"No employees showing up today. We are unable to fulfill the orders!!! We are sorry!!!"

[Demovictory9]

Boston Market closes without notice, leaving customers without their prepaid Thanksgiving meals


Customers who showed up at a Boston Market in Rancho Cucamonga to pick up their preordered Thanksgiving meals got an unpleasant surprise when they arrived at the restaurant.

A shocking sign was posted on the door that read: "No employees showing up today. We are unable to fulfill the orders!!! We are sorry!!!"

Customers were in disbelief when they found out the restaurant was closed.

"I have family coming over, and it's just a shame that Boston Market did this to all the people," said Arthur Lozano, a disappointed customer.

Customer Frankia Medina said she didn't receive any type of notice beforehand and now has to figure out what to serve for dinner.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/ie-boston-market-closes-without-notice-leaving-customers-without-their-prepaid-thanksgiving-meals/ar-AAR92L9

[Doremus]

1. At least one employee showed up to post the letter on the door.

They couldn't stay awhile longer to issue refunds? Some people don't have the extra $$ to buy another whole meal while waiting for a refund to process.

A little compassion on Thanksgiving is too much to ask I guess.

[DBoon]

5. or maybe send them to another Boston Market

then later reimburse that store.

[Miguelito Loveless]

7. I don't know that a minimum wage job

Would pay enough for me to deal with the very angry and aggressive folk now a days who would not take such news very well.

[XanaDUer2]

53. Yeah, I would have posted it

And gotten out of Dodge

[wackadoo wabbit]

40. How about some compassion for the minimum-wage worker who showed up to post the letter?

Assuming that's how the note got posted.

If Boston Market paid their employees enough, I'm sure that there are people who would have been willing to work there today.

At least somebody cared enough to post a note. They didn't have to do that. (Unless it was the franchise owner, in which case they should have stayed and given people their food or a refund.)

[Hortensis]

64. :) Poor people don't buy prepared TG dinners at Boston Market.

It's not exactly a dollar store and only locates in middle class neighborhoods. Compassion's fine, but some need it and some don't.

I do have a sympathetic oh-well for the inconvenience and aggravation of the customers, and that would have been appropriate for me if I'd been one of them. We were out yesterday in our town, and there were plenty of markets and restaurants open to make sure no one went hungry, or had to cook.

I'm looking forward to hearing, hopefully, how it was that no one came to work. I can readily believe that one person couldn't have fulfilled the orders; we're talking a lot of food going out over a short period. I don't believe the notice-poster left to avoid being torn limb from limb by an enraged mob of over-politicized turkeys.

[at140]

2. My niece in Murietta, CA had no such problem

She picked up pre-ordered thanksgiving meal and said it was quite good.

[JI7]

3. From Boston MArket ?

[Raine]

30. Sure ... some years back my family ordered food from Boston Market for Thanksgiving

it was good, there was nothing wrong with it.

[JI7]

37. i'm not questioning the quality of the food. I'm asking if they picked up from Boston Market

because the OP is about Boston Market .

[DBoon]

4. Treating customers like they were employees

As in giving employees no notice their store is closed, which happens much too frequently

[TheBlackAdder]

34. Well, I guess that's a hundred families that won't be getting the shits💩 on Thanksgiving🦃! 🤣🤣🤣

.

That's something they could be thankful about!

.

[skypilot]

6. Unable to fulfill the orders???

Did they prepare the food for ANY orders? I don't know how things work at Boston Market but years ago I worked at a small Mom and Pop operation that made dinners for dozens of people for lots of holidays, including Thanksgiving. The food was not made on the pick up day, but on the previous day and then packed up with the customers' names attached. The food was ready for pickup on the day it was needed. If (hypothetically) no employees showed up the food would still have been there and whomever was there to put up a sign would have been there to fulfill at least SOME orders rather than let all that food go to waste. So, I'm just wondering if Boston Market had prepared ANY of the food for these orders at this particular location and, if not, why weren't the customers notified beforehand.

[former9thward]

8. Maybe they didn't show the previous day.

That is the most likely problem.

[skypilot]

10. If employees didn't show up...

...on the previous day then Boston Market had all of that day to notify customers that their orders would not be available on the NEXT day

[former9thward]

11. How do you know they didn't try?

People don't answer their phones anymore. Why is a business automatically at fault no matter the circumstances?

[PTWB]

14. Why wouldn't the business be at fault in this case?

[former9thward]

18. For employees not showing up without any notice?

Can't believe the question is being asked?

[PTWB]

54. Is the business or responsible for that in your world view?

Hire quality employees. Pay them quality wages. They’ll show up.

This is absolutely on the business.

[former9thward]

55. Oh its so easy, isn't it?

What is a "quality wage"? Please be specific.

[PTWB]

56. Oh that's easy.

In this case, that would be the wage at which the pool of potential employees you hire from doesn’t include folks so unreliable that sometimes no one shows up.

Let’s start with a living wage and go up from there. In San Bernardino County, let’s start at $25 / hour and go up from there.

Now it’s your turn. In your mind, how is an employer not responsible for the quality of employees they hire?

[former9thward]

59. You made the answer easy.

At $25 a hour and "go up from there" the place would have to raise prices so high they would have no customers. So all their employees, quality or not, would be at home making $0 a hour.

[PTWB]

60. Nonsense.

So you don't think the employer bears responsibility for hiring quality employees, eh? Telling.

[we can do it]

16. Voice mail? Text message? Email?

It’s not that hard,

[former9thward]

19. I guess you have it all figured out.

[we can do it]

23. Consideration and decency, yeah I have that figured out.

No wonder people don’t show up at a place the manager can’t be bothered to inform people they have no Thanksgiving dinner.

[skypilot]

17. Do you have a dog in this fight?

I am going by what is said in the article. The article says that a sign was put up stating that BM was unable to fulfill any orders. If they tried (and failed) to notify customers I would think that that would have been mentioned in the article. Did I miss it?

[former9thward]

20. I doubt the writer did a lot of research for the article.

Its not an earth shaking event. What is your dog?

[skypilot]

21. I'm sure he did more research than you.

So done with you. Have a nice life.

[johnp3907]

9. This was my first Thanksgiving working at Whole Foods.

The way we did the orders was just as you described.

[JI7]

39. Yes, that's why i'm wondering how this happened

I'm guessing these things have to be prepared for ahead of time . Also they have other locations so coudn't they have arranged things like pick up somewhere else if possible. I just don't see how this happens .

[Mopar151]

12. I'm thinking the manager skated with $$$$$

Last edited Thu Nov 25, 2021, 11:47 PM - Edit history (2)

May already be working elsewhere. When did all the help quit?

Rancho Cucamonga is just west of Fontana, near Ontario, fwiw. Not the OC! My friend lived there in the late 70's "Might be California, bit it's more like everywhere else!"

[msongs]

15. it is in san bernardino county near ontario nt

[LoisB]

25. Nowhere near Compton. Almost 50 miles away in a different county.

[msongs]

13. if nobody showed up not surprising customers got no notice nt

[skypilot]

24. But the food would still be there...

...for pick up if it had ever been prepared to begin with. For how many days have these Boston Market employees not shown up for work?

[VarryOn]

22. My wife and I have noticed the quality of food and service...

At many of our favorite restaurants have really gone down. And I'm not talking about fast food, but even nicer places we go to.

[Enter stage left]

26. Maybe you should call your f'n shareholders...

get them out of bed at 5:00 am, pay them $7.50 an hour and tell them to get the fuck to work, you ungrateful slaves.

See how well that works for you!

[AllTooEasy]

41. And just how would that work logistically?

Last edited Fri Dec 3, 2021, 05:11 PM - Edit history (2)

Boston Market CEO: Hey Bob. Your company’s retirement plan bought into a diversified mutual fund that hosts 100s of stocks, one of which is for a company that holds a non-controlling interest in the parent company of Boston Market. No employees are showing up today at a Boston Market in Ranch Cucamonga. You need to report to this restaurant at 5am tomorrow for training on food preparation, followed by an 8 hour shift.

Bob: I install fiberoptic cables in Memphis, and what if I don’t?

Boston Market CEO: ughhh….

Bob: Yeah, I thought so (click)

[cinematicdiversions]

63. You mean like schoolteachers and stuff?

Stock is owned by pension funds and index funds.

[Demobrat]

27. For NOBODY to show up for work

sorta tells me they had some hella pissed off employees.

[cadoman]

31. a loose labor market and decades of corporate ill will led to this

Basically, when you know your boss has your back, cares about your work and you as a person, and lives in your neighborhood, you suck it up and help them out on a holiday.

When your boss is a corporate shithead that lives in a completely different city and makes edicts that effects the lives of thousands of employees from the comfort of their couch, you understand that you owe that shithead nothing, and when they _instruct_ you to show up on a holiday at the last minute, you say sure, and then blow them off and take another job because the market is great right now.

And you do it with a completely clear conscience because it was an obviously broken employment relationship.

And this is why I keep some frozen meats around to cook up in a pinch.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

28. "I have family coming over, and it's just a shame that Boston Market did this to all the people,"

Maybe the employees had people coming over too.

[AllTooEasy]

38. Then the employees should pay the refunds

They knew ahead of time that they had to work on Thanksgiving. I’ve been in that situation too. I showed up. I didn’t leave the customers in my neighborhood, who struggled in the same economic environment, hanging.

[uncle ray]

49. punch up, not down.

[myohmy2]

29. "We are unable to fulfill the orders!!!"

...but management was more than able to take customer money...

..(if pertinent, a big thumbs-up to the employees and their timing)..

...I can't believe management didn't know something could be wrong or amiss with their employees...(maybe unresolved grievances?)

...being an old Union Steward, management used to beat me over the head with "management's right to manage"...

...from the customers point of view, management should have found a way to fill their orders as best they could or found alternatives from other stores...

...wanna manage?

...then manage...

[we can do it]

51. THIS!

...wanna manage?

...then manage...

[LizBeth]

57. That is what I think when I hear, no employees to make salad dressing, or fill orders.

I managed a cleaners. People wouldn't show for one reason or another and that meant I was doing the job. If too much or more than one didn't show manager from other shops would come in and help, or send other employees over. Husband owned a business. Someone didn't show, he stepped in. What a manager does, part of job description.

That manager could well be making that dressing all the customers want. Half hour of their time.

[zaj]

32. Failed leadership and ownership

Whoever put up the sign can cook the meals. Whoever owns the store can cook the meals. Your responsible. Get the work done.

[aggiesal]

33. Probably paying their employees straight pay ...

instead of double time for a holiday.

I don't know Boston Market's hourly payment policy, so I'm just spitballing.

[Demobrat]

44. Probably paying straight pay,

putting them on the schedule at the last minute and expecting them to ditch their own holiday plans to come in to work.

[SunSeeker]

35. On Tuesday, the place we were supposed to pick up our Thanksgiving meal canceled all orders.

At least they called us and gave us 2 days notice. We scrambled to find a turkey, thaw it and shop for fixings. We never were able to find Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, but we didn't miss it. Still had a great Thanksgiving. And saved about $50. I assume our restaurant (we're also in Southern California) canceled the orders because it was clear they wouldn't have enough people showing up to handle the orders, like the Boston Market, or maybe they didn't get enough orders to make it worthwhile to open up. Either way, their employees got a nice Thanksgiving, and so did we.

[FakeNoose]

36. They made customers pay up front and then they stiffed them

That is completely unacceptable. "We're sorry" is useless and lame. If that happened to me I'd be furious. Boston Market owes these customers a 100% refund, and then they need to close their doors because they shouldn't be in business.

[Hekate]

46. If the upfront payment is via credit card, customers should call their card company to stop payment

That is something that can be done immediately.

[Blue_Adept]

52. They're being refunded.

“We are in the process of refunding the Thanksgiving order(s) of every guest impacted by our Rancho Cucamonga location. We sincerely apologize to every guest who placed an order and came to the restaurant today,” Slaton stated.

https://ktla.com/news/customers-left-without-thanksgiving-meals-after-rancho-cucamonga-boston-market-sees-no-show-of-workers/

[Hekate]

45. A competent manager would have gotten on the phone or text immediately to let people know

What a disaster.

[we can do it]

50. My thoughts too.

[onethatcares]

47. there aren't a bunch of people

standing in the kitchen at BM waiting to fill your order for Thanksgiving. The line would stretch for miles with Ken and Karen asking for the whole bird, minus the dark meat and only two spoons of filling, is the gravy vegan and hold the salt on my sweet potatos cause Aunt Chrissy has something and can't eat them but Uncle Bob wants his green bean casserole in a seperate cup.

No, these things are made in advance and frozen or refrigerated until pick up day.

But the commercials for Boston Market are so, so, homey. Management f...d up.

Way to solve the problem: All orders must be placed by the Monday prior to the THURSDAY that the holiday falls on. All orders must be picked up by the WEDNESDAY PRIOR TO THE THURSDAY that the holiday falls on.

Addendum: We will be closed Thanksgiving day so our employees can spend time with their families on this blessed day. There may or may not be a Bob Evans somewhere that will take care of you. Thank you for your support.

[ecstatic]

48. Yuck on multiple levels

I tried with them multiple times but their food is nasty and way overpriced.

[Takket]

58. a loved one had a similar experience.......

They could not arrange anything for Thanksgiving because they literally on short notice had to leave the country for a funeral.

So yesterday they were going to go to Boston Market that said it was open and try to get something to eat for today. When they got there the store had closed early. Not really sure why, maybe it was slow so they just called it a day?

they ended up going to a Denny's for carryout (Denny's has Thanksgiving? I had no idea.)

[taxi]

61. Four Seaons Landscaping had the same thing happen.

[Scrivener7]

62. Walkout of all the employees on the same day. Hmmmmm.....

[Demobrat]

65. Yep it does make you wonder.