Your testimony to Bryan and Jamal is very touching, but we recognise the origins of this situation from countless we have seen over the years. These situations usually build up slowly over time, and blow up right at the end with some major drastic action and cries by the poor downtrodden of "I'm taking you to an industrial tribunal" etc. The situation usually begins with a couple of smart arses in a store who regard themselves as too good to be there, but too lazy to look elsewhere, a step ahead of the managers, but too cool to put their abilities to good use and aim for promotion. Instead, they get a buzz from undermining those who have worked their way through and passed them by. The behaviour becomes more and more insidious, and it almost becomes the reason for existence within work. All the while, the perpetrators maintain their cred amongst their peers for their actions. We usually call them "Kenwoods" - after the Kenwood Chef Multimixer due to their ability to mix, or stir, things up. We're sure many managers reading this right now can think of at least one Kenwood in their store. You know the type, disruptive, but with a very likeable personality, that leads on the more gullible ones. The gullible ones just want to be in their gang, and go along for the ride. The Kenwoods always have to get the last word, and cannot accept being wrong. The Kenwoods get cocky and bigheaded with all the attention, and keep pushing it further and further, just to see how far they can take it. Shifts with them on are nightmare material. You place them in different areas to separate them. But still their little acts of rebellion continue.They do this so much they actually feel justified. And when managers start to challenge them, the big hero act comes into play. But here is where the danger lies. Kenwoods are in a quandary. They want to be the big hard men in front of all their mates, but could come out of the situation with much egg on face. They become defiant, start to believe they are so popular as to be untouchable. WRONG - some store manager comes along, thinks "enough of this shit" and sacks them. The Kenwoods cannot back down. This would mean public humiliation. They won't go without kicking up a fuss. Jamal, et al, if you were 100% blameless in all this we might have a bit of sympathy. But we think it was probably a case of 50/50, and now you are too interested in trying to save face than champion the workers rights, and are in a position now where you can't forget it. Whether or not unions should or shouldn't be in McD's is a whole can of worms, but you lot sound like a bunch of disgruntled kids who have axes to grind, and have adopted this cause knowing there is a lot of existing external support already.
And let's face it guys, you can't carry on a dirty war with a multinational like McDonald's, without being cunning, devious and hard faced. You were probably a pair of shit stirring, ball achers, and now you're out for your 15 minutes and a taste of glory. Well, we hope you're enjoying it.
And a word of advice, drop T.J., he's a brown noser, we've never read a post that has made us SO want to stick our fingers down our throats.
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