I don’t normally write a whole lot about personal issues I am experiencing, especially one so close to home, but I feel this needs to be said and shared as I feel that Wendy’s of Montana has done my husband very wrong and people need to know about it. In these hard economic times, many people are losing jobs and getting laid off and finding themselves unjustly without work from places they worked at and were loyal to for years. My husband is no different.

Some of you may be saying, “It’s just fast food” and “oh well, he can just get another fast food job”. I can assure you, what Wendy’s of Montana did was far from OK and my Husband was shafted.

My husband worked for Wendy’s of Montana for over 4 years, and was going on 5. Two of those years, he was in management. In that time, he got numerous awards for excellent work. He was employee of the year, two years in a row, employee of the quarter, twice, and got the “Dave Thomas Excellency award” as well for being a model employee. He was also sent on two separate business training sessions out of town and was hand picked for those sessions as well as led to believe he would be promoted on numerous occasions.

Things stared getting very strange around December of 2012. He was told he would be moving to another location and was never told why. (It was mentioned to me later, and very recently, that the reason being was because “he won’t be with us much longer”.) That move never occurred and he was never told why.

Starting around mid January 2013, the DM (District Manager) put my husband on a “probationary period” for a “customer complaint”. Now, you have to understand this came as a complete shock to both of us since in the almost 5 years he was employed there, he was not written up for ANY infractions at all. And the supposed customer complaint was not something he did or could have controlled. It was a comment made by an employee to another employee, that was not profane in nature while my husband was busy doing paperwork he was supposed to be doing at that time. They told him it was his job to “control the crew” and that my husband needed to learn to be “more of an a*****e”. The DM mentioned to me that he was going to teach my husband to “be a b****”.

Let me ask this; How on earth is any person supposed to control what comes out of other people’s mouths, especially if they are not present to witness anything and especially if the comment that was made was not profane in any manner? Want to know what the comment was?? The employee jokingly called his co-worker a “Bushbaby“. Know what a bushbaby is? It is a small, adorable primate that lives in East Africa. The emploee that was called a Bushbaby was not offended. In fact he didn’t even remember the incident. This was what the customer complained about.

Shortly after he was put on probabtion for the bushbaby incident, (that he had no part in, even though he wrote up the employee that said the comment after he was made aware), I was fanagled into speaking with the DM (District Manager) because I knew him from years ago through my own employment there. He called the house asking for my husband, who was not home at the time. He manipulated me into speaking with him saying, “we know each other outside of work, tell me what your husband has said to you about the incident..” I mistakenly agreed to speak with him and he did not believe me when I said my husband was not there at the time (he insisted he was because he “watched the tapes”, but the time he said he was there was not when the incident occurred) and repeatedly cursed and said he was “Calling B******t”. I felt he was trying to pit me against my husband and manipulate me.

Interestingly, my husband was up for a bonus, which the DM held the day he was supposed to get it. It was later in that evening that he gave it to him saying it was at the other location in town by mistake.

Shortly after, he was taken off probation and we thought maybe the nightmare was over. In comes another customer complaint.

I was present at the time this incident occurred that the customer complained about. I had come in late night, right before the lobby closed to buy the special Valentine’s coupon books they had. The topic came up about appetite somehow and I said, innocently, “Yeah, (husband’s name) eats everything at our home.” An employee heard me say that and started laughing hysterically and said, “He eats everything, huh?” (implying a comment pertaining to oral sex). I said, “That is NOT what I meant!” A customer heard this exchange and called in a complaint. Again, my husband was not present until the very tip of this conversation and he was busy so didn’t really hear it. He just smiled at me and went back to work.

The morning after this incident, my husband showed up to work. He went in the back office, unaware there was even an issue. In the back office was the DM. He slammed the door violently behind my husband and for dramatic effect and to add to his violent outburst, stood up and opened the door carefully only to slam it again. He then “dropped the f-bomb” about 20 times, told my husband to hand in his keys, told him he was to get out. He was told he would get a call later when the DM “calmed down”.

Before they called my husband, they asked other employees who were there that night about the incident. The person who implied the oral sex comment denied even being there. They did not take a statement from my husband and did not allow me to speak on his behalf as a witness.

Now, on top of all this, in his search for another job this weekend, they have told potential employers why he was in trouble and that he should not be hired. He has lost out on at least one job because of this.

What makes me so angry is this man, my husband, had never had a single write up in nearly 5 years. He was awarded for his excellence in his job and in my opinion, was unfairly targeted for reasons that I can only speculate on that are financial in nature. See, my husband was making the max they will pay for someone in his position. He just got that raise about 2 weeks before they put him on that probationary period.

Something is not right here. Something smells fishy and it is not the new fish sandwich at Wendy’s. It is in a corrupt company that if Dave Thomas was still here, he would probably be upset over his name being used to hide under.

I should also mention, that although I personally like the two employees that made comments that got the customer complaints, it was not new to Wendy’s that they say offensive things. Wendy’s management was very well aware of this issue.

Please, help me spread the word on Wendy’s and their disgusting antics. No one should have to put up with profane and abusive language from their superior, being defamed when trying to seek new employment, being unfairly targeted and other things I cannot mention.

I am tweeting this copy out and you are more than welcome to tweet it as well. Also, here is the national Wendy’s Facebook page (link removed) and their company website (link removed). Please note, these are not the Wendy’s of Montana ones, because conveniently, they do not have any social media accounts or even a website that I could find.

UPDATE 2/19/2013

Thank you to everyone who tweeted. I have been contacted by Wendy’s for discussion. I will update when I know more.

One thing I have noticed lately is the increase in people’s rudeness and self centered-ness. At the risk of sounding old, I can almost say, “It was different when I was a kid.”

I now get ran down in grocery stores by other people’s carts, doors slammed in my face instead of held for me among other nasty behaviors.

I really have to wonder what is causing this shift. Is it all the technology? Perhaps it is just that children are being raised poorly now. Maybe it is just that people have forgotten manners.

Manners are so important. They help create a harmonious society.

Here are some I believe we should still keep in mind that matter:

1. Bumping into others happens, but you should always say “pardon me” or “excuse me”. Bumping into someone is not rude, but not acknowledging that you did, is.

2. Cover your cough or sneeze. I personally do what I was taught in Culinary Arts school and do it into my shoulder. It takes a bit of practice to remember, but then you are not sneezing into your hands and transferring germs until you can wash them. I am so grossed out when I see others not cover.

3. Letting your children run crazy is never OK. I had an incident at a local restaurant recently where the children were climbing all over counters, standing in everyone’s way and the little boy had these annoying squeaky shoes on and the parent was not paying a bit of attention to weather her children might have been annoying others in the restaurant. We left and the older couple did as well.

4. Use online etiquette. Don’t pretend that just because it is online, it is OK to be rude. Don’t make big announcements online until you have called the people closest to you. You wouldn’t announce your pregnancy to the world until you had told your husband would you?

5. Retailers take note: No one likes to be put on the spot to donate a dollar to a charity when they check out. Its not suggestive selling if it is a charity and I feel like everyone in line behind me will think I am some bonehead if I don’t donate a dollar.

6. Hold the door or elevator. Its just plain common courtesy and it takes mere seconds.

7. Please, just tell me if you are running late. send a text, call really quick or even instant message me. Being late happens to all of us, and you can help yourself not look rude by a simple communication.

Are there any manners that people seem to have lost these days that you think matter I may have missed? Leave them in the comments

photo via flickr by CarbonNYC