Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

James19991 t1_j74o7hr wrote

Reply to comment by kittenshart85 in A (now former) Mad Mex Oakland employee weighs in by VacantLot412

What the hell? Bus service in Oakland is solid.

98

Significant-Nail-987 t1_j76uv2m wrote

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.

8

i-smell_like_beeef t1_j77bjpr wrote

Monika was a saint and they did her dirty.

8

Significant-Nail-987 t1_j797ad1 wrote

I just wanna throw it out there. Tom Baron was in the process of planning a dope going away/retirement party for her when the others in the company went over him and more or less fired her. When he found out he was sad and pissed but he couldn't do anything. If nothing else, he did care.

5

mistie_gish t1_j77h04r wrote

What did they do to Monika? I loved that woman.

2

i-smell_like_beeef t1_j77mcak wrote

They pushed her to retire. She wanted to stay on as a hostess and they wouldn’t let her. She left in tears. It was so sad.

3

mistie_gish t1_j77mnvo wrote

That's terrible. She was beloved.

3

i-smell_like_beeef t1_j77msy8 wrote

She really was. She had some incredible stories and she was so loyal to them. Just goes to show you…..

2

i-smell_like_beeef t1_j79v1gr wrote

I will 1000% agree to this and do appreciate you saying this. Big sucks and Tom may be… out of tune with a lot, but he did really care for her and honestly a lot of employees. He’s just… unhinged I think? Disengaged? And said/did some really screwed up things but Idk. But he did really care for her. (And others, despite the music thing lol) I just think all of them are just so out of tune. Minus Bill Fuller who is just a POS

2

hubbyofhoarder t1_j77aijj wrote

Tom Baron is still there, wtf are you talking about?

1

i-smell_like_beeef t1_j77bbhp wrote

They pushed Tom Barron to ‘founder’ and Fuller to president. CK is the majority holder these days. To be fair they pushed Tom to that position bc he was a bit of a liability. Sooo as far as I know, Tom just adjusts lights, complains about food and makes decor decisions these days.

7

hubbyofhoarder t1_j77c1eb wrote

Tom just adjusts lights turns lights down, complains about food and music choices, and makes decor decisions these days

FTFY

At one place, there were 2 music choices he didn't hate: Gypsy Kings and Al Green. He would complain about any other music being played

4

i-smell_like_beeef t1_j77dbjk wrote

Perfect edit. If you know, you know. I swear upper management is just soo painfully out of touch.

3

kittenshart85 t1_j79r03o wrote

they heard "bus" and didn't listen to a word i said after, many of which were strung together to point out that a bus picks up 50ft from my front door and drops off 2 blocks from the location.

2

James19991 t1_j7basdy wrote

That's ridiculous. Despite what so many people in the sub say because they always want to compare it to somewhere like Chicago or Boston, if you're in the city or inner ring suburbs, the bus service here is generally fine.

2