No one wants to go into a restaurant and wait longer for their food just so the owner can save money. This guy will find out just how essential his employees really are. But by then he may have already lost his business. The term "shooting oneself in the foot" also comes to mind.

So "entitlements" make them lazy and raising their wages makes them unemployed. That's the Republican line.

The party that abolished slavery 150 years ago now wants to bring it back.

I had forgotten about this exellent restaurant.in 1994 on trip with wife and kids I had breakfast at Denny's.we ordered steak and eggs.the food was so bad and not cooked to order,it prompted me to ask the manager if they served us last nights left overs.she replied, "let me check whith the kitchen.". My last meal at Denny's.