How to ruin your business in 4 hours

[brucetiki]

Step 1 - To protest against paying your staff penalty rates, put out a glossy sign showing their menu at 2.5 times the normal prices to gather public support against them having to pay penalty rates.

Step 2 - Respond to the overwhelming negative response to the sign by labelling those speaking out against their sign as 'idiots'

Step 3 - Write a rather meek apology in attempt to salvage their ruined reputation.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/busine...-1226806287189

And of course, their Facebook page is now full of public holiday references

https://www.facebook.com/theBombayBC?fref=ts

[fireheart]

Heh I saw that today. The place in question is known for having fairly decent food...people will continue to pay the rates for the holidays.

[Argabarga]

"We didn't mean to insult anyone"


Oh, so calling us all "idiots" was just a good old-fashioned jest? No hard feelin's?

[fireheart]

I should add that this requires a bit of context to fully understand the situation:

Basically, my state (where said restaurant is) does not allow most shops and restaurants to open on public holidays, barring one or two-namely Easter Saturday, Christmas Eve and one of the New Years (eve or day, not entirely sure). If a public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday (barring Easter), then the Monday is taken off as well and counted.

If a shop is open on a day that is considered a public holiday (at the moment it's mostly Easter Saturday, Christmas Eve from a certain time period, Boxing Day, Proclamation Day and the upcoming Australia Day holiday), they are usually obligated to pay their staff penalty rates. Depending on the award (basic rights for that specific industry-union agreements come on TOP of these but are much more common), the penalty rate can be anything from time-and-a-half (usually on Sundays) to double-time-and-a-half (public holidays).

The minimum wage is around $15p.h or so for an adult worker. Double time-and-a-half would put that up to $40 p.h.
When I was working retail, I was grousing about this namely for the issue that has come up here about staff being forced to work holidays instead of spending time with their loved ones. I'm out of retail, but still have issues with this...although since I have left, I believe it has become law that a company MUST call for volunteers first to work those shifts so that staff who need the day off get the day off and the company doesn't automatically gravitate towards the 15-year-olds who don't know their rights. (Also denying an adult who wants to work the shift over a 15-year-old who doesn't because the 15-year-old is cheaper to pay is illegal...yes, paying the 15-year-old less is legal in my state.)

It has not become enshrined in law yet about public holiday pay, but shops and restaurants are allowed to apply to open on those days provided they can pay the staff!

[JustaCashier]

Thanks for the clarification on "Penalty Rate", fireheart, I was curious about the term, and why it was stated as such, rather than simply "O/T", or "Holiday Pay".

Anyway, no matter what one feels about businesses being assessed such a charge, or what dollar amount the charge should be, the one thing that really stood out for me, was the posting of the (prominent) sign in the first place. As noted throughout the article, very insulting, and demeaning to the Employees. I hate to imagine the flack that Staff must have had to have taken from Customers, whether "just joking", or outright insulting.

And then there's the calling the Customers "idiots"....

Mike

[brucetiki]

Another Hotel (the Grace Emily) have had a bit of fun at the Bombay Bicycle Club's expense

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/s...-1226809013308

As the article states, however, the two pubs are quite different.