A recent TikTok portraying an in-store sign that read “Please Do Not Feed The Employees” at a Domino’s restaurant sparked some controversy on the popular social media platform.
The clip, captioned “Honestly so disappointed in dominos… you really should be feeding your employees,” was posted by user @abeyanddash and racked up over 180k views. The sign, which seems to be a humorous take on the well-known ‘please do not feed the animals’ zoo sign, didn’t exactly make people laugh like corporate had intended. Instead, viewers are pretty heated about the gesture, given that fast-food workers are often struggling to put food on the table.
“…that seems a little cruel :(” Domino’s “Do Not Feed The Employees” sign is frowned upon by many.
abeyanddash via TikTok
According to an article posted by Berkeley, “Median pay for core front-line fast-food jobs is $8.69 an hour, with many jobs paying at or near the minimum wage,” The article reads, “Benefits are also scarce for front-line fast-food workers; an estimated 87 percent do not receive health benefits through their employer.” The research goes on to talk about the effects of low pay and lack of benefits, saying, “The combination of low wages and benefits, often coupled with part-time employment, means that many of the families of fast-food workers must rely on taxpayer-funded safety net programs to make ends meet.”
Of course, this isn’t unknown knowledge, and as most of us have worked in a fast-food or minimum wage paying job at one point or another, the struggle to make ends meet in that situation is not foreign.
Viewers weren’t happy with the gesture by Domino’s, and although some users claimed that their store feeds the employees without issue, the notion seems to be location-based.
In a Reddit thread on the topic, some commenters reported being able to make themselves free pizza whenever they wanted, while others said they were only allowed burnt or otherwise messed up pizza. A few users claimed they got no free food whatsoever, so it seems the sides are somewhat evenly split.
#justicefordomioworkers- Below is the original TikTok, showing the inside of a Domino’s and the insulting sign hanging on the glass:
@abeyanddash Honestly so disappointed in dominos… you really should be feeding your employees #pizza #dominos #feedyouremployees
Viewers in the comment section on TikTok shared their own stories of working at Domino’s:
“When i worked there they were very big on ‘customers are not allowed to see you eat.’” One user wrote.
“Idk when I used to work at dominos we got all the free food we wanted” Another confessed.
One user disturbingly noted that at their location, “We don’t get breaks unless you’re 15.”
An ex-manager spoke out about the break rules at her old establishment saying, “Ex manager at dominos and yeah youre not allowed to be seen eating and if you’re above the age of 18 you get no breaks :)”
Another user against the sign wrote, “If I saw that I would pretend to be illiterate while sliding a piece of pizza over the glass. 😂”
What are your thoughts on this odd sign? Do you think it’s cruel to deliberately tell customers not to help out the workers, or did the joke just fly right over everyone’s heads?