Red Robin Reminiscing

Hello friends. As some of you know, I used to work at Red Robin. The story of how I got the job as the yellow-tight wearing mascot is an interesting tale in its own right. That is not the journey I'll be sharing with you today. My 3 years at Red Robin were filled with many, many, many memories (mostly pleasant,) however my departure from that company was less than sweet. I came across some old emails of that experience and thought that I would share.

"On Wed, 10 Nov 2004, Joseph Mangan wrote:

So today was the first day of the big one man protest against Red Robin, so I'd thought I'd try and keep you guys posted on the progress.

For those of you who don't know, I don't work at Red Robin anymore because I got fired. Long story short, ever since we got our new General Manager (about a year ago) we've been butting heads and work has not been the fun eutopia it once used to be. On the day I got fired I came in for my shift that I was scheduled for and then Sabrina (the GM) sat me down in the middle of the restaurant to let me know that she was going to be suspending me for three shifts. Her reason for this was because I did not RSG (a thing that is done at Red Robin before our shifts where we go in the back and look over what we are currently focusing on) with a guy named Mike during my shift. The thing is we're supposed to RSG before our shift so that we know what's up, but since we haven't been doing that with a trainer in awhile, I've just been doing it on my own after I clock in. Well anyway I was in the middle of my shift and Mike tells me to go in the back and RSG with him, and I don't for three reasons:

1. I don't really like the guy (think half Snidely Whiplash and half Jar Jar Binks.) Total annoying, snake in the grass, turd burglar.

2. I had already done it. I think the focus that day was 30 second greets.

3. And I was in the middle of getting beverages for my guests.

Well anyway he ends up telling the GM that I refused to go in the back with him and so this is why we were now having this little talk in the middle of the restaurant. So when Sabrina lays out her plan for me, naturally I'm a little upset because I felt like I took care of my shit and if I had been in the back RSGing I would have been neglecting my tables and we would've then been having a conversation about how I need to not neglect my tables. (anyone that knows about the crazy metrics that RR servers are judged on understands)So at the end of her speel she tells me that I'm suspended for three shifts and asks, "So do you agree what you did to Mike was disrespectful?" And of course I said "No" because at Red Robin we are supposed to have an "open door" policy where we are supposed to feel safe saying whatever we want without fear of retaliation, but I guess they changed that rule sometime while I was out because right after I said that she told me that I was fired. So in my mind I ended getting suspended for not RSGing with Mike, but FIRED for telling her my honest opinion. So that's when I decided to stage my one man protest.

The timing of the protest to start today was strategic because tonight was the night of our all team party, so the restaurant was filled with people from other Red Robins who were filling in. It was my hope that they'd see me protesting and then take it back to their restaurants that everything was not OK at the University Red Robin. So I get there all pumped to start protesting, pull up in the Pathfinder at around 5:58 pull out my signs, and am on my corner by 6:00. Within one minute of being out there the first person to respond was some old man in a white car that managed to both honk and flip me off at the same time he was turning a corner. After that though things picked up and people were honking and giving me thumbs up instead of flipping me the bird. I had a couple of people ask why Red Robin was unfair? and it took me awhile to figure out how to explain my plight to the common man, but by the fourth person I had a pretty good version of the story down. My friend Eli even stopped by to show his support and stood out there with me for a good 9 minutes. And at around 7:00 Lori, one of the managers, drives up to the restaurant, sees me, and makes sure to walk on the complete opposite side of the street as she entered. But by 7:30 I was getting pretty cold because I didn't bring a jacket and was only wearing a Red Robin polo team member shirt. So as I started to get the sniffles I figured I call an end to day one and pack it up so that I can be back on the street on Friday.

It wasn't the big media event that I had hoped for and none of the 4 tv stations I called actually showed up, but it was just day one. So here's the start of the great Red Robin Protest and I knew you'd all want some sort of documentation of it. Whenever you drive by someone holding up a sign, just give them a little honk, it's not too much from you but it sure makes being out there a lot more bearable.

I'll be sure and keep all of you posted as my uphill battle progresses."

Let me know if you want me to post how day 2 went....