I’m shocked at how many restaurant workers today say that they don’t even get a free meal during, prior or after their shift. Maybe that’s the corporatization of everything in the US.
I worked at Perkins as both a hostess and waitress one summer between college years. I was expecting to get free food when I worked, especially the (rare) days I worked more than 8 hours...I did not. The only food I got was what I swiped off of the salad bar when I was "cleaning" it and what came back to the kitchen due to a customer being unhappy with their order. It wasn't unusual for a waitress to "accidentally" put in the wrong order and then tell everyone "the customer asked for blueberry pancakes but I gave him plain pancakes. Free plain pancakes for anyone who wants them!". So yes, I think corporatization is at the root of the problem.
I had one boss (the owner of the restaurant) who threw a great holiday party for us and also treated us to a summer barbecue at his house. He served steak and shrimp, not just hot dogs and burgers. And he had an open bar and asked around ahead of time to make sure he had everybody’s favorite drinks. Jack was an awesome boss.
He was!
There was no corporate office or regional manager giving a restaurant manager orders and rules to follow. Since he knew us all personally, we weren’t just numbers or lines in the payroll. We were treated like actual human beings.
That's huge. I *do* feel that SM's hands are tied on certain matters (for example, we can't decorate the store the way we want to for the holidays; we can only use corporate-approved decorations so we "maintain the look of the brand"). And some of the (very, very few) perks we get are paid for out of SM's own pocket. She's not getting paid all THAT much more than we are, and she shouldn't have to be using her own money to make her employees happy.