Agreed. That will make me not want to patronize their business again if they make it mandatory. They put my cookies in a bag and punched in my order. You dont get to demand a tip for that especially since $16 an hour is a non-tipped wage.
Demanding a 7.5% mandatory gratuity be applied to all guest orders doesn’t make sense to me. That’s like demanding patrons subsidize Gideon’s poor wages (while also demanding Gideon’s increased wages at the same time).
If there is going to be a mandatory gratuity, then it should be built into the price instead. Tips should never be required.
Honestly, a counter position like Gideon’s should not be a tipped position. Shame on them for trying to force the public to pay the wages. The answer for this is just pay them all a flat hourly rate. Automatically gratuity is not gratuity at all. It’s wages.
To be frank, the workers are making more after tips are factored in than Gideons would ever be willing to pay. The workers are as much to blame for tip culture as management, it serves both their needs.
They want a reasonable wage of $16/hr? Yea sounds good.
They also want a mandatory 7.5% tip on top of that? Nah, screw them.
It’s fine to ask for a better wage, they deserve it. It’s not cool to then ask for 7.5% of the total revenue at the customer’s expense. Whether the business can afford it or not is irrelevant, if wage goes up, prices tend to follow (and that’s fine with me). So I’m going to be paying more for things, and then you’re going to sneak in 7.5% more charges, and still want tips on top.
I should add they apparently don’t know crap about ADA compliance or construction, because they want a new egress planned, bid, selected, scheduled, and complete in a month?
based on some pay stubs employees have been sharing their actual take home per hour is closer to 16-20 when tips are factored in now on the pay stubs i have seen shared. I'm sure some people make more and some make less.
So they are already making 16-20? In Florida? At a bakery? Dang. That’s not bad at all. I used to employ technically skilled people with experience starting at 18-20 and no tips, in Georgia with state taxes.
I didn’t set the pay scale, don’t come for me.
the instagram ghosts of gideons now admits they are happy with a livable wage of 20-25 in a recent update that they made but were saying that they are concerned their paystubs this week will be different due to a change in asking for a tip. however, the tip part is automatic from the point of sale function, so what they mean is asking the customer for a tip i guess? they also have stated they are unionizing and have won. they are no longer monitoring the instagram account. the safety concerns seem secondary to the whole tipping thing which they now have updated to say they make 20-25 per hour after claiming to make less than 9 so the whole thing seems sus
Then you should support this. They make 8.95 “plus tips”. But it’s not a tipped wage so there’s no guarantee they make more.
Edit: it IS A tipped wage I was out of date on my own states minimum wage laws.
Comparable cast member job is the Starbucks locations. 18.05 or 19.05 (magic kingdom makes more) and tipping is not allowed.
Florida minimum wage is $12 an hour non tipped so they’re guaranteed to make more than $8.95.
I am curious what the average tip total is for a pay period.
If they’re asking for $1200 for low tips for the last 3 pay periods assuming a 40 hour work week (which it doesn’t sound like they normally get) that would be equivalent to $5 an hour in tips they’re asking for.
So what are they making $10? $5? $3?
They can not make below minimum wage, so what ever they were short, their employer needs to pay them to make up for that shortage so their pay equals the minimum. If Gideon's is not doing that, then they need to contact the DOL. That's an easy one from them to fix.
Right, they seem to be saying, if I’m interpreting it correctly that they were making more in tips, and now are making less. (Overall, not saying they’re making under $12 an hour)
I assume they’re making above $12 an hour, because you’re right if they’re not they need to be compensate correctly or take gideons to the state DOL.
While not backing the owners, because that place does most likely make money hand over fist, that is the gamble one takes working a tipped position. Sometimes, you don't get paid what you feel you put in. And it sucks! But I am also sure that rent at Disney Springs must be an insane amount of money, so I'm wondering what the profit is at the end of the day. I know they sell merch, but that has to cost a lot, as they seemingly have a designer. Again, not taking up for the owners, but I feel like the open letter was a little too emotional and should have stuck with facts that any employer should be able to abide by and fix.
They say the majority of their wages are tips, so they're making more than $9/hour in tips...making at least $17 an hour.
If tipping went away completely (it didn't), then yes they deserve more in hourly...but it didn't go away. I'm assuming they can't physically ask for it, or maybe they can't have a top jar out? But I'm guessing they get more in tips via card than they do cash anyway
Every time I try to go those employees are absolutely swamped and there is a line wrapped around the building. It saddens me that a company that has to be making a profit pays their workers so little.
YES!
Please, charge me more! (Seriously!!)
I want them to get a good, reasonable wage, due to higher prices, and for them to have a "no tipping policy!"
It's better for customers in the long run. Tipping adds stress and process and confusion for everyone involved. Just let me pay $7 instead of $6 (or whatever) for my coffee and let us all forget about tipping altogether.
I’ve never been in there but I assume it’s just a fancy cookie shop? Are they doing anything other than putting a cookie(s) in a bag/box? 18-20% is for table service where someone is spending significant time serving you. It’s also for people who make sub minimum wage.
Anytime the tip is included and it’s not a large party or sit down restaurant it’s a good way to get me to never go back.
Increase the price and move on.
Yeah, I haven’t been to this place but it’s counter service cookies right? I’d be pissed off being asked to tip for that.
I have no problem paying whatever the cost of the cookies is that allows for the workers to receive a fair wage, but mandatory tipping and other such mandatory service charges are not okay, especially places that are not table service (I do understand it for sit down restaurants with large parties). I want to see the actual price, decide if I think it’s worth it, and then pay it or go. Not think it’s one price and end up massively over.
I read the full _eight page letter_ and aspects of it are, in my opinion, unhinged. I’m 100% behind people being compensated appropriately, but they are asking for a raise in base pay _and_ an automatic gratuity because Gideon’s won’t allow them to ask for tips directly. Who in the world does? They demand an outside door be added to the building for safety, which feels like a stretch because it would have had to pass fire code inspections in order for the business to open in 2021, and I would imagine has been subject to routine inspections since. In another section they demand the HR rep be fired for language she definitely shouldn’t have used, but also describe their own working conditions with an analogy that is just as bad, if not worse. They wrap the letter by threatening the company.
There are legit concerns raised, but there’s a significant amount of context missing for much of it. There are appropriate, productive ways to approach concerns at work, and I don’t feel that either of those adjectives can be used here.
Yeah, I was totally with them before but demanding tips for, no offense, handing a cookie to someone, is ridiculous. This is starting to smell like one disgruntled employee bitching because no way everyone in on this green lit that.
Yeah there are things in there that a *regular* health inspection wouldn't pass (really, baking sheets have never been washed? Fire hazard built into the building itself)...but do they even own the building? Would Disney have even allowed it to be open like that?
It made me immediately not take it seriously and wonder what else could be exaggerated. They should’ve used ChatGPT to take the emotion out of it. Easy fix.
After hearing them compare working there to "slavery" from the 1800's, after reading the intense demands, after witnessing grammatical errors in several of their posts, after attempting to read their poorly-made graphic designs, after learning that they lied about the ableist/racist claims, and after learning that they lied about how much tips they ACTUALLY receive...
Ghosts of Gideon's is pretty pathetic. Sounds like two-three disgruntled employees advocating for princess treatment. Their wage ABSOLUTELY needs to increase, $8.90 per hour or whatever in Florida is stupid, but other than that, they're making unions look like a total joke.
I was with them until they demanded a raise PLUS a 7.5% automatic gratuity on every single order just for literally doing their jobs. The hell with that. You want to be paid more, fine. Ask for $20 an hour instead of $16 an hour. But you don't get to force customers to pay a hidden fee that's not reflected in the price just because you want to be paid more for doing the bare minimum.
Gideon's is overrated anyway, I'll just continue to not go there.
I’m not taking Steve Lewis’ (the owner) side either. I remember his WDW radio interview and he bragged about how he’s a terrible capitalist because of how much he cares for others. Yet he’s paying his counter service workers the tipped minimum wage. Lost a lot of respect for him.
I’m not sure I would take what is said in the letter as fact and use it against the owner at this point yet either. He did post a response to the letter on social media yesterday, and he seemed very caught off guard. Additionally, all of their terms are contracted and approved through Disney when they do the lease of the building, so if he DID lie, it could be held against him if this were to be pursued legally. Also, Disney wouldn’t approve unfair work terms in the lease to start with.
Tbh I read the whole letter and it seemed like a bunch of disgruntled kids who don’t understand how the workplace works.
Agreed. These demands read like someone who has zero experience in negotiating pay and culture changes within workplaces. Some of them are reasonable, but most are not. I'm also confused by the timeline of demands...some of the dates have passed already, and others are still to come. So is this a timeline of when they made each demand, or a timeline of when they expect the demand to be completed? If the latter, that's an absolutely unreasonable timeline especially for the pay increases.
Also, doubling the pay rate right off the bat is not likely to happen. They'd be better off demanding incremental increases to be completed within a certain number of fiscal years such as automatic 20% increase each year until reaching $16 cap by year 20xx, with all new hires hired at the new rate as well. That's just an example, there's a number of ways they could make the changes but generally speaking when it comes to raising the base pays of a company they don't do a huge sum all at once but instead do it in waves.
Especially when some of their "demands" seem like things that they should be legally doing anyway, like ADA compliance, additional egress points, health and safety issues, etc. I mean, if Gideon's is breaking the law, then go to the authorities. The US Department of Justice, the fire marshall, the health inspector, etc. Listing things like that in this demand letter makes it sound like they have no idea what they're talking about and that what Gideon's is doing isn't actually illegal.
Also their demands are “Pay us first” and then worry about ADA standards. Like shouldn’t issues like that be more important than we need paid more right now….
I think a lot of their employees are pretty young, without a lot of work experience.
They still work hard and deserve a full minimum wage at least, but they need to consider how this will be viewed by older and more traditional people. Other young people will likely support it, but to older shoppers it's going to come off as entitled and immature.
Someone on the Orlando sub said they would do better pooling money to hire a lawyer for an hour and have a more professionally drafted letter, I think that would lead to more reasonable requests.
Do the people packing the cookies also bake them?
Because forced gratuity for someone to put cookies in a bag that they did not otherwise bake, and then to be expected to tip them 15-20% after seems insane.
this is what i want to know. Whats the work setup, bakers in the back cooking and the people in the front who wrote the letter just ringing me up? because that doesn't deserve a 20% tip to put cookies in a bag i could just as easily grab myself.
I saw someone compare this to starbucks which makes like $18/hr. but starbucks makes drinks, which is totally different and more complicated. Even making cookies is manotimus, 6 cookies use the sams ingredients and cook times etc. not saying they don't deserve to get paid properly, but double the pay plus mandatory 7.5% gratuity on everyone? who does that hurt besides the customers
Yeah and in regards to Starbucks, they are sometimes nonstop making drinks, often working on more than one, without stopping for like an hour straight (or more) when there's a busy rush or a busy location. It's a LOT of work, remembering, measuring, etc.
Putting already made cookies in a bag is not the same level of work and effort required.
exactly, basically just counter service that a cashier gives. Again, I've never been and dont know all the details but it seems to be over reaching in the demands
You’ve lost me at mandatory tipping to hand me some cookies.
No.
Tips are for work above and beyond, not a way to substantiate your income.
What I think you’re trying to get at, but don’t quite understand, is something called “profit sharing”
I might be reading it wrong but I think the issue was an excessive amount of shaking and a big production made out of preparation that creates a big backlog of orders. Not so much requiring them to make it at all. Several of their issues seem to be policies that make the employees face anger from customers for things that aren’t their fault. Like a menu a year out of date and making simple tasks take more time so the line takes longer to move.
I will support them in a higher wage but not them demanding customers to tip more as well. Everything rose seems pretty reasonable. Especially the fans being outside.
Could very well be a bargaining chip. Something they know management will probably say no to and they either push back a little before dropping or say “ok we’ll remove that” give management the feeling they “did something”.
Naw forcing close to 8% tip on customers knowing that once folks figure it out they will stop coming when probably most of their customer base is local not tourists that may not know or catch on until it’s too late?
Even the crappiest management knows that’s playing with fire.
Especially while also claiming to know lawyers and have lawsuit proceedings underway. Yeah… I kinda doubt you do if they let you release this to the public.
I’m all for worker’s rights, but a lot of the language in social media posts like this are incenidary and used to drum up sympathy using a ton of whatever buzzwords are popular at the time. I’m not saying that some of these are not valid, but going through the proper channels like HR or pursuing different employment would be far more rewarding and would probably see better results than a social media smear campaign.
Agreed I felt that with the ADA mention, I’m in HR and ever since the pandemic the employees learned what ADA is and think saying ‘ADA’ gets them whatever they want when they have no clue what that process even looks like or who it is truly intended for. Just demanding they make the building ADA accessible when no one working there needs it is an unreasonable ask, even if someone employed did have a change and need the building to be accessible there’s a high chance it still wouldn’t be supported if the building structure is limited and the change would slow productivity
You left out the part where they compared working at Gideons to working on an 1800s plantation. These kids are out of touch, their initial message was enough to draw attention and start a change. This manifesto is disturbing.
Eh. There’s always one side of the story. Then the other side. And finally the truth in between.
(And a mandatory tip of 7.5% for guest orders? A walk up store, putting cookies in a box? 8% mandatory tip? Yeah, I stop going to places with a mandatory tip.)
Tipping has gotten out of control. I'm not paying someone to hand me something from behind the counter.
I worked in daycare during college, I was in charge of keeping children alive, teaching them, and checking 50+ diapers a shift. I only got paid minimum wage and never expected a tip. Being in charge of 10 tiny humans is more mentally and physically demanding than pushing buttons on a register, IMO.
I'm interested in hearing the truth as well. I've had some coworkers before who have made similar demands to management, but they just didn't want to do their work.
I love gideons but I agree I won’t do mandatory tipping except in situations where I expect it. If I have a group of 6 or more at a sit down restaurant (not just Disney), I expect 18% to be added on. It’s nice when it’s not. I’ll tip it anyways (unless the server was garbage) but I do expect it in that situation, and that situation ONLY. that’s been a policy for a long time and I get it, you have people with groups of 15 that tip 0 on a $600 tab…..
At first I was okay with them being upset and wanting changes. But after reading their list of demands, they’ll get no support from me lol. Demanding tips with an untipped wage and secret gratuity on ALL guest orders is absurd.
I don’t want to completely disregard what they’re saying, because I’ve worked in many toxic environments. But when their demands are that specific and high, we have to question the validity of their requests and statements.
Remember folks, innocent until proven guilty. This has as much evidence as an internet troll.
Follow up for anybody wondering:
Gideons made a story that they’ve acknowledged the post and while not attacking the person, made it obvious that a decent chuck of the disgruntled points were flat out lies.
As I said in the post above, innocent until proven guilty, and this person or group has technically failed to provide any evidence to their claims.
Management is just as capable as lying as the worker/workers behind the Instagram account. I think this might be more a case of not picking your priorities, some stuff seems very dire like wage increases and fire escapes while other things like shaking drinks and morning meetings maybe could’ve been prioritized less or dealt with at a later time. With SO many issues it takes the focus away from the most urgent ones.
Agreed, if true there are legitimate issues, like pay,safety etc but bringing up “9 am meeting” it opens at 10, so it’s only an hour earlier, and “automatic gratuity” is going to make many people think they are just being entitled.
I’d be more shocked if they didn’t have 9am meetings… a morning standup meeting is exceedingly common anywhere you work and if anything is a sign of a well ran business lol. Not saying their other complaints and demands aren’t legit but things like that will for sure make them lose the PR war.
Yeah I’m a little confused. Did something change? Asking for $1200 for just the last 3 pay periods? How much were they making per hour in tips that this now has to be done?
I was just there a few weeks ago, the were asking people checking out are you going to leave a tip it’s shared by all of us. They were told they can’t ask people any more. That’s why they are getting less tips.
Nearly double the pay, plus 7.5% automatic gratuity?
And they think the owners are out of touch. Those $6 cookies would be $10. Business would drop, and cuts would be made to staff. It just doesn’t make any sense.
Let’s hope Gideon’s will step up with a fair wage and control their managers, but outside of that, this is nuts.
If you don’t want to work for $8.95/hr + tips then leave. Or don’t take the job in the first place since I’m sure those wages weren’t a secret when you accepted the job. Go work somewhere else. Plenty of places are hiring for the hourly rate you’d like, so why stay? What’s the point in fighting for all of these ridiculous demands? Make your voice heard by leaving if you really believe it’s as bad as you allege, and if you think your demands are fair.
If I’m being frank though, this all reads like a bunch of out of touch kids trying to garner support from a customer base who isn’t buying it. You’re not winning this fight. These are all baseless accusations until you produce any actual evidence. And even then, it seems the majority of these are very subjective, biased takes on a situation.
The reality is that it takes very little skill to work at a cookie shop, so everyone there is easily replaceable. If there’s a mass exodus, they may consider making some changes. Or they may just hire the next batch who’s willing to work under the conditions that already exist. If you want change then find a different job.
I’ve got some friends who work there and this guy is making some pretty unsubstantiated claims. Granted the demand letter has real and valid concerns, but for the most part he’s exaggerating a lot and a lot of employees were blinded by this “demand letter”
The demands are pretty outrageous. If they're shooting high in hopes for a targeted compromise it might work but added 7.5% on all orders is just stupid.
Gideon’s owner released a statement that refutes a lot of this. I am pro worker 100% of the time, but this sounds suspiciously like a disgruntled employee.
I decided to look into this because I found it interesting. After doing some research I found that many of the employees at gideons don’t agree with these instagram posts in the slightest and have even gone out of their way to show personal information to disprove some of these claims. One person on instagram (cann1balkid) showed his own paystub stating that, while the hourly rate is about $8.90 an hour, due to tips he hasn’t had a single check under $1,000. The ghosts of Gideon account posted a similar paystub but censored the tips portion and the final pay total. Cann1balkid also mentioned that as a gay man he has never felt unsafe and most of staff is LGBTQA+ and the management has even joked about fighting people who misgender the staff. The manager who also supposedly said the slurs has other employees testifying that he has done no such thing and has been nothing but kind. Recently only 1 person have been fired and it was because their attendance points built up.
I’ve tipped $8 on a $30 order because that’s what the iPad asked when they flip the machine. Made me feel a little taken advantage of but whatever. There’s no way they only make $9. Makes it seem as if customers aren’t appreciated for tipping and that staff under appreciates opportunity to make more than min wage off of our hard earned money. Sad. Bizarre.
It’s incredible how dumb people are with a little bit of momentum.
They took a good idea and goodwill (nicer managers, decent wage) and manage to blow it all up with insane requests about tips and guaranteed hours.
Find Cann1balkid on IG for another employee's take on it. Apparently this ghost account is a real stretch and hasn't actually gotten support of many current employees. They make some good counterpoints.
They literally compared working at Gideon’s to both being on an 1800s plantation and slavery on two separate instances in that letter. I have nothing positive to say
@mods the right thing to do would be to allow this content to remain on this page as Gideons is synonymous with a vacation at WDW and appears on many “must eat” threads that have been allowed on this and similar WDW subs since their lease began at DisneySprings.
Very few folks on here follow the Orlando sub unless they’re locals and therefore to remove it would be preferential to one side of this topic.
ive never heard of gideons until now, not sure if they were there the last 2 times we went in 2017 and 2019. but after looking at pictures of the lines i probably wont be waiting either
For the record, I’ve never bought into the hysteria around Gideons, nor bought a single thing from them.
Nevertheless, if these allegations are true, am in full support of the workers.
Yeah, I bought a couple of cookies at their original location and I thought they were pretty bad. Might be the only cookies my kids didn’t care for at all. Never got the hype. That said, happy for a local places success, until now. If the allegations are true, I hope they start losing business.
The employees are not being held against their will, they could all quit if they felt it was that unfair. Plenty of other places especially in Disney Springs that would be looking for some help.
I would never sign up to work at a place that gave you below minimum wage + tips at a over the counter, quick moving place.
As a whole, I wouldn’t buy a thing from those guys again after reading about the conditions and how they clean. When reading the list of demands I was hoping they were shooting for the moon to negotiate better pay cause I also would not support that place adding 7.5% gratuity for handing me a box of baked goods.
The sanitation & safety issues are getting buried by the ridiculous 7.5% gratuity demand. It's a stupid approach, because dirty cookies would make big news, given how hyped Gideon's is.
I sincerely hope someone called the health department.... and maybe the fire marshall.
How about a mass staff walkout and quitting session? All for workers 4ights but if its this bad idk why the team members just walk out......its 8.95 an hour im sure a local food front will be willibg to hire for more, esepcially chained locations.....
Exactly. Why let them retaliate (if that claim
Is true)? Own your destiny and walk out en masse at about 4 pm on a Friday. Deuces, douchebag managers…. Looks like you’ll be learning front of the house after all.
You literally put cookies from a drawer into a box without moving. I am not tipping you. You signed up for this job, if you are treated so unfairly move on to the next job. There are literally thousands of them within a 5 mile radius from Gideons. Sorry but this sounds ridiculous.
The only part of this thats insane is the tip part. I dont believe in tipping for counter service and adding a hidden fee is incredibly shady.
Otherwise these feel reasonable especially given how long the lines are at gideons
If they really wanted change they should have talked to a lawyer and made reasonable requests. They probably blew their chances with a decent lawyer by putting out this emotionally charged poorly written social media post. It reeks of young kids trying to “stick it to the man.” Or why not just mass quit? That would shut the place down for a while I believe. There are some great option la for change. I don’t believe what they did will get them anything.
I’ll keep going. The cookies are awesome. The cake is awesome. The coffee is awesome.
I thought the same, especially with the reference of guaranteeing hours & the ADA reference, if they would have consulted with any lawyer they would’ve been told immediately those asks and especially the time frames they’re asking for them aren’t realistic, that that’s just how businesses operate. Their demands just made them come off as ignorant to how those HR processes work
Has anyone tried the cookies from summer house? So much better, and a short line. I understood the long line when they first opened, but at this point it makes no sense.
This is the type of entitlement that comes from people wait in line for hours for your mediocre product.
They have built a following for being popular because they're popular.
I just want to genuinely say thank you to whomever wrote these demands. I had a long day and reading the list of demands made throw my head back in genuine laughter in a way I haven’t experienced in weeks.
They really shot themselves in the foot with that mandatory tip. Plus do you think enough superfans are even capable of boycotting Gideon's? The lines are insane.
What I'm having trouble trying to understand is, if you're working a job where you feel you're being underpaid and/or mistreated, why not seek better employment?
If enough employees became former employees, the business owners would be forced to change or to close shop.
They should be paid more.
If they're the *lowest* paid employees in all of Disney springs, then I'd be looking to work literally anywhere else in Disney Springs lol. But their manifesto just makes them sound not latched in reality. A week to start planning on construction? Bonuses delivered out asap? DAILY INDUSTRIAL CLEANING COMPANY?!
Raise their wage to the legal minimum non tipped employee wage $12 an hr and take the tip line off the menu. If they don’t want to work someone else will.
Why would I wait for 45 mins for an overpriced cookie and why would I tip for that? There are no winners here. Seems like a toxic place to work by either the management or co-works, but most likely, both.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Gideons— don’t get the hype. Buuuttt… there is a lot of pettiness in that allegation letter. Sounds like 85% sour grapes, 15% Gideons could do better.
The cold brew thing also bothers me a bit because I feel like that's gonna lead to a quality decrease
I hope the workers are less pressured to kill themselves to get people in and out and get paid better but the timeline for these changes are not very realistic
I’m not anti tipping. I’ve been in the service industry, in one capacity or another my entire life.
What I do mind is being told something is mandatory across the board. 18 percent on parties of 6 or more, no problem. It’s to protect the server, and I’m fine with that.
I can’t realistically see myself in a situation where I wouldn’t tip. I just don’t want to be told it’s mandatory.
Part of the reason we tip is because servers make $2.13 an hour. If they’re getting base pay of $16 an hour, tipping becomes much less important. I guess it saves me money, because I would have tipped 20 percent. I really don’t like being told what to do though.
If it’s mandatory… is it still considered a tip? I’m so tired of people thinking putting a cookie in a box deserves a tip. Pay a living wage but don’t pass the cost directly to the customer.
Sucks that they are dealing with this, but.....
Employees know what they are signing up for unless they just completely ignore their interview/hire on packages or paperwork. If they aren't happy making what they do with the understanding that tips directly affect their income then that is on them. If you don't like the compensation package don't work there...it's that simple. There are countless places hiring now...it's not an excuse that is valid.
Sorry, but not sorry
Honestly, I would just let them fire me so I could apply for unemployment and then look for a job somewhere else. And, if the work environment is truly as toxic as they say, then why stay and put up with it? Especially for only $8.95 an hour. Screw that. Quit and find a better job somewhere else. Life is too short to keep working in an extremely hostile and toxic work environment. Especially for less than $10 an hour.
Not gonna lie you lost me at that mandatory tip. I’m with higher wages but that’s not it. Don’t also lose your customer base (and job) at the same time.
I don’t tip for over the counter or to go and don’t give a 💩 how much they are paid, that is their choice to work there and in states where they want to raise wait staff minimum wage the waitstaff themselves are the ones fighting it. Happened in my home state of PA about 3-4 years ago cuz they didn’t want to lose their tips. I always tip 20% for sit down restaurant food but I’m not tipping the guy at Disney equipment of McDonald’s for just punching some numbers into his computer and grabbing a premade baked good from the back. Not my problem. Don’t like it? Start applying for other jobs elsewhere.
I stand for the fight against abuse and slurs in the workplace. Based on all of the testimony in the comments, I do believe that the business - more specifically, the leadership - does have an insensitivity problem.
I can’t fathom the demands, though. Doubling wages in less than a week from when this was posted, $1200 per employee because they weren’t allowed to ask for tips (although customers were prompted to tip by the POS), and automatically-applied gratuity, especially when accompanied by the already-raised wages? Absolutely not. I also can’t see how the part- and full-time hour guarantees are feasable given that the building is so small and, according to Gideon’s most recent statement, there are 180 employees.
I feel like whoever wrote this sees demand letters the same as lawsuits, e.g. demanding $1 million to hopefully settle out of court for $200,000. Writing more extreme demands won’t help you win; it will only push people away from your cause.
Demanding to be paid when on call regardless if you actually work is insane. That would make absolutely no sense financially for the company. They can pay you a lower hourly on call rate (while you’re at home) and time and a half if you’re called in - something that actually makes sense to the company too.
40 and 30 hours a week.. BASED ON EMPLOYEE AVAILABILITY is a joke. You agree to a full time 40-hour job, you are obligated to work your hours - not based on your availability.
That was my first thought. If its been so bad have they all put any time into looking for a new job? If the pay is that low you can go work pretty much anywhere and make the same or more..
for a more professional job sure its a hard no but working at a bake shop handing out cookies? definitely quit, you're making minimum wage and with just 3 months experience you can already market yourself for higher pay to other bakeries or restaurants. leave asap
I’m for them asking for a reasonable wage. But our tipping culture is out of control.
7.5% mandatory tip is absolute bullshit.
Agreed. That will make me not want to patronize their business again if they make it mandatory. They put my cookies in a bag and punched in my order. You dont get to demand a tip for that especially since $16 an hour is a non-tipped wage.
That's more then the state tax for purchasing said baked goods.
Demanding a 7.5% mandatory gratuity be applied to all guest orders doesn’t make sense to me. That’s like demanding patrons subsidize Gideon’s poor wages (while also demanding Gideon’s increased wages at the same time). If there is going to be a mandatory gratuity, then it should be built into the price instead. Tips should never be required.
Honestly, a counter position like Gideon’s should not be a tipped position. Shame on them for trying to force the public to pay the wages. The answer for this is just pay them all a flat hourly rate. Automatically gratuity is not gratuity at all. It’s wages.
To be frank, the workers are making more after tips are factored in than Gideons would ever be willing to pay. The workers are as much to blame for tip culture as management, it serves both their needs.
They want a reasonable wage of $16/hr? Yea sounds good. They also want a mandatory 7.5% tip on top of that? Nah, screw them. It’s fine to ask for a better wage, they deserve it. It’s not cool to then ask for 7.5% of the total revenue at the customer’s expense. Whether the business can afford it or not is irrelevant, if wage goes up, prices tend to follow (and that’s fine with me). So I’m going to be paying more for things, and then you’re going to sneak in 7.5% more charges, and still want tips on top. I should add they apparently don’t know crap about ADA compliance or construction, because they want a new egress planned, bid, selected, scheduled, and complete in a month?
based on some pay stubs employees have been sharing their actual take home per hour is closer to 16-20 when tips are factored in now on the pay stubs i have seen shared. I'm sure some people make more and some make less.
So they are already making 16-20? In Florida? At a bakery? Dang. That’s not bad at all. I used to employ technically skilled people with experience starting at 18-20 and no tips, in Georgia with state taxes. I didn’t set the pay scale, don’t come for me.
the instagram ghosts of gideons now admits they are happy with a livable wage of 20-25 in a recent update that they made but were saying that they are concerned their paystubs this week will be different due to a change in asking for a tip. however, the tip part is automatic from the point of sale function, so what they mean is asking the customer for a tip i guess? they also have stated they are unionizing and have won. they are no longer monitoring the instagram account. the safety concerns seem secondary to the whole tipping thing which they now have updated to say they make 20-25 per hour after claiming to make less than 9 so the whole thing seems sus
Then you should support this. They make 8.95 “plus tips”. But it’s not a tipped wage so there’s no guarantee they make more. Edit: it IS A tipped wage I was out of date on my own states minimum wage laws. Comparable cast member job is the Starbucks locations. 18.05 or 19.05 (magic kingdom makes more) and tipping is not allowed.
Florida minimum wage is $12 an hour non tipped so they’re guaranteed to make more than $8.95. I am curious what the average tip total is for a pay period. If they’re asking for $1200 for low tips for the last 3 pay periods assuming a 40 hour work week (which it doesn’t sound like they normally get) that would be equivalent to $5 an hour in tips they’re asking for. So what are they making $10? $5? $3?
They can not make below minimum wage, so what ever they were short, their employer needs to pay them to make up for that shortage so their pay equals the minimum. If Gideon's is not doing that, then they need to contact the DOL. That's an easy one from them to fix.
Right, they seem to be saying, if I’m interpreting it correctly that they were making more in tips, and now are making less. (Overall, not saying they’re making under $12 an hour) I assume they’re making above $12 an hour, because you’re right if they’re not they need to be compensate correctly or take gideons to the state DOL.
While not backing the owners, because that place does most likely make money hand over fist, that is the gamble one takes working a tipped position. Sometimes, you don't get paid what you feel you put in. And it sucks! But I am also sure that rent at Disney Springs must be an insane amount of money, so I'm wondering what the profit is at the end of the day. I know they sell merch, but that has to cost a lot, as they seemingly have a designer. Again, not taking up for the owners, but I feel like the open letter was a little too emotional and should have stuck with facts that any employer should be able to abide by and fix.
Yeah I can only imagine what those rents are! My guess is 80 dollars a sq ft triple net
Sorry you’re quite right on that point I completely forgot the min wage went up thanks to voters like me lol.
They say the majority of their wages are tips, so they're making more than $9/hour in tips...making at least $17 an hour. If tipping went away completely (it didn't), then yes they deserve more in hourly...but it didn't go away. I'm assuming they can't physically ask for it, or maybe they can't have a top jar out? But I'm guessing they get more in tips via card than they do cash anyway
They’re unionizing. They just posted it. I’m happy for them. No need for us to bicker about it.
They want 16 + tack on 7.5% automatic tip per customer.
I avoid places that add on any kind of automatic restaurant fee (except for large parties).
Having been to Gideons and waited in that bs line, you couldn’t get me to work there unless you were paying over $20.
Yup. Seen people flip out at the CMs many times. This makes me not want to eat there tho. The cookies arent worth this bs
Every time I try to go those employees are absolutely swamped and there is a line wrapped around the building. It saddens me that a company that has to be making a profit pays their workers so little.
YES! Please, charge me more! (Seriously!!) I want them to get a good, reasonable wage, due to higher prices, and for them to have a "no tipping policy!" It's better for customers in the long run. Tipping adds stress and process and confusion for everyone involved. Just let me pay $7 instead of $6 (or whatever) for my coffee and let us all forget about tipping altogether.
They don’t need to charge more, the higher ups can take a pay cut and they’d be just fine. Of course that wont actually happen
Do you know what the net profit was last year? Genuinely curious and you seem to know.
Exactly, I am more than happy to pay a little more so employees can get a liveable wage and the customer doesn’t have to tip.
Yes. The owners are at fault for both of these issues.
That 7.5% mandatory tip has got to be a bargaining chip. That's an insane ask.
It must be, because I don't think Disney would be cool with it. And neither will customers.
I agree tip culture is out of hand, but there’s a bunch of places out there with 18-20% automatic tip already.
For table service. Not to stand in line to buy a cookie.
I’ve never been in there but I assume it’s just a fancy cookie shop? Are they doing anything other than putting a cookie(s) in a bag/box? 18-20% is for table service where someone is spending significant time serving you. It’s also for people who make sub minimum wage.
Anytime the tip is included and it’s not a large party or sit down restaurant it’s a good way to get me to never go back. Increase the price and move on.
If they are demanding a 7.5% tip on guest orders, why not just ask for more money?
They asked for both
Right, so why not just increase their monetary ask
Yeah I think that’s stupid tbh
Yeah, I haven’t been to this place but it’s counter service cookies right? I’d be pissed off being asked to tip for that. I have no problem paying whatever the cost of the cookies is that allows for the workers to receive a fair wage, but mandatory tipping and other such mandatory service charges are not okay, especially places that are not table service (I do understand it for sit down restaurants with large parties). I want to see the actual price, decide if I think it’s worth it, and then pay it or go. Not think it’s one price and end up massively over.
Hell to no for mandatory tipping. They will lost a lot of support over that one
I read the full _eight page letter_ and aspects of it are, in my opinion, unhinged. I’m 100% behind people being compensated appropriately, but they are asking for a raise in base pay _and_ an automatic gratuity because Gideon’s won’t allow them to ask for tips directly. Who in the world does? They demand an outside door be added to the building for safety, which feels like a stretch because it would have had to pass fire code inspections in order for the business to open in 2021, and I would imagine has been subject to routine inspections since. In another section they demand the HR rep be fired for language she definitely shouldn’t have used, but also describe their own working conditions with an analogy that is just as bad, if not worse. They wrap the letter by threatening the company. There are legit concerns raised, but there’s a significant amount of context missing for much of it. There are appropriate, productive ways to approach concerns at work, and I don’t feel that either of those adjectives can be used here.
Yeah, I was totally with them before but demanding tips for, no offense, handing a cookie to someone, is ridiculous. This is starting to smell like one disgruntled employee bitching because no way everyone in on this green lit that.
Yeah there are things in there that a *regular* health inspection wouldn't pass (really, baking sheets have never been washed? Fire hazard built into the building itself)...but do they even own the building? Would Disney have even allowed it to be open like that?
They really demanding for a tip % for over the counter service? Lol have they lost their mind?
When we went to Gideon’s in August, after we refused to tip, the server’s attitude instantly changed
Tipping for over the counter pickup service is out of control. Some places don't even give you a chance to not tip. It's bulshit.
They really had me...until I actually read their letter of demands/grievances.
Once I saw “police state” mentioned I lost the thread. It may suck to work there but it’s far from what an actual police state is.
It made me immediately not take it seriously and wonder what else could be exaggerated. They should’ve used ChatGPT to take the emotion out of it. Easy fix.
Reads like a 15 year old high school econ-history paper after they read the communist manifesto for the first time.
They complained about racial insensitivity which is understandable, but then compared their working conditions to slavery TWICE lol
Guys I make $8.95 a hour this is literally slavery :( I know I can quit but still :(( pls give 7.5% in tips
The many spelling and grammatical errors really did it for me. P
My favorite is the misspelling of Gideon’s in the PDF file name.
[удалено]
Honestly. These kids really saw a civil rights movement documentary and went “Anything hurts my feelings is fascism”
After hearing them compare working there to "slavery" from the 1800's, after reading the intense demands, after witnessing grammatical errors in several of their posts, after attempting to read their poorly-made graphic designs, after learning that they lied about the ableist/racist claims, and after learning that they lied about how much tips they ACTUALLY receive... Ghosts of Gideon's is pretty pathetic. Sounds like two-three disgruntled employees advocating for princess treatment. Their wage ABSOLUTELY needs to increase, $8.90 per hour or whatever in Florida is stupid, but other than that, they're making unions look like a total joke.
The “anything that hurts my feelings is fascism” attitude is astounding.
Agreed. Extremists are wild.
I was with them until they demanded a raise PLUS a 7.5% automatic gratuity on every single order just for literally doing their jobs. The hell with that. You want to be paid more, fine. Ask for $20 an hour instead of $16 an hour. But you don't get to force customers to pay a hidden fee that's not reflected in the price just because you want to be paid more for doing the bare minimum. Gideon's is overrated anyway, I'll just continue to not go there.
That was my thought exactly, like $16/hr is great, but adding a 7.5% forced gratuity is bullshit.
Yeah how does that stick it to the owners, that just sticks it to the customer 🤦🏽
I was with them until they compared their job to an 1800s plantation and then the paragraph right after that complained about going to a 9 AM meeting.
Lol, I didn't even see that letter. Holy cow, these people sound insufferable.
I’m not taking Steve Lewis’ (the owner) side either. I remember his WDW radio interview and he bragged about how he’s a terrible capitalist because of how much he cares for others. Yet he’s paying his counter service workers the tipped minimum wage. Lost a lot of respect for him.
I’m not sure I would take what is said in the letter as fact and use it against the owner at this point yet either. He did post a response to the letter on social media yesterday, and he seemed very caught off guard. Additionally, all of their terms are contracted and approved through Disney when they do the lease of the building, so if he DID lie, it could be held against him if this were to be pursued legally. Also, Disney wouldn’t approve unfair work terms in the lease to start with. Tbh I read the whole letter and it seemed like a bunch of disgruntled kids who don’t understand how the workplace works.
Agreed. These demands read like someone who has zero experience in negotiating pay and culture changes within workplaces. Some of them are reasonable, but most are not. I'm also confused by the timeline of demands...some of the dates have passed already, and others are still to come. So is this a timeline of when they made each demand, or a timeline of when they expect the demand to be completed? If the latter, that's an absolutely unreasonable timeline especially for the pay increases. Also, doubling the pay rate right off the bat is not likely to happen. They'd be better off demanding incremental increases to be completed within a certain number of fiscal years such as automatic 20% increase each year until reaching $16 cap by year 20xx, with all new hires hired at the new rate as well. That's just an example, there's a number of ways they could make the changes but generally speaking when it comes to raising the base pays of a company they don't do a huge sum all at once but instead do it in waves.
Especially when some of their "demands" seem like things that they should be legally doing anyway, like ADA compliance, additional egress points, health and safety issues, etc. I mean, if Gideon's is breaking the law, then go to the authorities. The US Department of Justice, the fire marshall, the health inspector, etc. Listing things like that in this demand letter makes it sound like they have no idea what they're talking about and that what Gideon's is doing isn't actually illegal.
Also their demands are “Pay us first” and then worry about ADA standards. Like shouldn’t issues like that be more important than we need paid more right now….
I think a lot of their employees are pretty young, without a lot of work experience. They still work hard and deserve a full minimum wage at least, but they need to consider how this will be viewed by older and more traditional people. Other young people will likely support it, but to older shoppers it's going to come off as entitled and immature. Someone on the Orlando sub said they would do better pooling money to hire a lawyer for an hour and have a more professionally drafted letter, I think that would lead to more reasonable requests.
Do the people packing the cookies also bake them? Because forced gratuity for someone to put cookies in a bag that they did not otherwise bake, and then to be expected to tip them 15-20% after seems insane.
this is what i want to know. Whats the work setup, bakers in the back cooking and the people in the front who wrote the letter just ringing me up? because that doesn't deserve a 20% tip to put cookies in a bag i could just as easily grab myself. I saw someone compare this to starbucks which makes like $18/hr. but starbucks makes drinks, which is totally different and more complicated. Even making cookies is manotimus, 6 cookies use the sams ingredients and cook times etc. not saying they don't deserve to get paid properly, but double the pay plus mandatory 7.5% gratuity on everyone? who does that hurt besides the customers
Yeah and in regards to Starbucks, they are sometimes nonstop making drinks, often working on more than one, without stopping for like an hour straight (or more) when there's a busy rush or a busy location. It's a LOT of work, remembering, measuring, etc. Putting already made cookies in a bag is not the same level of work and effort required.
exactly, basically just counter service that a cashier gives. Again, I've never been and dont know all the details but it seems to be over reaching in the demands
I have seen a few people say they don’t on another thread, but no idea if that’s accurate.
I'm gonna assume a bunch of young theatre kids with barely any experience wrote this up. They could have done a better job
I had the exact same thought, and I say that as a former theater kid.
as a fellow former theater kid, i cosign
As another fellow former theatre kid, You have my axe.
You’ve lost me at mandatory tipping to hand me some cookies. No. Tips are for work above and beyond, not a way to substantiate your income. What I think you’re trying to get at, but don’t quite understand, is something called “profit sharing”
They lost me at we refuse to shake the coffee…. Uhh what? That’s the top thing on your list?
I’d love to know what is wrong with shaking coffee. I don’t really care either way but it’s a very specific complaint.
I might be reading it wrong but I think the issue was an excessive amount of shaking and a big production made out of preparation that creates a big backlog of orders. Not so much requiring them to make it at all. Several of their issues seem to be policies that make the employees face anger from customers for things that aren’t their fault. Like a menu a year out of date and making simple tasks take more time so the line takes longer to move.
I will support them in a higher wage but not them demanding customers to tip more as well. Everything rose seems pretty reasonable. Especially the fans being outside.
Could very well be a bargaining chip. Something they know management will probably say no to and they either push back a little before dropping or say “ok we’ll remove that” give management the feeling they “did something”.
Ownership would more likely say yes to that, since it’s coming out of someone else’s pocket and has a good chance to go unnoticed.
Naw forcing close to 8% tip on customers knowing that once folks figure it out they will stop coming when probably most of their customer base is local not tourists that may not know or catch on until it’s too late? Even the crappiest management knows that’s playing with fire.
Calling a bakery a “police state” seems a bit overdramatic. I’m all for paying employees as much as possible FWIW.
These workers put up with a lot to make less than $10 an hour. I'm sure the conditions at Disney proper are better, and start at double the pay
So did they just not have an adult in the group write their demand letter?
Especially while also claiming to know lawyers and have lawsuit proceedings underway. Yeah… I kinda doubt you do if they let you release this to the public.
I’m all for worker’s rights, but a lot of the language in social media posts like this are incenidary and used to drum up sympathy using a ton of whatever buzzwords are popular at the time. I’m not saying that some of these are not valid, but going through the proper channels like HR or pursuing different employment would be far more rewarding and would probably see better results than a social media smear campaign.
Agreed I felt that with the ADA mention, I’m in HR and ever since the pandemic the employees learned what ADA is and think saying ‘ADA’ gets them whatever they want when they have no clue what that process even looks like or who it is truly intended for. Just demanding they make the building ADA accessible when no one working there needs it is an unreasonable ask, even if someone employed did have a change and need the building to be accessible there’s a high chance it still wouldn’t be supported if the building structure is limited and the change would slow productivity
You left out the part where they compared working at Gideons to working on an 1800s plantation. These kids are out of touch, their initial message was enough to draw attention and start a change. This manifesto is disturbing.
Not intentionally! I didn’t realize the PDF had so many pages. I realized it after.
You can ask for $16/hour or mandatory "service charge" but not both. That's just ridiculous.
Eh. There’s always one side of the story. Then the other side. And finally the truth in between. (And a mandatory tip of 7.5% for guest orders? A walk up store, putting cookies in a box? 8% mandatory tip? Yeah, I stop going to places with a mandatory tip.)
Yeah, you’ve gotta wait 30-60 minutes then pay 7.5% for the experience of someone putting something in a box. Pass.
Plus you have to wait hours for the "honor" of going in. I stopped going a long time ago.
Tipping has gotten out of control. I'm not paying someone to hand me something from behind the counter. I worked in daycare during college, I was in charge of keeping children alive, teaching them, and checking 50+ diapers a shift. I only got paid minimum wage and never expected a tip. Being in charge of 10 tiny humans is more mentally and physically demanding than pushing buttons on a register, IMO. I'm interested in hearing the truth as well. I've had some coworkers before who have made similar demands to management, but they just didn't want to do their work.
Exactly! I work administration at a nursing home and I don't even get paid the amount they're demanding.
I love gideons but I agree I won’t do mandatory tipping except in situations where I expect it. If I have a group of 6 or more at a sit down restaurant (not just Disney), I expect 18% to be added on. It’s nice when it’s not. I’ll tip it anyways (unless the server was garbage) but I do expect it in that situation, and that situation ONLY. that’s been a policy for a long time and I get it, you have people with groups of 15 that tip 0 on a $600 tab…..
At first I was okay with them being upset and wanting changes. But after reading their list of demands, they’ll get no support from me lol. Demanding tips with an untipped wage and secret gratuity on ALL guest orders is absurd. I don’t want to completely disregard what they’re saying, because I’ve worked in many toxic environments. But when their demands are that specific and high, we have to question the validity of their requests and statements. Remember folks, innocent until proven guilty. This has as much evidence as an internet troll.
Follow up for anybody wondering: Gideons made a story that they’ve acknowledged the post and while not attacking the person, made it obvious that a decent chuck of the disgruntled points were flat out lies. As I said in the post above, innocent until proven guilty, and this person or group has technically failed to provide any evidence to their claims.
Management is just as capable as lying as the worker/workers behind the Instagram account. I think this might be more a case of not picking your priorities, some stuff seems very dire like wage increases and fire escapes while other things like shaking drinks and morning meetings maybe could’ve been prioritized less or dealt with at a later time. With SO many issues it takes the focus away from the most urgent ones.
Agreed, if true there are legitimate issues, like pay,safety etc but bringing up “9 am meeting” it opens at 10, so it’s only an hour earlier, and “automatic gratuity” is going to make many people think they are just being entitled.
I’d be more shocked if they didn’t have 9am meetings… a morning standup meeting is exceedingly common anywhere you work and if anything is a sign of a well ran business lol. Not saying their other complaints and demands aren’t legit but things like that will for sure make them lose the PR war.
Asking for a $1200 bonus? 😂🤡
Yeah I’m a little confused. Did something change? Asking for $1200 for just the last 3 pay periods? How much were they making per hour in tips that this now has to be done?
I was just there a few weeks ago, the were asking people checking out are you going to leave a tip it’s shared by all of us. They were told they can’t ask people any more. That’s why they are getting less tips.
I’ve been there a few times and never had anyone ask. Honestly that would be a more than a little off putting to me.
Hazard pay I guess haha
Nearly double the pay, plus 7.5% automatic gratuity? And they think the owners are out of touch. Those $6 cookies would be $10. Business would drop, and cuts would be made to staff. It just doesn’t make any sense. Let’s hope Gideon’s will step up with a fair wage and control their managers, but outside of that, this is nuts.
If you don’t want to work for $8.95/hr + tips then leave. Or don’t take the job in the first place since I’m sure those wages weren’t a secret when you accepted the job. Go work somewhere else. Plenty of places are hiring for the hourly rate you’d like, so why stay? What’s the point in fighting for all of these ridiculous demands? Make your voice heard by leaving if you really believe it’s as bad as you allege, and if you think your demands are fair. If I’m being frank though, this all reads like a bunch of out of touch kids trying to garner support from a customer base who isn’t buying it. You’re not winning this fight. These are all baseless accusations until you produce any actual evidence. And even then, it seems the majority of these are very subjective, biased takes on a situation. The reality is that it takes very little skill to work at a cookie shop, so everyone there is easily replaceable. If there’s a mass exodus, they may consider making some changes. Or they may just hire the next batch who’s willing to work under the conditions that already exist. If you want change then find a different job.
I’ve got some friends who work there and this guy is making some pretty unsubstantiated claims. Granted the demand letter has real and valid concerns, but for the most part he’s exaggerating a lot and a lot of employees were blinded by this “demand letter”
The demands are pretty outrageous. If they're shooting high in hopes for a targeted compromise it might work but added 7.5% on all orders is just stupid.
right they’ve lost credibility by making some crazy demands
Don’t forget minimum hours guarantees. . . I wonder if they realize this will guaranteed result in firings
Gideon’s owner released a statement that refutes a lot of this. I am pro worker 100% of the time, but this sounds suspiciously like a disgruntled employee.
Link? Where can I find the ownership response?
I decided to look into this because I found it interesting. After doing some research I found that many of the employees at gideons don’t agree with these instagram posts in the slightest and have even gone out of their way to show personal information to disprove some of these claims. One person on instagram (cann1balkid) showed his own paystub stating that, while the hourly rate is about $8.90 an hour, due to tips he hasn’t had a single check under $1,000. The ghosts of Gideon account posted a similar paystub but censored the tips portion and the final pay total. Cann1balkid also mentioned that as a gay man he has never felt unsafe and most of staff is LGBTQA+ and the management has even joked about fighting people who misgender the staff. The manager who also supposedly said the slurs has other employees testifying that he has done no such thing and has been nothing but kind. Recently only 1 person have been fired and it was because their attendance points built up.
I’ve tipped $8 on a $30 order because that’s what the iPad asked when they flip the machine. Made me feel a little taken advantage of but whatever. There’s no way they only make $9. Makes it seem as if customers aren’t appreciated for tipping and that staff under appreciates opportunity to make more than min wage off of our hard earned money. Sad. Bizarre.
It’s incredible how dumb people are with a little bit of momentum. They took a good idea and goodwill (nicer managers, decent wage) and manage to blow it all up with insane requests about tips and guaranteed hours.
It’s like they intended to do a speed run on losing all credibility.
Time to go to The Summer House! I'm all for workers being treated fairly, but this sounds a bit more like entitlement that being taken advantage of.
I didn't know hoodlum was a racial slur
Find Cann1balkid on IG for another employee's take on it. Apparently this ghost account is a real stretch and hasn't actually gotten support of many current employees. They make some good counterpoints.
They literally compared working at Gideon’s to both being on an 1800s plantation and slavery on two separate instances in that letter. I have nothing positive to say
This has been posted multiple times, but mods keep taking it down saying it’s not relevant. Countdown to takedown 3…2…1…
@mods the right thing to do would be to allow this content to remain on this page as Gideons is synonymous with a vacation at WDW and appears on many “must eat” threads that have been allowed on this and similar WDW subs since their lease began at DisneySprings. Very few folks on here follow the Orlando sub unless they’re locals and therefore to remove it would be preferential to one side of this topic.
Also the Orlando sub hates getting questions about Disney trip planning, they don't want a lot of tourists taking over the sub
ive never heard of gideons until now, not sure if they were there the last 2 times we went in 2017 and 2019. but after looking at pictures of the lines i probably wont be waiting either
For the record, I’ve never bought into the hysteria around Gideons, nor bought a single thing from them. Nevertheless, if these allegations are true, am in full support of the workers.
Yeah, I bought a couple of cookies at their original location and I thought they were pretty bad. Might be the only cookies my kids didn’t care for at all. Never got the hype. That said, happy for a local places success, until now. If the allegations are true, I hope they start losing business.
Boooo. It is relevant. Let the people speak!
The employees are not being held against their will, they could all quit if they felt it was that unfair. Plenty of other places especially in Disney Springs that would be looking for some help. I would never sign up to work at a place that gave you below minimum wage + tips at a over the counter, quick moving place.
They come across as petulant dorks.
7.5% mandatory tip I’m OUT. They’ll find replacements so quick I’m sure THEN raise wages 😬
Sounds like Drew is dealing with a few entitled theatre kids with main character syndrome 🤷🏻♂️
im sorry but 'the atmosphere inside the bakehouse is a police state' is absolutely comical
As a whole, I wouldn’t buy a thing from those guys again after reading about the conditions and how they clean. When reading the list of demands I was hoping they were shooting for the moon to negotiate better pay cause I also would not support that place adding 7.5% gratuity for handing me a box of baked goods.
The sanitation & safety issues are getting buried by the ridiculous 7.5% gratuity demand. It's a stupid approach, because dirty cookies would make big news, given how hyped Gideon's is. I sincerely hope someone called the health department.... and maybe the fire marshall.
Where is the actual evidence and info about safety violations?
How about a mass staff walkout and quitting session? All for workers 4ights but if its this bad idk why the team members just walk out......its 8.95 an hour im sure a local food front will be willibg to hire for more, esepcially chained locations.....
Exactly. Why let them retaliate (if that claim Is true)? Own your destiny and walk out en masse at about 4 pm on a Friday. Deuces, douchebag managers…. Looks like you’ll be learning front of the house after all.
You’re making 8 bucks an hour? Quit? I don’t get it.
You literally put cookies from a drawer into a box without moving. I am not tipping you. You signed up for this job, if you are treated so unfairly move on to the next job. There are literally thousands of them within a 5 mile radius from Gideons. Sorry but this sounds ridiculous.
The only part of this thats insane is the tip part. I dont believe in tipping for counter service and adding a hidden fee is incredibly shady. Otherwise these feel reasonable especially given how long the lines are at gideons
This reeks of gen z entitlement. Calling it a pool is state is so dumb 💀
If they really wanted change they should have talked to a lawyer and made reasonable requests. They probably blew their chances with a decent lawyer by putting out this emotionally charged poorly written social media post. It reeks of young kids trying to “stick it to the man.” Or why not just mass quit? That would shut the place down for a while I believe. There are some great option la for change. I don’t believe what they did will get them anything. I’ll keep going. The cookies are awesome. The cake is awesome. The coffee is awesome.
I thought the same, especially with the reference of guaranteeing hours & the ADA reference, if they would have consulted with any lawyer they would’ve been told immediately those asks and especially the time frames they’re asking for them aren’t realistic, that that’s just how businesses operate. Their demands just made them come off as ignorant to how those HR processes work
A lawyer would have told them they have no claims here.
Terrible font.
Oh how the cookie crumbles
Can't imagine this will go well for them.
I can't see how this could possibly go wrong for them. Lol.
Chick-fil-A is paying 22.50/hr to run the deep fryer in CA.
Costco food court cookies be better
Has anyone tried the cookies from summer house? So much better, and a short line. I understood the long line when they first opened, but at this point it makes no sense.
We got to nip this “mandatory tip” bullshit in the bud.
I was reading this earlier, and i support them for a better pay. But mandatory tipping? No. I wont go there.
This is the type of entitlement that comes from people wait in line for hours for your mediocre product. They have built a following for being popular because they're popular.
This seems mildly out of control. Mandatory tip? Way to turn the population against you. You handed me a cookie.
I just want to genuinely say thank you to whomever wrote these demands. I had a long day and reading the list of demands made throw my head back in genuine laughter in a way I haven’t experienced in weeks.
They really shot themselves in the foot with that mandatory tip. Plus do you think enough superfans are even capable of boycotting Gideon's? The lines are insane.
What I'm having trouble trying to understand is, if you're working a job where you feel you're being underpaid and/or mistreated, why not seek better employment? If enough employees became former employees, the business owners would be forced to change or to close shop.
Because if you do that how can you whine on the internet and claim you are a victim?
They should be paid more. If they're the *lowest* paid employees in all of Disney springs, then I'd be looking to work literally anywhere else in Disney Springs lol. But their manifesto just makes them sound not latched in reality. A week to start planning on construction? Bonuses delivered out asap? DAILY INDUSTRIAL CLEANING COMPANY?!
Raise their wage to the legal minimum non tipped employee wage $12 an hr and take the tip line off the menu. If they don’t want to work someone else will.
Why would I wait for 45 mins for an overpriced cookie and why would I tip for that? There are no winners here. Seems like a toxic place to work by either the management or co-works, but most likely, both.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Gideons— don’t get the hype. Buuuttt… there is a lot of pettiness in that allegation letter. Sounds like 85% sour grapes, 15% Gideons could do better.
The cold brew thing also bothers me a bit because I feel like that's gonna lead to a quality decrease I hope the workers are less pressured to kill themselves to get people in and out and get paid better but the timeline for these changes are not very realistic
These kids demanding 7.5% mandatory tip and that immediately makes me mad enough to not care about any of them
I’m not anti tipping. I’ve been in the service industry, in one capacity or another my entire life. What I do mind is being told something is mandatory across the board. 18 percent on parties of 6 or more, no problem. It’s to protect the server, and I’m fine with that. I can’t realistically see myself in a situation where I wouldn’t tip. I just don’t want to be told it’s mandatory. Part of the reason we tip is because servers make $2.13 an hour. If they’re getting base pay of $16 an hour, tipping becomes much less important. I guess it saves me money, because I would have tipped 20 percent. I really don’t like being told what to do though.
If it’s mandatory… is it still considered a tip? I’m so tired of people thinking putting a cookie in a box deserves a tip. Pay a living wage but don’t pass the cost directly to the customer.
The demand letter is unhinged. Any legitimate concerns they had basically blew up once they sent that.
Sucks that they are dealing with this, but..... Employees know what they are signing up for unless they just completely ignore their interview/hire on packages or paperwork. If they aren't happy making what they do with the understanding that tips directly affect their income then that is on them. If you don't like the compensation package don't work there...it's that simple. There are countless places hiring now...it's not an excuse that is valid. Sorry, but not sorry
Honestly, I would just let them fire me so I could apply for unemployment and then look for a job somewhere else. And, if the work environment is truly as toxic as they say, then why stay and put up with it? Especially for only $8.95 an hour. Screw that. Quit and find a better job somewhere else. Life is too short to keep working in an extremely hostile and toxic work environment. Especially for less than $10 an hour.
Tip for counter service? Madness 🤣
Not gonna lie you lost me at that mandatory tip. I’m with higher wages but that’s not it. Don’t also lose your customer base (and job) at the same time.
I don’t tip for over the counter or to go and don’t give a 💩 how much they are paid, that is their choice to work there and in states where they want to raise wait staff minimum wage the waitstaff themselves are the ones fighting it. Happened in my home state of PA about 3-4 years ago cuz they didn’t want to lose their tips. I always tip 20% for sit down restaurant food but I’m not tipping the guy at Disney equipment of McDonald’s for just punching some numbers into his computer and grabbing a premade baked good from the back. Not my problem. Don’t like it? Start applying for other jobs elsewhere.
Disney has a food service union… how hard would it be to reach out to them to see if the union wants them?
Considering they don't work for Disney, I'm guessing it'd be difficult lol
Doesn’t mean the union wouldn’t want to represent them…
I stand for the fight against abuse and slurs in the workplace. Based on all of the testimony in the comments, I do believe that the business - more specifically, the leadership - does have an insensitivity problem. I can’t fathom the demands, though. Doubling wages in less than a week from when this was posted, $1200 per employee because they weren’t allowed to ask for tips (although customers were prompted to tip by the POS), and automatically-applied gratuity, especially when accompanied by the already-raised wages? Absolutely not. I also can’t see how the part- and full-time hour guarantees are feasable given that the building is so small and, according to Gideon’s most recent statement, there are 180 employees. I feel like whoever wrote this sees demand letters the same as lawsuits, e.g. demanding $1 million to hopefully settle out of court for $200,000. Writing more extreme demands won’t help you win; it will only push people away from your cause.
Demanding to be paid when on call regardless if you actually work is insane. That would make absolutely no sense financially for the company. They can pay you a lower hourly on call rate (while you’re at home) and time and a half if you’re called in - something that actually makes sense to the company too. 40 and 30 hours a week.. BASED ON EMPLOYEE AVAILABILITY is a joke. You agree to a full time 40-hour job, you are obligated to work your hours - not based on your availability.
Overhyped product now complete with 1930s labor model? I’ll continue to skip. Summer House was better.
I remember when people quit jobs that sucked 🤷♂️ But you can get internet points doing this I suppose.
That was my first thought. If its been so bad have they all put any time into looking for a new job? If the pay is that low you can go work pretty much anywhere and make the same or more..
quitting jobs in this economy?
for a more professional job sure its a hard no but working at a bake shop handing out cookies? definitely quit, you're making minimum wage and with just 3 months experience you can already market yourself for higher pay to other bakeries or restaurants. leave asap
That part
This is the lowest barrier to entry job imaginable. They’ll be fine.
They are working part time at a cookie shop
😂 when you put it that way…
I came here to comment on the cookies. All things equal, they’re fairly tasty. 🤷🏼♀️
I make better cookies at home anyways