Tired Hands (2021)

I saw how Founders fought against what was obviously a fault of theirs and I've watched consumers fall back into their arms despite that (Mackinac Fudge was one of the most rated beers on this very website last year). I am encouraged by the pirate like takeover that the employees of Tired Hands have undertaken. It's going to take seeing more structural change for me to consider supporting Tired Hands, but I am happy that the action being taken seems to be in the right direction versus resisting those necessary changes. We'll see if these changes are real and lasting.

 

Whew, well I got to this later than expected, thanks work. I don't think anything @stairway2heavn is saying is a want or need for "instant gratification" its more of an okay now what is next. If Jean steps away and never returns to running any operations and the employees really take that and run with it, while turning it into terrific place to work, that is amazing and great.

But if Jean still owns 80% or whatever that is, and can sit back and take in that profit, I think people still have every right to be upset. They want to support the workers but the majority of money is going to a person who can remain out of the public light and not need to really change the way they are. If nothing changes other than stepping away from an operational stand point, what reason does a person have to change how they act and who they are and why should our support overwhelmingly go to them?

This is great first step, but it beckons the question of what is next IMO. As many said, this will likely be a litmus test of change in the industry. Without further action at some point, just a step away, after an incredibly poor response, doesn't make me immediately return to wanting to support them.

 

So am I the only one that thinks this "employee staff takeover" was orchestrated with Jean in the room and they all agreed it was in the best interests of not only the staff but Jean and his wife?

 

I'm sorry for being late to this convo but what exactly is Jean accused of ( rude comment or beyond ?) and is he the sole owner ?

 

I saw this posted in an Instagram comment, someone actually compiled all the screenshots that were related to Tired Hands in a Google Drive folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-2hjugqBJCJyy-FRyWFlNSxAUhkYCInZ

Basically the accusations mostly fall into the categories of discriminating against women and minority employees and job applicants, not caring about employee safety, being manipulative about pay and raises, exploiting the PPP loans, and just general unprofessionalism and acting like a real jerk.

As for ownership, based on the public PLCB database, he and his wife own 80%. The other 20% are various investors that own 1 to 3% each. Judging by last names most are family members (and notably Shaun Hill which came up in the lawsuit a few years ago). But that might just be for the original brew cafe location? Who knows if all the various TH entities are under one company or not.

 

Yeah, maybe Little Log Cabin was Jean's fallback plan if all of this got out...

 

This is where im conflicted.. while I no longer want to give Tired Hands my money because im sure its somehow still lining Jeans pocket, I know if I don't its just going to hurt current employees that count on a paycheck and tips.

 

For all who doth protest too much, serial abusers still have scoreboard over their victims like 100,000,000 to 100 over the course of history. Only in recent times has the public at large started to push back and see the victims' side in these situations.

So forgive me if I don't pour one out or feel sorry for an owner for losing the ability to run their business day to day, or even if they take some measure of financial hit going forward via forced sale. They'll still be well enough off and I've seen enough in this world that a loss in finances is much more salvageable going forward than a fucked up head from being abused.

 

I’m not sure I’ve seen a single person in this thread, at least, expressing wariness over Jean personally losing out on business or profits. Sympathies, if there’s any for TH at large, seem firmly and solely on the side of current employees.

 

I guess my only questions - as someone who's had a few TH beers but never been - are:

a) to what extent is this a fully employee-driven move, vs an owner-initiated "do this / say this" move. Someone already asked that question, but just reiterating. I did see that ratmagnet had posted a DM saying it's genuine which is positive assuming that's accurate.

b) unlike with the SH stuff, yeah Jean/Julie were directly implicated, but also the theme seemed to also be around overall enabling a toxic culture that allowed an inner circle of sycophants/dicks to flourish. Presumably the latter are still part of the "employees". So would be interested to understand how those people are part of this movement / will be dealt with.

 

They are still the Owners, they still get the profit.

The question would be how many low level employees are actually left after their COVID layoffs for all the restaurant staff mentioned in the one story? How much of the skeleton crew left are really some of the management people that were complicit in the toxicity?

Demand is high right now for service industry employees, I have seen "we're hiring" notices from a lot of local breweries and restaurants. People that quit Tired Hands could probably find a job right now.

 

This is the important part to me, and why I'm finding the current state of things to be unacceptable.

Jean "stepping away" but having all his management bros still in place leaves the place just as bad off for the employees. Nothing posted has mentioned this as a problem that will be (or needs to be) fixed. The longtime employees know who the problem people are. Will they be empowered to show them the exit? If not, Jean "stepping away" is nothing more than a cynical ploy to paper over the problems until they are no longer in the front of peoples' minds.

 

Yeah this is the worry and what came to mind when I saw the post yesterday. Obviously change won't happen overnight, but it seems like a new team to manage operations is needed and the first task that team should have is to overhaul their workforce of any remnants of the prior group that caused such toxicity. Something I was thinking over last night that would make me feel better supporting the workers there while knowing money was still going in Jean's pockets would be him taking an open and very transparent path to use good percentage of those earnings and put them towards charities and initiatives supporting & offering training and such on having an open, fair, and unbiased workplace. That and/or starting some type of fund or organization to combat those types of issues within the brewing industry at large, again being completely transparent with how the money is being used and where it is going would be a must, as is an honest and open apology that acknowledges his part in creating and keeping the toxic work environment at TH.

 

I wonder if all the long term Amazon employees can band together and take Jeff Bezos down for being a dick to them also.

 

These allegations aren't easy to prove but many seem to fall into civil court. Discrimination in hiring and firing can be a costly thing. And they can't take him down. They have leverage in so far as whether: any scabs would cover for a work stoppage; customers take their money elsewhere to brewers that aren't displaying troubling racism and sexism.

 

I would think when this blows over Jean will be cleaning house and the employees driving this will be kicked to the curb. They’ll just have to raise their rates to populate the staff again.

I read through the TH complaints - ownership doesn’t seem up to the challenge of their expansion but I imagine they’ve taken some lessons here to keep their own idiocy better in check. People thinking the 80% stake owners of a private company are losing to their employees are dreaming.

Remember where a guy said he grabbed women by the genitals and then was elected president. If people like what you have to sell they’ll ignore any repugnant behavior you may direct at others.

 

That said, I read up on the Amazon stuff. I guess the other difference in part is size and ubiquity, which harkens to the impact a smaller number of consumers can have on TH vs Amazon. Also, this would be more similar to Bezos and top level C suite employees directly behaving this way. Not excusing Amazon or Bezos (I think these sexism and racism problems, by their nature, are in every industry to variable degrees. ) suffice it to say Jean has far more culpability than a CEO of a megacorp (that said, as time goes on, bezos I presume will at best look negligent).

 

Some tried.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1263558

 

@ratmagnet focusing entirely on stories from Philly, today. lots in there (unsurprisingly) about Evil Genius.

on a brighter note, a few accounts chiming up about how great some of the management was at Tired Hands directly below Jean and Julie... in that they were supportive and caring. makes me feel a little better, still, with the direction they took collectively.

St. Oner’s also released a story, individually, from “ground level workers” about standing in solidarity with marginalized peoples, and for organizing a better workplace going forward.