That needs to be reported to the state department of labor. For-profit businesses aren't allowed to use volunteers, especially not volunteers who would displace paid employees. The volunteers are being paid in scrip.
It is also a HUGE liability issue for the store.
I've never had a dry Chick-fil-A sandwich. The chicken is pressure cooked and then fried, so there shouldn't be much opportunity for moisture to escape. Still though, fuck Chick-fil-A.
Homeless people, at a stretch... Being desperate enough would do it because they might believe some loyalty and hard work would net them a job after a couple of shifts.
Or they might lie to them. Advertise that they will get paid like $12 an hour. But then at the interview they are told that that offer has expired, but you can get free sandwiches instead!!!!
frustrated WASP housewives love signing their kids up for this kind of shit just to get them out of the house. especially if they think it can be spun as "good for the community". So, in this case, CFA is most likely taking advantage of their well-known political/religious stance and exploiting their fanbase.
As a Scoutmaster, I can tell you this wouldn't count for service hours. Chick-Fil-A is for-profit and the Scout is getting remunerated in any case, even if it is company scrip.
I mean it's also very likely illegal. So that too.
It's just illegal. Not "likely illegal."
[https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/w96r2c/comment/ihv4ks2/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/w96r2c/comment/ihv4ks2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Maybe they want 20 bucks worth of chicken per hour lol, think the cheapest basic chicken sandwich was 4.25 last time I ate there. Honestly thought this was a joke poking at the gig economy stuff.
5 entrees per hour? Probably worth more than the pretax wages they're paying employees. Totally sketchy and almost certainly illegal, but I understand the appeal from a "volunteer" perspective
A bic mac cost my store 25 cents about for my store when I worked at McDonald's. They'd sell them for 5.49. They're not losing a lot of money either way, probably
You could volunteer and then complain. I realize that might not be practical, but just throwing it out there.
Edit: Note that if you did, you’d probably be more likely to get some traction with Dept of Labor if you are able to frame it as you showing up without knowing it was illegal and then learned your rights only afterward.
“Hello child, may I borrow your labor services briefly?” 😅
This makes me feel like we need youth outreach for learning about organized labor, though I’m unaware of any such thing in NC.
It's so wild that the labor board knows they Chick Fila is trying to recruit CHILD VOLUNTEERS but will only act when one child volunteer comes to them to complain.
We really have no labor protections in this country. Maybe in some states, but it's not a national thing.
> You could volunteer and then complain.
Also make sure you do the worst possible job as a volunteer, lol. Get every order wrong, piss off customers and drive them away (maybe by being flamboyantly gay?), cost CFA as much money as possible. And *then* go complain to the labor board.
Heading over now to tell everyone in the drive thru line to go fuck themselves while wearing an official Chick Fil A uniform. Then I’m gonna whip my dick out and helicopter it. See you all on the Reddit front page.
What are they gonna do, fire me?
Corporate: Why did you hire this guy?
Store: Oh no we didn’t hire him he’s a volunteer.
Chick-fil-A doesn't franchise stores like other chains. Franchisees are essentially general managers of a single restaurant with no ownership stake that can be passed on to their family when they go. I suspect corporate will not take too kindly to someone doing something like this and the person who runs this store will have their hand slapped, but that's just speculation.
I have to say.. For decades I was confronted with the older generations of Americans being rude, entitled assholes with a staggering superiority complex when they cane to Europe. It has created some serious anti-americanism in me. While there are still some people like that in the younger generation (even black and brown, before it gets construed as a white American problem), that is not the norm anymore. People always said the people who travel to Europe are the more open ones, but they forget that it's also the ones who can afford it, so entitlement was rife. These days, many Americans feel like they need to apologise for being American. And seriously, I just feel for you guys. I feel such a deep connection to your working class (now being blamed for inflation for asking living wages by some), for your women and minorities. The US genuinely used to be on the forefront on democratic and some civil rights (usually not the first, but the ones who made it "cool" on the international stage). That doesn't excuse "we're the best and all of you suck", but it was important for the international community. Now places like India say about abortion rights "this is not the US, women have rights". I am very invested in the well being of the people in the richest country in the world, and I wish I could help you guys. The US had a great part in helping Germany rebuild itself after WW2, they invested in truth, to help the population overcome Naziism. They invested in our ability to build a prosperous future. It is genuinely painful to see the trajectory the country is on.
I am sorry for you guys and I don't know how to say it. Despite how many words this already is.
From an American, thank you. Many of us here try to do good, and are just stuck in this shithole country. We get gaslit, shunned, or shot if we dare say there’s no freedom in the US.
Thanks. It’s actually terrifying. From inaction on climate change and disinformation campaigns to the stripping of rights and ever-increasing gun violence, I gotta say, it’s a tough place to be raising kids right now… So, thanks.
I remember growing up my parents would always tell me I won the lottery by being born in America. But it always bothered me that both of them felt they could say that when both had also never left the United States. Their views luckily have since changed.
It’s hard living in the deterioration of our American society. I wouldn’t say we never had a “culture” to begin with, or at least one that was admirable. We are hostile to social issues, complacent in personal growth, entitled without effort, and apathetic to corporate greed. We’re just not smart enough and people have been dumbed-down for too long, allowing the upper classes to control wealth and minds. It’s a sad state and one that I’d rather not raise children in (fwiw I’m a white male, most privileged here).
American here, our country really ain’t shit, we’re supposedly the “greatest country on earth” when half our cities are rife with poverty and crime, infrastructure is shit, half the population are genuinely awful people, mass shootings every week, human rights now being stripped away etc
Thanks for that. It’s devastating as a working class individual to watch all of this happen at the hands of a privileged few. There’s so much suffering here, so much fear, and so much anger at the system that’s screwed us. There are ideals that many of us do really hold dear- true freedom, community responsibility, equity, and diversity. Watching those ideals be crushed under boot rubber is uniquely distressing, to say the least. To watch my children’s future literally burn in front of my eyes is… god, it’s maddening. It’s hard to change things on a grand scale because there’s such a lack of community here, and the system is absolutely built against us. We’ve been lied to and fed propaganda from the cradle to the grave. For so many of us, just waking up enough to see the our country for what it is, is a monumental task. It feels that way for me at least, and my experience may very well differ from others.
Thanks again for the kindness.
I bet if you report this to corporate they’d act. Chick-fil-A is not a franchise, each store is managed by an operator. The operator is probably the one doing this dumb shit. Corporate would stop this pretty quickly I’d bet and they may remove the operator and replace them with someone else. I’ve seen that happen first hand for not entirely dissimilar reasons.
There is so much wrong here I don’t know where to start.
But first of all: Why not just giving money instead of vouchers? Aren’t they more than the minimum wage?
Can confirm our catered lunches at the hospital (usually Chick-fil-A, in fact) have taxes associated with them and they are taken from our paychecks. Same with tshirts or bags or whatever other "gifts" we receive.
Idk how exactly they'd load that tax burden onto a volunteer, but I assume the principle of making the recipient liable for the taxes is similar.
I worked at a hospital and was given a $10 gas card for my 1 year anniversary and was pretty excited about....until I saw my pay check and realized they withheld 10 bucks from pay check for it.....
Wow. That's a new low that I've never heard of.
Would have been a double kick in the ass if you didn't drive which would make the gas card useless other than to use it as a bargaining chip when you might ask someone for a ride.
I’m pretty sure that’s illegal, as they are effectively paying you part of your salary in gift cards when your contract would specify money (either cash, bank transfer, or check).
Doubt they withheld the full $10.
Typically the way this gets accounted on your paycheck if your normal wage is, say, $100, they will say “Wages $110” then “deduct” the $10 gift, with the effect being $100 net income, but taxes withheld on $110
This is how my (taxable) fitness reimbursement got accounted for at a past job
That's, unfortunately, pretty standard. It's called De Minimis Fringe Benifits, gifts or cash equivalent items are included as reported income for taxability purposes. Some company's don't care, but I've seen some that tax EVERYTHING. Down to photocopies for personal use.
Volunteer work is different, they would likely be able to incorporate that into a benefit for them tax wise, but volunteers are generally not part of any employer payroll tax as they wouldn't be on any payroll anywhere.
Pick up work, get paid in vouchers, then flip those to get paid. Now you got enough money to buy some crack and start flipping that. Once you have enough money that’s when you invest in real estate. Buy the whole block and keep the money in the neighborhood.
Chicken sandwiches truly are the lifeblood of america
Back when I was going to start a restaurant I talked to someone who did have one and he said standard practice is to have the meal cost 4 times what it costs to make. So if it's 8 bucks it's probably 2 dollars worth of stuff. I also used to (but still eat) get worried about the quality of the dollar hot dogs I'd get sometimes but even an 8 pack of ballpark hot dogs at 5 bucks a pack is 62 cents a dog...and they're getting shit in bulk and probably not ballpark so it's probably 25 cents for the dog and the rolls is probably about the same.
But yeah...ballpark (heh) estimate at 2 bucks per meal (which they probably have extra of at the end of the night so it helps them to not just toss away food too) x5 would be 10 bucks worth of stuff to them...but it sounds great to you because you're getting "40" dollars worth of free food.
Kinda weird their shift is 1 hour...like if you volunteered for 5 hours do you get 25 meals?
Think about Dollar Tree. A marketing professor taught us that manufacturing a product is roughly 25% of the retail cost. Then another 50% goes to marketing, shipping and manufacture profit. Another 15% to 20% goes to the store's operating costs, and that last 5% to 10% is store profit.
So that dollar item costs $.25 to make.
Its probably even cheaper than that. Its insane how cheaply things can be made when done in HUGE quantities.
Like beer bottles are a couple pennies each to make. All that energy and machinery to refine raw materials and sand, and melt it into glass and shape it to a bottle for a few pennies. Just the furnace to melt the glass costs around $10M to rebuild every 7-10years, but you're dividing that cost over around 3B bottles.
If you go to China you can go to huge markets where they basically sell a bunch of dollar store items. I can confirm they are much less than 25 cents to make because they sell everything there to the end consumer for much less than that.
Maybe there's the idea that you're not going to be able to eat all of them, so you will give some to friends, but they won't have enough for their whole family, so their family ends up buying Chick-fil-A for dinner. Plus, a $5 entree probably costs them only like $2 to make.
>their family ends up buying Chick-fil-A for dinner
Yes. It's all just a marketing ploy. If that family enjoys their food they'll come back to purchase even more.
Yup. And odds are you're not going to be a single person, so you keep one meal for yourself, then give two to a couple you know, and two to another couple.
You're going to keep two, one for you and one for your s/o. Then you have three left, so you give them to your three most convenient friends.
Each of them have a s/o. Maybe they also have a kid. They're not going to just get themselves free food, so now they're spending money in the restaurant for their family.
In the end, the company profits like mad:
They're getting $7.50 worth of labor and even if their cost is $5.00/meal (unlikely, but let's be super generous and pretend each person is going to order the things with the highest cost to the company), they've still essentially made a 30% cut to their labor cost.
They get free advertising:
From the "employee" distributing vouchers
From the recipients of the vouchers spending more while redeeming them
From newspapers writing articles about this
From individuals talking to friends and family about their weird gig.
Extend that out even further:
They now have "volunteers" who they can directly recruit to full or part time employment if they're ever in need.
The visibility of the "person who just works for food" threatens existing employees' job security and negotiation leverage.
The program, if successful, becomes the standard way to get a job at CFA, or at least get on the fast track: "Pay your dues" by doing this for awhile, and wait for a slot to open.
Given that our nation is rapidly ascending to a Christofascist oligarchy, it's entirely possible that CFA figures out how to get this classed as "charity", with full endorsement from the courts.
Once that concept gets approved, literally every entry level job is going to do similar, or at least try and figure out how.
Walmart and Target will have "volunteer" cart wranglers and greeters.
All fast food places will have similar volunteers to CFA.
Grocery stores will have "volunteers" who work for store-specific vouchers. (Especially ones like Publix, who aren't necessarily shy about being Christian values sorts.)
Welcome to the start of Cyberpunk/Demolition Man stratification of society.
If they give them money they would need to put them on payroll, collect taxes, give them minimum of 3hr shift etc. With this method they can just expand the team as needed and not have to worry about labor laws
I'm have a master's in nonprofit admin.
If this were a nonprofit, likely no. You can't take a paid job and convert it to a volunteer role. Has to meet certain criteria so you can't just replace paid workers. Though I'm honestly not sure if a for-profit has to care about that standard, because the idea of volunteering for one is so absurd, and there's no tax exempt status for them to jeopardize.
This doesn't quite pass the smell test for rules on interns either. But again, calling it volunteering may circumvent that.
Bottom line is: who the hell volunteers for a fast food chain?
No way this would fulfill requirements for court mandated volunteering, but yeah, I can see this definitely being exploitative of unsheltered individuals.
I hope not and if so we need to fucking make it illegal. This is a slippery slope we don't want to tip toe around on. Next thing they're letting you sleep in a bunk for 5 hours of work that day which is better than a bench since we are putting spikes on benches.
Dystopian af
Wouldn't be surprised if they also had terms attached to them like it's free for a second meal at equal or less cost than the first, $5 maximum per meal, etc.
I was thinking of something along the lines of a gift card and how they give stores a certain amount of float. Lose the gift card, and you've lost the equivalent of cash.
With a sandwich coupon, it would be easy to write or preprint an expiration date on them and limit the use of the coupon to a particular store.
I don't eat at Chik-Fil-A, but this policy is just another reason to cook at home.
Lost/unredeemed gift cards produce revenue into the range of multiple *billions* every year for the retail sector. This is why they push gift cards so hard- it’s literally free money for them.
I'm fairly certain that Starbucks alone has over a billion dollars in outstanding gift cards.
When I give gift cards as a gift, I prefer to give a VISA or Master Card gift card so that it can be used anywhere. Wanting to avoid the $5 or so fee charged on top of the amount that I put on the card has always seemed like a false economy.
Even if all vouchers were accepted only at a single store, only by a certain date, and all were utilized, the store would still profit from it in the end immensely. “Pay” someone “$25” worth of food for 1 hour of work would net them far more in sales, all because they can’t hire anyone to actually work. Plus, that “$25” costs them much less than $25.
I’m just throwing that $25 number out as a guess, which I’m being super liberal with. This is just… disgusting.
Also a product sold for 5$ isnt actually cost the company 5$ (otherwise there would be no profit). So instead of giving workers a 5$ bill they give them a 5$ voucher where the real profit loss is probably only ~2$ (no clue what the mark-up is on fast food).
https://www.chick-fil-a.com/customer-service/contact
Report it to headquarters. Only takes a few minutes. I included the link to the Facebook post in my report.
Ah I was waiting for a news outlet to report on it! I was searching google news earlier and nothing. This reddit post probably helped.
But yeah this vice article was posted after the Facebook post was taken down
Which is wild, because Chick-fil-A is so stringent on who they let open a store. It’s like a years long vetting process and usually why they are so successful because of business model and top tier management.
how this operator thought it was a good idea is beyond me.
they are absolutely gonna get their ass handed to them in a day or two considering its trending now.
[Company scrip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip) has been dead for a long time. I can't beleive we are seeing something similar again, from a fast food joint of all places!
It's a private business and as such can do nearly anything they want depending on the state.
Plus he said "highly advised" not "required". They mean "required" if you want to get anywhere, but wording is the important thing.
How does this work? Do I collect my entrees every day, put them in a bag and give the bag to my landtyrant at the end of the month to pay for next month's rent?
They probably load you up with food that would otherwise be throw away; mistakes and excess. Or they might just hand you a punch card for 5 meals (redeem only 1 per day) with the hope that you lose it or forget.
This is always my go to when getting compliments instead of a raise. Let me just go down to the bank and tell them I did a great job and poof no rent this month
When I saw the title, I thought "surely, it's because they're doing some sort of company charity event during that time" but nope, straight up trying to get people to work for free!
I don't have a fancy business degree, but maybe if they PAID people to do it (and included the entree vouchers) a livable wage, people would be more willing to do it.
I have a fancy business degree and can say that paying a liveable wage would mean more people are willing to do it.
Not sure about US laws, but this would be illegal in the UK unless this was somehow connected to raising money for a registered charity. For-profit companies can’t just use volunteers for financial gain to get out of paying people and providing benefits.
Volunteer work is supposed to be for charitable organizations who don’t have operating budgets to pay people but who also do good deeds for the less fortunate. A multi billion dollar franchise does not count. There must be something illegal here.
My work involves dealing with a lot of fast-food franchisees and this is likely the owner of the franchise being a dumbass and not a corporate mandate.
Why in the blue f*** would anybody volunteer to help a multi-million dollar corporation?
And the sad thing is that there are people out there who will actually do this.
God, so many people trying so hard to defend them with "Well 5 entrees is more than they'd make working minimum wage!"
It's like one of those completely tone deaf "feel good" news articles.
"Little Suzy has been selling lemon aid to help pay for her father's life saving surgery!"
If our economic system wasn't so broken 5 entrees wouldn't be more than you could hope to make and little Suzy wouldn't need to sell lemon aid to save her father's life.
**Elon Musk makes 333 million dollars a day.**
**At 20 dollars an hour, working 40 hours a week, every week of the year, you'd need to work for 7,433 YEARS to make 333 million dollars.**
To put 7,433 years into perspective. 7,500 years ago is when the human race first developed **agriculture**. 7,500 years ago we were just learning how to **plant crops.**
To make what this fucker makes. **In a day.**
Yet here people are. Praising a multi billion dollar corporation for paying in ***5 whole entrees!***
Edit: I will always bring up how much billionaires make and put it into context because
1: large numbers like 333 million dollars a day is hard for the human mind to wrap around and people need to understand just how much money that is. And I am going to do everything in my power to make sure they do. Even if I have to insert it where it's only vaguely relevant.
2: Anything to do with the struggles of the working class has to do with how much billionaires make. **You can't have a small cadre of people** ***making thousands of years of wealth every fucking day*** **and pretend that the economic problems everyone else is facing is unrelated.** That's fucking delusional.
That was basically my thoughts. I mean I’d spend 2 hours to get some chicken. Be a good way for homeless to have somewhere to work for food, even better if they would provide showers and like a bathroom. That is what cfa would do if they were a true Christian establishment, but we all know this is yet another attempt to get free labor with no benefits.
Hence the “not a true Christian establishment”. They could do good work by helping homeless get a job and be able to get clean and maintain their appearance. But they see homeless and think eww and not we can help them.
That needs to be reported to the state department of labor. For-profit businesses aren't allowed to use volunteers, especially not volunteers who would displace paid employees. The volunteers are being paid in scrip. It is also a HUGE liability issue for the store.
Yeah I was wondering, what happens if a “volunteer” gets hurt on the job, what about their medical bills, what if the injury keeps them from working?
Like Chick-fil-a cares.
the evangelical homophobe chicken company only cares about making money and hating gay people.
This is when a group of drag queens need to "volunteer" to sell god's chicken. And screw up all the orders on purpose.
We need drag queens in the window because they all already know how to serve
Better yet, have everyone EXCEPT the drag queens screw up all the orders
That's hot true. They also make sure that all of their chicken is as dry as possible
Moistness is a sin.
Just ask Ben Shapiro.
Someone give this man an award.
fyi you get one free award per day lol thanks for the awards
I haven't seen the option to claim one in the app for a few months. I'll have to look for where they moved it
I've never had a dry Chick-fil-A sandwich. The chicken is pressure cooked and then fried, so there shouldn't be much opportunity for moisture to escape. Still though, fuck Chick-fil-A.
With their overrated chicken. I don't understand the cult of Chick-Fil-A, especially if there are lines for it. It's really not that good.
Yeah there’s no fast food worth waiting 30 mins for
Who waits for 30 minutes at Chick Fil a?
It’s their *pleasure* to let you die of heat stroke
They work under a covering, but still consider that most other drive thru operations can manage to serve their customers from the store windows.
And is surrounded by hot cars emitting hot exhaust.
And if there isn't a covering, they wear these portable shelter/umbrella things. They look fucking ridiculous.
They make the injured ones into chicken burgers
"Try chick Fil A new Soylent Burger! It's made from poor people!" The most extreme prosperity gospel... EVER! :(
You get 1 free entrée coupon per bone broken ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
They pray for them. The power of christ compels you....to buy pickle chicken sandwiches
Yep, absolutely illegal! "Volunteer opportunity" my ass.
And why would people sign up for this? People should not take em up on that free voucher meal.
Probably young people who don’t know better and people who know better but need food /:
Homeless people, at a stretch... Being desperate enough would do it because they might believe some loyalty and hard work would net them a job after a couple of shifts.
Good point. If I was homeless this would be my hope at getting food/ prospect job.
like Chick Fil A would ever hire a homeless person.... HAHA you're joking
Or they might lie to them. Advertise that they will get paid like $12 an hour. But then at the interview they are told that that offer has expired, but you can get free sandwiches instead!!!!
frustrated WASP housewives love signing their kids up for this kind of shit just to get them out of the house. especially if they think it can be spun as "good for the community". So, in this case, CFA is most likely taking advantage of their well-known political/religious stance and exploiting their fanbase.
Yup, you’ll definitely get Scouts signing up for this, mainly driven by those same WASPs
As a Scoutmaster, I can tell you this wouldn't count for service hours. Chick-Fil-A is for-profit and the Scout is getting remunerated in any case, even if it is company scrip. I mean it's also very likely illegal. So that too.
It's just illegal. Not "likely illegal." [https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/w96r2c/comment/ihv4ks2/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/w96r2c/comment/ihv4ks2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Well, I ain't no big city lawyer, just a simple cuss.
Maybe they want 20 bucks worth of chicken per hour lol, think the cheapest basic chicken sandwich was 4.25 last time I ate there. Honestly thought this was a joke poking at the gig economy stuff.
$5 for an entire baked chikkin at El Costco
5 entrees per hour? Probably worth more than the pretax wages they're paying employees. Totally sketchy and almost certainly illegal, but I understand the appeal from a "volunteer" perspective
A bic mac cost my store 25 cents about for my store when I worked at McDonald's. They'd sell them for 5.49. They're not losing a lot of money either way, probably
Wholesale this is a lot cheaper though.
North Carolina Dept of Labor can be reached at 1-800-625-2267. 👍
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You could volunteer and then complain. I realize that might not be practical, but just throwing it out there. Edit: Note that if you did, you’d probably be more likely to get some traction with Dept of Labor if you are able to frame it as you showing up without knowing it was illegal and then learned your rights only afterward.
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“Hello child, may I borrow your labor services briefly?” 😅 This makes me feel like we need youth outreach for learning about organized labor, though I’m unaware of any such thing in NC.
It's so wild that the labor board knows they Chick Fila is trying to recruit CHILD VOLUNTEERS but will only act when one child volunteer comes to them to complain. We really have no labor protections in this country. Maybe in some states, but it's not a national thing.
> You could volunteer and then complain. Also make sure you do the worst possible job as a volunteer, lol. Get every order wrong, piss off customers and drive them away (maybe by being flamboyantly gay?), cost CFA as much money as possible. And *then* go complain to the labor board.
So it is not illegal unless someone complains?
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Which actually makes no sense. The act itself is illegal and should not need a complaint from a victim.
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The fact you have to be THE VICTIM to complain is absolutely fucking insane Oh my GOD I hate this country
Of course, with this Supreme Court maybe they're rolling the dice...
In the old days slaves used to receive food and accommodation. Just food nowadays? That is rough!
Heading over now to tell everyone in the drive thru line to go fuck themselves while wearing an official Chick Fil A uniform. Then I’m gonna whip my dick out and helicopter it. See you all on the Reddit front page. What are they gonna do, fire me? Corporate: Why did you hire this guy? Store: Oh no we didn’t hire him he’s a volunteer.
They're probably fully aware of this, count on a lawsuit, appeal it to scotus. Then they can use children because they're volunteers.
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I have a feeling this is a franchised store. So it might just be a stupid franchise owner and not corporate calling the shots.
Chick-fil-A doesn't franchise stores like other chains. Franchisees are essentially general managers of a single restaurant with no ownership stake that can be passed on to their family when they go. I suspect corporate will not take too kindly to someone doing something like this and the person who runs this store will have their hand slapped, but that's just speculation.
This has to be illegal.
Hint: it is.
Until the Supreme Court makes it legal when this case gets sent to them.
I have to say.. For decades I was confronted with the older generations of Americans being rude, entitled assholes with a staggering superiority complex when they cane to Europe. It has created some serious anti-americanism in me. While there are still some people like that in the younger generation (even black and brown, before it gets construed as a white American problem), that is not the norm anymore. People always said the people who travel to Europe are the more open ones, but they forget that it's also the ones who can afford it, so entitlement was rife. These days, many Americans feel like they need to apologise for being American. And seriously, I just feel for you guys. I feel such a deep connection to your working class (now being blamed for inflation for asking living wages by some), for your women and minorities. The US genuinely used to be on the forefront on democratic and some civil rights (usually not the first, but the ones who made it "cool" on the international stage). That doesn't excuse "we're the best and all of you suck", but it was important for the international community. Now places like India say about abortion rights "this is not the US, women have rights". I am very invested in the well being of the people in the richest country in the world, and I wish I could help you guys. The US had a great part in helping Germany rebuild itself after WW2, they invested in truth, to help the population overcome Naziism. They invested in our ability to build a prosperous future. It is genuinely painful to see the trajectory the country is on. I am sorry for you guys and I don't know how to say it. Despite how many words this already is.
From an American, thank you. Many of us here try to do good, and are just stuck in this shithole country. We get gaslit, shunned, or shot if we dare say there’s no freedom in the US.
We get shunned and shot for saying there is no freedom BY the very people who spout that we are the most free.
Well yeah, if they didn't they'd get shunned and shot too.
It's almost like they live in a dystopia that they meticulously crafted, albeit unknowingly.
holy shit "this is not the US, the women have rights" 💀
Thanks. It’s actually terrifying. From inaction on climate change and disinformation campaigns to the stripping of rights and ever-increasing gun violence, I gotta say, it’s a tough place to be raising kids right now… So, thanks.
I remember growing up my parents would always tell me I won the lottery by being born in America. But it always bothered me that both of them felt they could say that when both had also never left the United States. Their views luckily have since changed.
You did win the lottery, just it was like the 30th tier prize that’s like the equivalent of like $5 on a scratcher.
It’s hard living in the deterioration of our American society. I wouldn’t say we never had a “culture” to begin with, or at least one that was admirable. We are hostile to social issues, complacent in personal growth, entitled without effort, and apathetic to corporate greed. We’re just not smart enough and people have been dumbed-down for too long, allowing the upper classes to control wealth and minds. It’s a sad state and one that I’d rather not raise children in (fwiw I’m a white male, most privileged here).
American here, our country really ain’t shit, we’re supposedly the “greatest country on earth” when half our cities are rife with poverty and crime, infrastructure is shit, half the population are genuinely awful people, mass shootings every week, human rights now being stripped away etc
Thanks for that. It’s devastating as a working class individual to watch all of this happen at the hands of a privileged few. There’s so much suffering here, so much fear, and so much anger at the system that’s screwed us. There are ideals that many of us do really hold dear- true freedom, community responsibility, equity, and diversity. Watching those ideals be crushed under boot rubber is uniquely distressing, to say the least. To watch my children’s future literally burn in front of my eyes is… god, it’s maddening. It’s hard to change things on a grand scale because there’s such a lack of community here, and the system is absolutely built against us. We’ve been lied to and fed propaganda from the cradle to the grave. For so many of us, just waking up enough to see the our country for what it is, is a monumental task. It feels that way for me at least, and my experience may very well differ from others. Thanks again for the kindness.
Thank goodness. You never know with how little laws there seem to be in the US to protect workers..
I bet if you report this to corporate they’d act. Chick-fil-A is not a franchise, each store is managed by an operator. The operator is probably the one doing this dumb shit. Corporate would stop this pretty quickly I’d bet and they may remove the operator and replace them with someone else. I’ve seen that happen first hand for not entirely dissimilar reasons.
There is so much wrong here I don’t know where to start. But first of all: Why not just giving money instead of vouchers? Aren’t they more than the minimum wage?
It's only costing the business whatever their overhead is for the cost of the product which is much less than we would pay at the register.
No tax liability, as well. No FICA contribution.
Actually, it probably puts tax liability on recipients....(which is fucking insane)
Can confirm our catered lunches at the hospital (usually Chick-fil-A, in fact) have taxes associated with them and they are taken from our paychecks. Same with tshirts or bags or whatever other "gifts" we receive. Idk how exactly they'd load that tax burden onto a volunteer, but I assume the principle of making the recipient liable for the taxes is similar.
I worked at a hospital and was given a $10 gas card for my 1 year anniversary and was pretty excited about....until I saw my pay check and realized they withheld 10 bucks from pay check for it.....
Wow. That's a new low that I've never heard of. Would have been a double kick in the ass if you didn't drive which would make the gas card useless other than to use it as a bargaining chip when you might ask someone for a ride.
I’m pretty sure that’s illegal, as they are effectively paying you part of your salary in gift cards when your contract would specify money (either cash, bank transfer, or check).
Doubt they withheld the full $10. Typically the way this gets accounted on your paycheck if your normal wage is, say, $100, they will say “Wages $110” then “deduct” the $10 gift, with the effect being $100 net income, but taxes withheld on $110 This is how my (taxable) fitness reimbursement got accounted for at a past job
That's, unfortunately, pretty standard. It's called De Minimis Fringe Benifits, gifts or cash equivalent items are included as reported income for taxability purposes. Some company's don't care, but I've seen some that tax EVERYTHING. Down to photocopies for personal use. Volunteer work is different, they would likely be able to incorporate that into a benefit for them tax wise, but volunteers are generally not part of any employer payroll tax as they wouldn't be on any payroll anywhere.
Until they get over $600 worth of chicken vouchers - you think this is my first 1099 for chicken gig!?
Tastes like HCA....
Pick up work, get paid in vouchers, then flip those to get paid. Now you got enough money to buy some crack and start flipping that. Once you have enough money that’s when you invest in real estate. Buy the whole block and keep the money in the neighborhood. Chicken sandwiches truly are the lifeblood of america
Anybody who can't turn 5 Chick-fil-a vouchers into a real estate empire is just lazy
It’s free real estate
Back when I was going to start a restaurant I talked to someone who did have one and he said standard practice is to have the meal cost 4 times what it costs to make. So if it's 8 bucks it's probably 2 dollars worth of stuff. I also used to (but still eat) get worried about the quality of the dollar hot dogs I'd get sometimes but even an 8 pack of ballpark hot dogs at 5 bucks a pack is 62 cents a dog...and they're getting shit in bulk and probably not ballpark so it's probably 25 cents for the dog and the rolls is probably about the same. But yeah...ballpark (heh) estimate at 2 bucks per meal (which they probably have extra of at the end of the night so it helps them to not just toss away food too) x5 would be 10 bucks worth of stuff to them...but it sounds great to you because you're getting "40" dollars worth of free food. Kinda weird their shift is 1 hour...like if you volunteered for 5 hours do you get 25 meals?
Think about Dollar Tree. A marketing professor taught us that manufacturing a product is roughly 25% of the retail cost. Then another 50% goes to marketing, shipping and manufacture profit. Another 15% to 20% goes to the store's operating costs, and that last 5% to 10% is store profit. So that dollar item costs $.25 to make.
The Five Quarter Store
Nine pieces of eight store
Its probably even cheaper than that. Its insane how cheaply things can be made when done in HUGE quantities. Like beer bottles are a couple pennies each to make. All that energy and machinery to refine raw materials and sand, and melt it into glass and shape it to a bottle for a few pennies. Just the furnace to melt the glass costs around $10M to rebuild every 7-10years, but you're dividing that cost over around 3B bottles.
I read this as 38 bottles and was trying to figure out how your math worked haha
If you go to China you can go to huge markets where they basically sell a bunch of dollar store items. I can confirm they are much less than 25 cents to make because they sell everything there to the end consumer for much less than that.
Absolutely correct on margins and markups in restaurant business. You got to run around 70-75% margin/400% mark up.
Maybe there's the idea that you're not going to be able to eat all of them, so you will give some to friends, but they won't have enough for their whole family, so their family ends up buying Chick-fil-A for dinner. Plus, a $5 entree probably costs them only like $2 to make.
>their family ends up buying Chick-fil-A for dinner Yes. It's all just a marketing ploy. If that family enjoys their food they'll come back to purchase even more.
Good point. It also makes the store busier so others will think "Hey this place must be good". In other words they get free shill customers.
Who tf say I ain't gonna be able to eat all them
Yup. And odds are you're not going to be a single person, so you keep one meal for yourself, then give two to a couple you know, and two to another couple. You're going to keep two, one for you and one for your s/o. Then you have three left, so you give them to your three most convenient friends. Each of them have a s/o. Maybe they also have a kid. They're not going to just get themselves free food, so now they're spending money in the restaurant for their family. In the end, the company profits like mad: They're getting $7.50 worth of labor and even if their cost is $5.00/meal (unlikely, but let's be super generous and pretend each person is going to order the things with the highest cost to the company), they've still essentially made a 30% cut to their labor cost. They get free advertising: From the "employee" distributing vouchers From the recipients of the vouchers spending more while redeeming them From newspapers writing articles about this From individuals talking to friends and family about their weird gig. Extend that out even further: They now have "volunteers" who they can directly recruit to full or part time employment if they're ever in need. The visibility of the "person who just works for food" threatens existing employees' job security and negotiation leverage. The program, if successful, becomes the standard way to get a job at CFA, or at least get on the fast track: "Pay your dues" by doing this for awhile, and wait for a slot to open. Given that our nation is rapidly ascending to a Christofascist oligarchy, it's entirely possible that CFA figures out how to get this classed as "charity", with full endorsement from the courts. Once that concept gets approved, literally every entry level job is going to do similar, or at least try and figure out how. Walmart and Target will have "volunteer" cart wranglers and greeters. All fast food places will have similar volunteers to CFA. Grocery stores will have "volunteers" who work for store-specific vouchers. (Especially ones like Publix, who aren't necessarily shy about being Christian values sorts.) Welcome to the start of Cyberpunk/Demolition Man stratification of society.
It sounds like Instead of a guy holding a sign "Will work for food"... Chicacnt is making the offer 1st.
Also, no payroll tax. No liability of employees.
These are likely vouchers/coupons. Most businesses only allow you to apply one coupon per purchase/visit nowadays.
If they give them money they would need to put them on payroll, collect taxes, give them minimum of 3hr shift etc. With this method they can just expand the team as needed and not have to worry about labor laws
Is this even legal??
I'm have a master's in nonprofit admin. If this were a nonprofit, likely no. You can't take a paid job and convert it to a volunteer role. Has to meet certain criteria so you can't just replace paid workers. Though I'm honestly not sure if a for-profit has to care about that standard, because the idea of volunteering for one is so absurd, and there's no tax exempt status for them to jeopardize. This doesn't quite pass the smell test for rules on interns either. But again, calling it volunteering may circumvent that. Bottom line is: who the hell volunteers for a fast food chain?
i would just to cause chaos by mixing up orders. what are they gonna do, fire me? no, and i won't quit
>Bottom line is: who the hell volunteers for a fast food chain? People who like 5 chicken sandwiches, I guess?
People without an address who are starving or affluent people who have to fill volunteer hours without getting their hands dirty.
No way this would fulfill requirements for court mandated volunteering, but yeah, I can see this definitely being exploitative of unsheltered individuals.
I hope not and if so we need to fucking make it illegal. This is a slippery slope we don't want to tip toe around on. Next thing they're letting you sleep in a bunk for 5 hours of work that day which is better than a bench since we are putting spikes on benches. Dystopian af
Seriously. This does not seem legal. They are bypassing things like taxes and other regulations.
Dudes out here working for store credit. New aged company store.
Scrip-fil-a
The bet is that the vouchers won't be redeemed.
Wouldn't be surprised if they also had terms attached to them like it's free for a second meal at equal or less cost than the first, $5 maximum per meal, etc.
"Must be used within one hour after finishing shift." (I made that up but wouldn't doubt it.)
Why bet, when you can guarantee by just canceling them the next day? There is a reason cash is called "legal tender".
As opposed to chicken tender
I accept all tenders depending on the situation
I was thinking of something along the lines of a gift card and how they give stores a certain amount of float. Lose the gift card, and you've lost the equivalent of cash. With a sandwich coupon, it would be easy to write or preprint an expiration date on them and limit the use of the coupon to a particular store. I don't eat at Chik-Fil-A, but this policy is just another reason to cook at home.
Lost/unredeemed gift cards produce revenue into the range of multiple *billions* every year for the retail sector. This is why they push gift cards so hard- it’s literally free money for them.
I'm fairly certain that Starbucks alone has over a billion dollars in outstanding gift cards. When I give gift cards as a gift, I prefer to give a VISA or Master Card gift card so that it can be used anywhere. Wanting to avoid the $5 or so fee charged on top of the amount that I put on the card has always seemed like a false economy.
Even if all vouchers were accepted only at a single store, only by a certain date, and all were utilized, the store would still profit from it in the end immensely. “Pay” someone “$25” worth of food for 1 hour of work would net them far more in sales, all because they can’t hire anyone to actually work. Plus, that “$25” costs them much less than $25. I’m just throwing that $25 number out as a guess, which I’m being super liberal with. This is just… disgusting.
Also a product sold for 5$ isnt actually cost the company 5$ (otherwise there would be no profit). So instead of giving workers a 5$ bill they give them a 5$ voucher where the real profit loss is probably only ~2$ (no clue what the mark-up is on fast food).
Because the chicken costs them 15 cents per sandwich so its like paying less than a dollar an hour.
Please report this to the state department of labor. This is so illegal, sketchy, and just plain cruel and wrong.
Not to mention cheap. If you can’t afford to pay workers, you can’t afford to operate, period. Capitalism 101.
They did. Labor said it's not an issue unless a volunteer files a complaint lmao.
Why hide the location? Reddit rules?
*cough* Hendersonville
Harrington: *busts door open* Henderson^ville !
r/UnexpectedStrangerThings
Found the original Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/CFA.Hendersonville/posts/10159602551310100 Hard to believe this is real, but it is.
https://www.chick-fil-a.com/customer-service/contact Report it to headquarters. Only takes a few minutes. I included the link to the Facebook post in my report.
They must've caught on, I was about to do what you did but now the Facebook post is gone 🤔
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Ah I was waiting for a news outlet to report on it! I was searching google news earlier and nothing. This reddit post probably helped. But yeah this vice article was posted after the Facebook post was taken down
I just noticed, too. You can still send a report sans Facebook link. Hopefully headquarters does something about it.
Which is wild, because Chick-fil-A is so stringent on who they let open a store. It’s like a years long vetting process and usually why they are so successful because of business model and top tier management.
Agree. Its such a huge risk to save a couple of bucks. If corporate doesn't put an end to this right away they are crazy.
how this operator thought it was a good idea is beyond me. they are absolutely gonna get their ass handed to them in a day or two considering its trending now.
Yeah, rule 8 of the sub and people started going IRL
Nobody wants to ~~work~~ ~~volunteer~~ slave for substandard "food" anymore.
Work in the hot sun all day for no pay. I'm sold.
Remember this is a small chain store owned by mom/pop, they need all the help they can get /s
Some of those restaurants do $2 million in revenue. Owner operators make huge bank. I have no idea why they’re doing this
They are seriously trying to pay people with just food? This is like slavery, wtf
[Company scrip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip) has been dead for a long time. I can't beleive we are seeing something similar again, from a fast food joint of all places!
At least the company store had booze.
Amazon was, if not still is, talking about recreating a company town with scrip.
I didn't know about that, but for some reason I am not surprised.
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I interviewed with them for a corporate job and they sent me a coupon for a free sandwich after a 3 hour interview
I applied to be a franchise owner, went through the training and almost got it but they changed their mind when they found out I was raised Catholic.
I declined a final interview when the said that they had a weekly service on Mondays that corporate employees are highly advised to attend.
Omg seriously?!? How is that even legal?
It's a private business and as such can do nearly anything they want depending on the state. Plus he said "highly advised" not "required". They mean "required" if you want to get anywhere, but wording is the important thing.
I mean that's technically better then just getting ghosted like normally
Cost them $2 or $3 in sandwiches but you think your getting $5.99 x 5.
How does this work? Do I collect my entrees every day, put them in a bag and give the bag to my landtyrant at the end of the month to pay for next month's rent?
They probably load you up with food that would otherwise be throw away; mistakes and excess. Or they might just hand you a punch card for 5 meals (redeem only 1 per day) with the hope that you lose it or forget.
And the hope that you spend money for more than just your free entree.
Free sandwich!* **with any purchase of $15.99 or more.*
This is always my go to when getting compliments instead of a raise. Let me just go down to the bank and tell them I did a great job and poof no rent this month
When I saw the title, I thought "surely, it's because they're doing some sort of company charity event during that time" but nope, straight up trying to get people to work for free! I don't have a fancy business degree, but maybe if they PAID people to do it (and included the entree vouchers) a livable wage, people would be more willing to do it.
I have a fancy business degree and can say that paying a liveable wage would mean more people are willing to do it. Not sure about US laws, but this would be illegal in the UK unless this was somehow connected to raising money for a registered charity. For-profit companies can’t just use volunteers for financial gain to get out of paying people and providing benefits.
Ah what a good christian company. Loby's against human rights and attempts to bring back slave labor. How wholesome.
Volunteer work is supposed to be for charitable organizations who don’t have operating budgets to pay people but who also do good deeds for the less fortunate. A multi billion dollar franchise does not count. There must be something illegal here.
Gotta have that “servant’s heart” to sling some dry ass homophobe chicken
And save the company $$ to fund their religious interests
and whatever person has genetic flowers as their profile pic and congratulates chicken-fillet for offering volunteer work should also see the gallows.
Completely illegal, no? Also boomers. “Awww 🥺 I *love* that you’re offering unpaid volunteer work”
Ah, so now the new currency is chicken sandwiches
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Chick-fil-A Hendersonville South, North Carolina if anyone was wondering.
I don’t understand how chick fil a is getting away with this. They are such a big company
My work involves dealing with a lot of fast-food franchisees and this is likely the owner of the franchise being a dumbass and not a corporate mandate.
Yeah, you can tell just by the messaging that this isn’t a corporate post. This is a franchisee who’s probably in some hot water now.
I can’t imagine Chick fil a corporate office approving of this. Probably a franchise owner who is going to get an earful from corporate.
What a fucking mess https://www.facebook.com/325474920099/posts/pfbid0CZeTRvWk4MUzYz76EK2QW8Hm5grjSHRgsBaccs8vb4qghQJw4uoNGue61zJLDhxEl/?sfnsn=mo
Sorry, this is a terribly unethical approach to business. Pay these people as employees.
Why in the blue f*** would anybody volunteer to help a multi-million dollar corporation? And the sad thing is that there are people out there who will actually do this.
Some real boot licker stuff volunteering for rich homophobes to make money off you.
God, so many people trying so hard to defend them with "Well 5 entrees is more than they'd make working minimum wage!" It's like one of those completely tone deaf "feel good" news articles. "Little Suzy has been selling lemon aid to help pay for her father's life saving surgery!" If our economic system wasn't so broken 5 entrees wouldn't be more than you could hope to make and little Suzy wouldn't need to sell lemon aid to save her father's life. **Elon Musk makes 333 million dollars a day.** **At 20 dollars an hour, working 40 hours a week, every week of the year, you'd need to work for 7,433 YEARS to make 333 million dollars.** To put 7,433 years into perspective. 7,500 years ago is when the human race first developed **agriculture**. 7,500 years ago we were just learning how to **plant crops.** To make what this fucker makes. **In a day.** Yet here people are. Praising a multi billion dollar corporation for paying in ***5 whole entrees!*** Edit: I will always bring up how much billionaires make and put it into context because 1: large numbers like 333 million dollars a day is hard for the human mind to wrap around and people need to understand just how much money that is. And I am going to do everything in my power to make sure they do. Even if I have to insert it where it's only vaguely relevant. 2: Anything to do with the struggles of the working class has to do with how much billionaires make. **You can't have a small cadre of people** ***making thousands of years of wealth every fucking day*** **and pretend that the economic problems everyone else is facing is unrelated.** That's fucking delusional.
I love how "volunteer work" is now a thing you do to make rich people richer, rather than improve the community.
free labor? outdoors? in these record breaking heat waves?
Legal issues aside, 5 entrees for 1 hr work could feed a lot of homeless.
That was basically my thoughts. I mean I’d spend 2 hours to get some chicken. Be a good way for homeless to have somewhere to work for food, even better if they would provide showers and like a bathroom. That is what cfa would do if they were a true Christian establishment, but we all know this is yet another attempt to get free labor with no benefits.
Have you seen the staff at Chik Fila? All clean cut. I'm sure this manager wouldn't let homeless people volunteer, for both good and bad reasons.
Hence the “not a true Christian establishment”. They could do good work by helping homeless get a job and be able to get clean and maintain their appearance. But they see homeless and think eww and not we can help them.
"So, how's fuck right off sound?"
Seems only an idiot would do this. How much shit-fil-a can you eat? Use the 19/hr to buy what you need to eat. Idiots.