Chicken instead of cash. Sandwiches instead of money. That’s what a branch of the Chick-fil-A fast food restaurant promised to [ cough ] ‘pay’ their Drive Thru Express ‘volunteers’ in North Carolina. The suggested ‘wage’ was 5 entrees per shift (aka 1 hour) worked. And if you think this is absolutely ridiculous, dear Pandas, you’re not the only ones.
Now, we know what some of you are thinking: 5 sandwiches per hour theoretically doesn’t sound all that bad, considering their value. We’ve analyzed why chicken is actually really bad as a medium of exchange, and we’ll get to that in just a bit. Are we gonna get all nerdy and take this quirky bit of news seriously? Darn right we are! Scroll down for Bored Panda’s interview with a finance expert about this. We also got in touch with Bona Bones , whose video on TikTok helped the story go viral.
Chick-fil-A was in the news recently, and not because of something good
A social media post about wanting ‘volunteers’ at one of their drive thrus in exchange for chicken went viral for all the wrong reasons
<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/chick-fil-a-backlash-unpaid-volunteers-volunteers-drive-thru-1-62e8ceb941312__700.jpg" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=““We Are Looking For Volunteers For Our New Drive Thru”: Chick-Fil-A Faces Backlash For Their Despicable Volunteer Search - 1”>
Unsurprisingly, the initiative got blasted. The restaurant got called out for the idea online
<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/chick-fil-a-backlash-unpaid-volunteers-volunteers-drive-thru-2-62e8cebbb54e5__700.jpg" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=““We Are Looking For Volunteers For Our New Drive Thru”: Chick-Fil-A Faces Backlash For Their Despicable Volunteer Search - 2”>
A dash of irony…
<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/chick-fil-a-backlash-unpaid-volunteers-volunteers-drive-thru-28.jpg" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=““We Are Looking For Volunteers For Our New Drive Thru”: Chick-Fil-A Faces Backlash For Their Despicable Volunteer Search - 3”>
Chick-fil-A’s controversial social media post asking for chicken-paid volunteers to man their drive thru has since been deleted. In all fairness, the suggestion was made by a single location and the idea (probably) doesn’t represent the company’s values as a whole. Whatever the case might be, the outrage was absolutely real, wherever you turned.
A representative for Chick-fil-A told The Washington Post that the Hendersonville store “decided to end this program.” They said: “Most restaurants are individually owned and operated, and it was a program at an individually owned restaurant. This was not endorsed by Chick-fil-A, Inc.”
Plenty of internet users were using the social media post as an example of how companies shouldn’t treat their employees and what not to do . If you needed more proof that we might be living in a dystopian clown world, this is it. Many internet users also used this as an excuse to criticize Chick-fil-A which is known for being family-owned and for adhering to ‘biblically-based’ principles.
Times are hard, inflation’s hitting consumers right in their wallets… and it’s making some companies think about cutting costs. CNN reports that even though workers’ salaries are growing, they’re being outpaced by inflation. After accounting for rising prices, wages and salaries declined by 3.5% over the past year.
In the United States, inflation is at its highest level in over 40 years , with prices having risen by 9.1%. And that’s just summing everything up. When you start looking at specific items, your jaw can really drop. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, gas is up 80% and eggs cost 51% more . Meanwhile, NPR points out that chicken prices across America had increased 16.4% by April, according to the Consumer Price Index.
TikToker Bona, who helped the Chick-fil-A story go viral online, told Bored Panda how she reacted when she first saw the company’s social media post.
“My first reaction was, ‘Wow these people don’t even have a grasp of federal labor laws.’ I’m not exactly a legal expert, but I’ve spent enough time in workplace break rooms to know that for-profit companies are legally required to pay the federal minimum wage. It seems like they were either unaware of the laws or at worst blatantly ignoring them,” she shared with us.
As for how companies can support their employees in these economically trying times, Bona put it simply: “Pay a living wage. It’s pretty simple. If you can’t afford to pay a living wage then you can’t afford to run a business.”
TikToker Bona Bones was dumbfounded by Chick-fil-A’s ‘volunteer’ program
She made a video about it and it immediately went viral
<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/chick-fil-a-backlash-unpaid-volunteers-volunteers-drive-thru-3-62e8cebeef36c__700.jpg" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=““We Are Looking For Volunteers For Our New Drive Thru”: Chick-Fil-A Faces Backlash For Their Despicable Volunteer Search - 4”>
<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/chick-fil-a-backlash-unpaid-volunteers-volunteers-drive-thru-4-62e8cec29c97f__700.jpg" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=““We Are Looking For Volunteers For Our New Drive Thru”: Chick-Fil-A Faces Backlash For Their Despicable Volunteer Search - 5”>
<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/chick-fil-a-backlash-unpaid-volunteers-volunteers-drive-thru-5-62e8cec489422__700.jpg" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=““We Are Looking For Volunteers For Our New Drive Thru”: Chick-Fil-A Faces Backlash For Their Despicable Volunteer Search - 6”>
<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/chick-fil-a-backlash-unpaid-volunteers-volunteers-drive-thru-6-62e8cec692aed__700.jpg" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=““We Are Looking For Volunteers For Our New Drive Thru”: Chick-Fil-A Faces Backlash For Their Despicable Volunteer Search - 7”>
Here is her video, in full
@bona.bones #greenscreen ♬ Spongebob Closing Theme Song Music – Ocean Floor Orchestra
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