Jim Kaede Yasushi - December 31, 2022. - 4.7 C | 40.4 F
The most common form of employee exploitation in nearly any industry is underpayment. It can be argued that this is an issue all around Karakura, especially by how oddly each job's paycheck varies drastically. Underpayment of employees impacts the morale of the workforce, which then leads to a decline in employee’s performances. When demotivated to work, or over stressed to work in order to get paid the amount they can be, their performances are affected,, and productivity declines quickly. This is allegedly the case with La Casa workers, according to eye witness and first hand testimony.
This month, I was approached by a La Casa worker who wishes to stay anonymous about their personal time at La Casa and how they feel about their pay and work. From there I approached several other workers who agreed the pay does not meet the bar with what they are expected to deal with.
On Top of this issue, it seems La Casa can’t catch a break .. as another fire strikes karakura this December, after an oddly placed candle lead to shrubs and decorations to catch fire.
We'd like to preface this article by saying that all information regarding the employee issue was shared with us by the employees themselves, who stepped forward willingly, which you'll see later on in the article of their personal thoughts, opinions and statements.
On Sunday, I was messaged by a former interviewee of mine that someone has a case idea and information to tell me. From there I met up with the two and brought them to the news station for a one on one interview. I was requested to keep this specific worker anonymous and to only quote parts of their interview when needed for information, as they feared coming forward could risk them loosing their job. After speaking to other workers, oddly enough it seems they all went from being more open .. to suddenly asking to go anonymous out of the same fear, loosing their job.
According to the main witness and worker who stepped forward, when I asked what seems to be the issue with their workplace, they responded with, and i quote: “Basically its a little bit of everything. Either the store is not properly restocked; which i acknowledge could just be poor management od stock or control rather then logistics error. We also have the work conditions… which are not exactly the best. While I try to make a better environment, I can still feel myself, for example, dont really get for paid for all the work I do ..” they then go onto state that “I do get paid for each sale I do, of course; and thats okay but… lets say for others and my coworkers, administrative tasks such as inventory management or advanced customer service would need to be properly acknowledged economically as well’.
Even with some other issues mentioned, it seems for at least this employee, it would be better if they were just paid according to all that has to be done, even when speaking upon coworkers' behalf such as those who do administrative tasks seem to be lacking proper pay. I proceeded to ask if they feel the origin of this issue was perhaps a customer issue, as anyone can agree the public's actions are unpredictable and sudden. However, in response i was told it was an issue of those who write their paychecks, not the people. From here i switched topics more to what lead them and some of their co workers to come to the conclusion that they are being underpaid, this was the response: “Some prepare everything, from squaring, item count, conciliation, find out out we have losses and then no one taking responsibility. The work I and my coworkers do is quite demanding, and of course my knowledge on the matter is we should be properly paid, and probably a lot more auditors out there feel the same.” they said, “But anyway, at least in my case, I don't feel like I'm economically recognized for the hard work I do.”
Upon questioning another one of the anonymous La Casa workers, I also got this response to the same question: “ .. even the easy jobs can be proven tiresome as well such as waiting tables. Even the students like me who work here who are still young and in shape, surely must get tired for back to back orders .. sometimes having to go up and down stairs for a full shift. Also the hours can be crazy! Yeah we dont complain to our bosses face since we want the money, as students struggle to get a job as is .. but really? I'd rather not sometimes be at work through midnight .. on a school night. Maybe i'd be a bit more excited if the pay was better! Don't get me wrong, hell yeah i'm glad i got this job and that's why i wish to stay anonymous .. as i don't want to lose it, it's hard to get jobs here. But again .. uh, you get the point, right? Yeah i'm glad to be paid at least SOMETHING, but a little more would be nice..? Did that make sense?”
Now as I bring up that statement, we also can see that it isn't just affecting one group of people, both adults and students alike are facing the same issue. For our main interviewee that i've quoted several times so far, I asked simply why they're even talking to me about this, and not the boss themselves, to which the following was stated “Unfortunately, nothing will change if no one raises their voice. and fight for what's fair. But no one as far as we know has done this before, therefore we do fear what will happen if we do. There has been so simple precedent set for this type of event…”
Why is this an issue, however? Why is being unpaid even thought of as its obvious shopkeepers in karakura have one of the highest incomes of all citizens, number one even compared to the large sum of money our education faction receives. And so I asked the question to several interviewees of if they believe this was an issue of just not enough experience or awareness on those in charge’s end, or if they believe this is a purposeful issue.
“I dont think thats the issue, no, in my opinion, underpaid employees are a result of a lack of knowledge on human resources management. You can be the very best at math and dealing with people.. But if you didn't build proper policies to work under, it'll turn into not being acknowledged. Same happens here with employees.. Management areas, and the director is at the main fault.. Unless there's some sort of government restriction. If that's the case, The mayor should work on it as well, and not only do public events. There are a lot of things going wrong.”
“Uh .. I'm not totally sure. Clearly the boss person doesn't know what they're doing to us is bad if it's been going on for a while ..right?? Apart from it I guess it’s the lack of awareness, as well all- or.. Those who have spoken to one another about this or shame common thoughts.. I think uh.. Are all a bit worried to bring it up. I don't know anyone here totally personally, including the managers and others in charge! But .. if I had to guess, yeah an awareness issue. But not also in the way you asked?? Think about it! This person is probably filthy rich, any shop owner in Karakura is. How would they know is underpayment? Yet again if they didn't know I kinda feel by default we’d be paid more- am i making sense?”
As for other responses, I was asked personally to not share them.
From here I began to ask, making sure this is solely a payment issue rather than some sort of ..pent up emotions issue, as in that case many of these answers could be deemed invalid. So I asked or had responses about their boss himself. Below again i'll show the responses I was graciously allowed to share:
“In any case, I am not disregarding my boss. I really do respect him for giving me this chance and I have done everything to be happy with my job, where I am now, and to have been able to keep my job for so long as a loyal employee.. However I’d appreciate it if my work was properly remunerated..”
“He's alright! I mean, again don't know ‘em personally but,, I got my respect. Just .. wished he didn't seem to oblivious to us and how we feel. Yeah it's partially again our fault for not saying much but .. i don't know. Kinda feels like a common sense thing, ya know?”
“Personally? I feel like he's hiding something. Or, I feel like he's just another corrupt businessman, putting on a fake facade to fool us all out of money. I think the moment you publicize all this, Yasushi, he's going to play innocent and go ‘oh i had no idea!’ ‘Im so sorry!’ ugh .. i won't be surprised if he goes as far as to sue us for coming public with this sh*t just to get a few extra bucks in his pockets”
“The items on the menu don't cost all too much to get your hands on, even outside of L-C-N .. personally I think the boss is a bit .. i don't know, odd to always never get stock. I promise you, prices haven't gone up much or at all since i quit ages ago, and the most expensive thing there is the alcohol, and even most of that is under 20k .. for a shopkeeper, surely 20k isn't too much- hell most adults with jobs get paid like 30 times that amount! I don't see why stock is such an issue, even back when I worked there it was an issue. It's not expensive to get new products in, they’re losing money by keeping sh*t out of stock” -(former) employee who wanted to put input in.
Below this, I have written out the whole La Casa menu. There you can see that the former employee statements for the most part are totally correct, only 7 products out of the 12 page menu reached over 20k. So, that's 7 out of this menu of 68 items. That also means regardless that’s 68 items people have to keep track of, so going off statements the employees gave, it's totally believable that the stock is an issue along with feeling underpaid to keep track of it all. Of course there's things we need to take not of, such as we don't know how man
The pricing is also something to take into consideration with restock, as its known by anyone with a basic understanding of how a business works, you charge a little more then what it costed to originally make/buy the product. So seeing most items cost under 20k to buy as a customer, it costs under 20k to make/buy. Of course buying in bulk raises prices, but with la casa’s popularity, that could be easily fixed with them opening more .. yet again as stated by one of the employees in a statement i showed, the hours a lot of the time la casa opens isn't the optimal time for student employees, meaning many may not be able to work that shift ,, and the less people working, less time the place stays open, and less open time means less money and less restocks.
Under 20k in price
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Water:
Ice cream cone: 250
Popcorn: 400
Dango stick: 500
Sandwich: 750
Onigiri: 750
Italiano Taco: 1,000
Plain hotdog: 1,200
BLT: 1,250
Yakuza noodle: 1,300
Oreo milk shake: 1,300
Mustard hotdog: 1,400
Iced coffee: 1,400
Americano: 1,500
Hot chocolate: 1,500
Fried eggs: 1,500
Lamb donburi: 2,000
Sushi box: 2,000
Beef curry: 2,000
Fried Chicken: 2,000
Margarita pizza: 2,250
Pepperoni pizza: 2,500
Topical coconut drink: 2,500
Veggie pizza: 2,750
Mozzarella pizza: 2,750
Beer: 3,000
Eggs & Bacon: 3,250
Gold tequila shot: 3,500
Orange juice: 4,000
Lime juice: 4,000
Corona beer can: 4,500
Bento box: 4,500
Cooked crab: 4,500
Espresso mug: 4,750
Nacho salad: 5,000
Tomato soup: 5,500
French fries: 5,500
Mozzarella sticks: 5,700
Creme caramel: 5,750
Nutella crepes: 6,000
Molten chocolate cake: 6,000
Pancakes: 6,500
Fried chicken breast: 6,750
Cheese cake: 6,750
Beer jug: 7,500
Salmon dish: 7,750
Spaghetti plate: 8,000
Champagne: 8,000
Wine: 8,000
Whiskey: 11,000
Vodka: 11,000
Akari Gin: 12,000
Rum: 12,000
Tequila: 12,250
Krug champagne: 12,500
Screaming hawk wine: 12,500
Cognac bottle: 13,000
Diamond sake: 13,000
Cognac: 13,000
Land & Lime Gin: 13,000
1759 guinness beer: 14,000
Over 20k in price
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Fedora Hat: 22,500
Cigar: 25,000:
Mascarade mask: 50,000
Cross mask: 50,000
Demon mask: 60,000
Bunny mask: 60,000
Venom mask: 70,000
On Tuesday, one and a half days after interviewing and employees coming forward to Karakura News about their struggles, there just so happened to be a fire at La Casa Nostra. The second fire this December in Karakura that has caused damage to a well known location. However not connected to the Town Hall burning earlier this month, there is still some controversy surrounding it. As of 9 AM that day when photos were taken, we see hazard tape specifically at the front entrance and tape towards where the fire took place at the front floor.
I got in contact with someone who knows a manager and asked what happened, in response allegedly a candle was lit too close to ‘shrubs’ which lead to a fire breaking out on the first floor straight ahead of the main entrance. No huge damage was done and today upon returning to the Bar-Restaurant, all yellow and black tape is gone, along with now tables are back in the overall step-up. When someone else allegedly asks a manager what happened, instead of simply stating it was a shrub fire .. instead they claim they can not / no longer disclose that information.
Along with this, a different employee got in contact with me after I was informed about the fire. They claimed that they believed it wasn't an accident and was possibly a malicious act by a fellow employee who's been riled up via the recent coming out of work condition and payment issues for La Casa. There is allegedly an investigation going on if any of the claims are true or false regarding the fire. As of right now it's unknown if KPD is involved with said investigation or if they have their own one taking place.
From upset employees to literal flames, the fire spewing recently at La Casa Nostra after employees come forward about not being happy about their pay and work conditions along with the second fire this December hitting Karakura. This is Jim Yasushi Reporting with Karakura news, signing out.
Disclaimer: all information given was given by La casa workers themselves along with eyewitnesses, close connections and research. As there's been no confirmations or recent updates from the workers themselves everything is simply alleged. Due to contractual agreements anyone who asks to disclose the names of the people interviewed and those who came forward will be denied to right to know unless are government or law enforcement officials.
Have something you'd like to report or be reported on? Call the Reporter Hotline at (020) 980-4487 or message us on OnRain @KaNews!
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