By Lutho Pasiya 
Jul 16, 2021
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A photo of a sign outside a Lincoln, Nebraska Burger King has gone viral.
The sign, which reads “we all quit” and “sorry for the inconvenience,” was put up by angry staff members trying to send a message to upper management.
Rachael Flores, a former general manager at the store who gave her two-week notice after frustrations with management and the working conditions at the restaurant, told news outlet KLN-TV that eight fellow employees quit soon after.
“They wanted to put up a sign to say, you know, ‘Sorry there’s really not going to be anyone here’, just kind of a laugh to upper management.
“That got put up before we opened, and I didn’t think anybody was going to notice it, because we did just one sign. And then it went pretty crazy on Facebook. I got a call from my upper management, and they told me I needed to take it down,” she told the publication.
This morning, all of the Burger King employees at the Havelock location (here in Lincoln, Nebraska) quit all at once—and let potential customers know about it. pic.twitter.com/2FeFcw7E4I
— Ted Genoways (@TedGenoways) July 11, 2021
Flores said that due to an ever-changing staff of district managers, her particular branch had been overlooked, leading to working conditions that included 90-degree temperatures in the kitchen, resulting in severe dehydration, and 50 to 60 hour work weeks.
Flores said she was hospitalised for dehydration, and her boss told her she was a “baby”.
These fast food workers are reported to be among a growing group of retail workers who are “rage quitting” their jobs over working conditions and pay during the US labour shortage.
The restaurant industry has been one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. Thousands of restaurants have permanently closed, and thousands more are trying to survive on their take-out service. This has left millions of workers unemployed, and the industry desperate for help.