So I work(ed) at a coffee shop franchise and it was run like hell. We got paid significantly less than non-franchise, regularly not paid on time, and we had to fight to get holiday pay. Then they cut our labour budget, so we were frequently running on 1-2 staff, and if we were lucky 3 staff for the entire day. My store was a cafe/drive-thru as well, so we’d usually have to solo-work on one queue each.
For the past year (maybe longer), we’d frequently joke that we were going to strike, usually after pay-day when we weren’t actually paid. But we never did, because we knew we’d just be fired instantly.
And then the longest-standing manager (of 19 years) handed in her notice. Over the next 2 weeks, 4 staff in her store (a 7 person team) also handed in their notice. In the other local store, 5 people handed in their notice (a 6 person team + 2 new hires).
The area managers are shitting themselves. Nobody was expecting it, even though work conditions have gotten considerably worse lately. Last time when quite a few people quit across our area manager’s stores (nowhere near this level) she was panicking and trying to find out from us why everyone was leaving because her boss was pissed.
It genuinely feels so good. And we’re also still meeting up with each other and staying friends despite no longer working together, which is great because the only reason we all stayed so long was because of each other.