The AUDACITY of what I just witnessed -- these wingnuts have NO SHAME!

[Gryffindor_Bookworm]

I just got home from Ryan's. In case Ryan's isn't nationwide (I dunno if it is or not) let me explain that Ryan's is a blue-collar restaurant where you can order steaks or chicken off the menu, or you can go through a buffet-type thing.

So I get up to the register to pay, and there's a big jar begging donations for someone named Amanda. I pick the jar up to read the small print (only Amanda's name was large.) It says (emphasis mine):

Amanda, a team member here for the last 17 years, was in a major car accident and needs extensive surgery. She CAN NOT work and has NO HEALTH INSURANCE. Your donations last week paid most of her utility bill! God bless you for your generosity!

If I were in management at that company, I would slit my wrists wide open before I would put that out. I would be too ashamed.

FUCKING BASTARDS!!!!!!

:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[motely36]

1. They actually admit that they're too cheap to pay insurance

oh, the irony. Of course I'm sure they wouldn't see it that way

[Gryffindor_Bookworm]

2. What gets me is that they put on it

that she "can not" work. It's like they are re-assuring everyone, "We wouldn't be this generous, but since she CAN NOT work, we're going to collect dollar bills for her."

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[motely36]

8. Oh, I get it

I didn't sink in the first time. I love when ever my company collects money for some cause. We have around 200 employees and they are always so excited when they raise like 500.00 for something.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. Hi! I'm the corporate manager of this restaurant! I'm too goddamned cheap

to pay for healthcare for my workers, or even to help them in time of need, but my Christian faith is so strong and so wondrous (you really should come to my church and be born again! You'll love it!) that I'm willing to sacrifice some of my valuable counter real estate to put up this jar to hit up my customers to raise money for one of my employees, who's been here 17 years, to have some surgery! Ain't I great! Hey - I voted for Bush! You know I'm a good Christian! And look - I donated the jar! It's an indusstrial pickle jar that I could have returned for the 30 cent deposit, but I think this surgery is too important that I'll eat the 30 cents!

[Gryffindor_Bookworm]

6. EXACTLY.

Fucking Nazi heartless WHORES!!!! :grr: :grr: :grr:

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. I really think you should do one thing -

next time there, ask to talk to the manager.

Ask the manager, "How come this woman didn't have healthcare?"

After he bumbles some line of bullshit of "law doesn't say I have to" or "She could have gone elsehwere" or whatever the puke says, then ask the feller "Are you a Christian?"

You don't want to say "Oh, you must be athiest". Ask, "Are you a Christian?"

And if he says yes, then ask "So the, how come this woman doesn't have healthcare?"

[rbnyc]

20. Sadly...

...the answer probably is that they'd have to charge $30 a plate to afford to cover their employees. Would you pay $30 for a chicken breast at Ryans?

Sorry.

:(

[FizzFuzz]

49. Rabrrrr, I wish every "Christian" would get confronted like this!!

Might do some good. I can not stand the hypocrisy any longer. :mad: :nuke:

[salin]

4. sadly,

I would guess that many patrons at the cash register don't catch the point that you did... that after 17 years this employee still had no health insurance and was asking for patrons to be generous enough to make a dent in the loss.

However, I don't know much about that industry - do most pay benefits (such as health care) after a certain period of employment, or is this typical?

[rbnyc]

21. It's very rare for restaurants to provide benefits.

Now I gotta run. ER is on!

[crispini]

25. JACK IN THE BOX will now be providing benefits!

I heard on the radio the other day!

Right on, Mr. Box!

(Awful, isn't it? between Jack, and Sonic giving to Dems, I'm just going to get fatter. I love them both.)

[Ms_Mary]

47. No, most don't offer any benefits. nt

n

[politicat]

5. I'd be asking for the manager and asking why the hell his co doesn't

provide insurance. If they have more than 50 employees, it can be had for about $3 a day per employee. For most companies over 50 employees, the cost per day is within reach. As the company gets bigger, the costs go down even further. Economy of scale.

That's right... that's about how much very basic HMO coverage costs a company. About $1100 a year per employee. Employee picks up co-pays, sometimes the deductible, sometimes a small contribution. I can understand not offering it until after the first 3 months, since restaurants have such high turnover, but if after 17 years they haven't come up with something...

Then again, Amanda is to be questioned why she stayed there that long with no insurance or other benefits...

I feel your grr... I have one too.

Pcat

[Gryffindor_Bookworm]

9. I asked the girl behind the counter that.

"Amanda hasn't had insurance for SEVENTEEN years? How has she lasted this long?"

"Her husband had insurance but he got laid off a couple years ago. And their last baby was artistic, and they have to pay a bunch of money for that."

(I am assuming she meant *autistic*, not artistic. This poor girl is extremely uneducated.) :-(

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. Well, could be artistic

Being artistic can also be pretty damned expensive...

:P

(though I'm sure she meant autistic)

[TheDebbieDee]

39. My youngest daughter is artistic, and I'm about to go broke....

buying her paints and brushes and other art supplies! :-)

[Ms_Mary]

48. I had a teacher's aid in my store recently talking about having an

"Artistic" boy in her class. I was really tempted to ask if he painted or drew.

[distantearlywarning]

7. I love how donations from the prevous week only paid her utility bill.

That means that they'll probably have to collect donations for the next 150 years to cover her hospital bills. So much for relying on the charitable feelings of our neighbors to take care of one another.

[FizzFuzz]

50. yep that was the final touch of icing on a horrific cake, eh?

[Flammable Materials]

11. How much you want to bet they have "dead peasant" insurance on her?

http://www.hereinreality.com/deadpeasant.html

[Deja Q]

13. Wal-mart has that too...

I am sick and ashamed of the anti-Christian things happening in corporate america.

[FuzzySlippers]

16. Another good reason not to offer health insurance.

Employees are more likely to die from their illnesses or injuries and companies can collect their dead peasant benefits.

[Somawas]

14. FYI

Ryan's is at least regional, if not national. And benefits of any kind are pretty scarce throughout the restaurant industry.

[Heyo]

15. How do you know...

she didn't decided to get the insurance they offer...?

A lot of people refuse it at my job.. why? I have no idea.

But it does happen.

I hope and pray that this lady is okay, and I certainly hope that she would have been offered the insurance that most places offer, I just don't know the whole story.

In any case, I would've dropped a 50 in there if I had that kind of cash. I hate it for people like that. It really sucks what can happen to poeple in life.

Heyo

on edit: Read a later post... I do know more of the story now.. husband laid off... that sucks.. that place should offer insurance though.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

26. Most restaurants don't offer insurance

they pay their employees $2.60 and hour, and most waiters don't work full time. I waitressed and bartended for years and only the hotel restaurants offered health benefits, because they were union shops.

[Heyo]

31. That sucks ass. eom

[miss_kitty]

32. a lot of time the insurance on offer at places like that is SO costly

it's not affordable by the employees. That was the problem I had. If I KNOWN I was gonna get cancer, I'dve gotten the insurance...

[China_cat]

44. My husband was offered insurance

at the job he now has. He declined it after reading all the fine print which essentially came down to "this policy is good until you try to use it".

There were also clauses giving them the right to change what they would cover, how much they would cover it for and even the right to drop coverage for certain procedures WITHOUT NOTIFYING THE POLICY HOLDER in advance of these changes.

Why should we pay out our money when they make it clear that we will not be allowed any benefit from it?

I would encourage anybody who has insurance provided for them to read the fine print VERY carefully. You will probably get quite a shock when you do.

[madison2000]

17. Some people decline health insurance coverage

because it takes too big a chunk out of their paycheck. I'm not saying that happened here, maybe they didn't even offer it to her. But I know a few people who have declined it to make their check go farther, as dangerous as that seems. Its called living on the edge of your finances.

[rbnyc]

19. I was in that position before.

And if I didn't need a surgery next year, and if I didn't have a family, I might consider that now. It's $477.00/month for me to insure my family.

[madison2000]

24. I didn't continue COBRA coverage when unemployed

because it was $300 a month and my copays on prescriptions add up to $150 on top of that. I just can't afford it on unemployment compensation.

[rbnyc]

18. It does suck, but...

...the first thing I think of is the community center where I used to work. The center was paying $460.00 per month per employee for health insurance. (And that's despite that employees were paying in.) That's really a lot to absorb. A hiring freeze and wage freeze had to be instituted. I agree all companies should provide insurance, but insurance companies make it damn near impossible.

Now at my new job, in order to cover my family, I will be paying out of my check $477.00 per month in addition to whatever my employer pays.

It's just wrong.

[politicat]

30. was community center part of the city? They should have been able to

get the city employee benefits if they were.

The DH works in the industry - as a programmer, but he's learned a lot to his eternal dismay. We've got quite the education on what premiums look like and what coverage is available... and how things get floated, "fixed" and FUBARed. It's a scam industry, made legitimate by age and law.

Pcat

[rbnyc]

43. no. non-governmental

Just a regular 501c3.

[politicat]

46. owww.... and they have the highest insurance rates of all....

the Insurance companies see "NFP" and it's like sharks and blood in the water. Apparently, Ins resellers think that NFP = no business acumen.

We need to get our NFPs to work together and take some of that overhead and consolidate it. If all of the liberal NFPs in the country could just work together to collectively buy the insurance and retirement services...

while we work hard to get national health care....

Pcat

[Carson]

22. Perhaps she was a part-time employee. Usually they don't have benefits.

[The Backlash Cometh]

23. So the Republicans are proud to turn their own into beggars?

I find that very odd.

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. How in the world can anyone say we have

adequate health care in this country when folks have to put collection jars in restaurants and convenience stores to pay health care expenses?
:puke:

[fishnfla]

28. "major car accident" :wouldnt auto insurance cover medical bills?

Maybe she needs a lawyer, not a jar

[Left Is Write]

29. It might.

Depending on who is at fault in the accident. If it's another driver's fault, their liability insurance should kick in.

[miss_kitty]

33. unless they were uninsured

and if she did not have coverage for uninsured driver...or if she ALSO didn't have car insurance...

[Left Is Write]

34. Right.

And even so, uninsured motorist coverage usually has pretty low limits. It's required in some states.

[miss_kitty]

37. Required yes

Auto insurance is required in my state. But not everyone drives with it. It's a $475 ticket.

[Left Is Write]

38. Oh, I know.

I'm agreeing with you.

[miss_kitty]

40. oh OK

i must be having trouble with my reading and comprehension skills tonight for some reason...:)

[progressoid]

35. That's amazing -

Over at freeperville they would blame her for for not pulling herself up by her bootstraps. Scumbags

[Ladyhawk]

36. Gryffindor...will you ask next time you go there? I'm curious.

Of course, you don't have to do this to satisfy my curiosity. :D

[Swamp Rat]

41. Instead of paying the cashier, I would have dropped the money in the jar

"by accident" and walked away.

[donheld]

42. Praise Jesus and thank him for Corporate America

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[pagerbear]

45. Even though it completely sucks

...that her company doesn't offer insurance, that decision was surely made way above the local store level. While it might be satisfying to rip the store manager a new one for not offering health insurance, s/he had nothing to do with that decision. A letter-writing and phone campaign to the regional and national corporate offices might have a better result. Contacting the local media about it also might cause some sort of stir. Local TV news loves those "hard-luck" stories--they like to pretend they have hearts.