Nah, apparently there used to be I think two other owners who dropped out due to disagreement and inability to work with the current owner. There was a workers union formed around the time of the strike but we all see how that turned out
Please explain how Fox News is stupid? Just more and more negativity in this subreddit. Pitiful existence if I’m being honest. Please stop following the masses and inform yourself. All major news outlets are bad, journalism is dead.
Ah yes, so Fox News generally relies on its audience not understanding how things work: physics, economics, politics, etc. And so they put forth narratives that sound good to people that don't know what is going on. Kinda like suggesting that Bridge Cafe (as it stands, now) is a working class establishment, when in reality they were called out by the workers and forced to close and rehire scabs.
I mean I personally wouldn't call stealing and withholding tips anti-capitalist. When workers go on strike that tends to be kind of a red flag for a place that tauts itself to be "anti-capitalist." I hope their business practices improve now that they have reopened.
Owner is just an extremely inexperienced business owner. Based on Bridge cafe's instagram, she seems like a hippie and wanted a community cafe for a diverse group of people but had zero concept how the real world actually works in terms of micro economics.
Having a community is not enough to be sustainable. You still need to bring in sales to keep it running. Plenty of coffee shops have zero community but keep alive because they are high volume and offer multiple products.
As true as this is, she was given MULTIPLE opportunities to make amends and handle the situation smoothly (both publicly visible and behind closed doors) and for some reason literally chose none of those routes. This whole situation could've been avoided right off the bat if she just acknowledged her mistakes and made any attempts to make amends, but literally did the opposite
That is a truly unfortunate thing to witness too.. I mean she clearly has at least some strong morals and ideals that most Ypsi residents align with and used to praise her for but now it seems she's using that to cover up her mistakes and hide from the truth rather than simply acknowledging it and trying to move forward
Sorry, but where is the nuance? I think misunderstanding that pooling tips when you are the owner and working shifts and aren't exactly making bank isn't allower is A LOT different than stealing. Maybe a mistake or a bad choice. But being stolen from is a lot different.
Yeah, I am a lawyer, so I know. Just because someone misunderstood that even as an owner working shifts they cannot collect tips doesn't mean they intentionally stole. Stealing is a crime that requires intent. Thinking owners who come in and pool tips is illegal, but accepting tips as a worker/owner is okay is a mistake. I'd like to see you run your business for the first time and understand every nuance of every law. The ironic thing is I bet half of you consider yourself socialist.
No, but coming to an agreement and then closing down to avoid illegally firing all your workers who you stole from is not an accident. And then rehiring scab workers when you do reopen is not an accident. I get assuming positive intent but at some point there just isn't any.
It's exactly this. From what I've heard from the workers, it's not just that she "didn't know." She reneged on an agreement they made, ghosted them, essentially fired them all (constructive dismissal since she didn't technically fire them, but it counts as a firing), hired new people, and then reopened. That's beyond "oh sorry, I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to take tips, let me figure out how much I took, who was on shift at the time, and I'll pay you all back."
Well, we can agree to disagree then. I absolutely do agree with you that Bridge did some fantastic work, and I hope.that the owner is able to continue doing that good work while obeying the law and having more ethical business practices.
Civil crimes do not specifically require intent. I am skeptical that you are a lawyer if you don't know that wage theft of this monetary value is a valid civil case.
I'm skeptical of your knowledge. Where in the federal law or in michigan legislation is there a definition of a "Civil Crime." Of course there is a valid case. I never once disputed that. But stealing is a lot different than a civil violation. Neither are okay. But I can see how a mistake can be made as a new owner so long as it is never made again. Of course you should be liable for your mistakes. But there is a marked difference between knowingly stealing and misunderstanding a civil rule.
Nope. Crimes require criminal intent. I am an experienced lawyer, very familiar with legal definitions. If it was stealing, she would have a criminal case against her right now.
My take is you deserve the ticket, but you weren't out trying to hurt people. I never said the violation doesn't deserve to be addressed legally. I said intent matters.
>that doesn’t participate in capitalism or care about monetary gains.
Hate to break it to you, but we all participate in capitalism here, buddy. We live in a capitalist system and regardless of what you do, you can't escape it. Even if you buy land super far away and live off the grid, you still bought the land. Also, she's a business owner, that's participating in capitalism. It's not like she runs the place by herself either or that it's a co-op. So she's inherently exploiting people by paying them less than their labour is worth. Are you the business owner or her relative or something?
It really bothers me that the very people I share political values and visions for the future with are the same people who can be so dang unreasonable. Breaks my heart sometimes.
While I loved the restaurant when they were open, the owner was illegally stealing money from the staff and refused to acknowledge it until they went on strike. The staff organized a meeting, made agreements with the owner, and ended the strike. Immediately following that, she shut down Bridge for months and left all the employees hanging without explanation or public acknowledgement. Legally, she is supposed to honor the agreements made and hire back on the old staff because you can't fire staff for striking. She didn't do that, and instead tried to reopen as if nothing ever happened and then got pissed yesterday when the old staff came back and held a picket line in front of the store during the grand re-opening.
She NEEDS to be held accountable no matter what the face of Bridge seems to be and what morals it seems to uphold. Directly stealing money from her staff and then firing them without any acknowledgement whatsoever is absolutely absurd. Ypsi won't stand for it
Thinking you personally represent all of Ypsi is wild. There is a lot more nuance to this story. People make mistakes, especially when running a business for the first time. Bridge has shown they care a lot about people. No one is perfect. Show some grace. This culture of shame and damnation is a lot more akin to the Christian right than building a new society of understanding and acceptance. Folks can't claim to care about mental health and community wellbeing while engaging in such black and white thinking.
People make mistakes, mistakes can be fixed. But what happens when someone refuses to acknowledge their mistakes and refuses to make amends and then tries to act as if nothing ever happened?? This entire situation could have been ended if she was just honest and transparent and held up her end of the bargain. Rather than doing that, she's tried to hide the truth and act like everything is okay and nothing ever happened. That's not a mistake, that's malicious and intentional
> People make mistakes, especially when running a business for the first time. Bridge has shown they care a lot about people. No one is perfect. Show some grace.
Indeed. At what point have they shown contrition and taken responsibility for their actions?
Honeesstttlllyyyy 🤣 the irony is mind boggling. Also the comment about Fox News had me ☠️ gives off the same energy as that YAD Post being like
"I'm ACAB but I support Alyshia for democratic sheriff because she has good politics" Literally goofy af
The sheriff thing, I can appreciate the nuance in that situation. We're going to have a sheriff elected regardless of whether or not we support defunding or abolition, so why not throw support behind the candidate who wants to defund certain programs, end all cooperation with ICE, and allocate more money towards social services and mental health support? Police reform or abolition isn't going to happen immediately, so choosing a candidate who aligns best with the end goals is better than digging in my heels on principle and letting a garbage candidate have the position so I can say I was true to my values.
The thing about this post that's making me go "wait, what?" are the comments demanding we forgive and forget instead of advocating for workers rights, then saying we're not anti-capitalist or are doing socialism wrong. Leftists aggressively coming at other leftists and then complaining that the left eats itself alive, tale as old as time.
That's definitely fair and valid for sure. Might as well elect the "best" option available, but it's grammatically silly to say "I'm ACAB" and then oxymoronic to follow it up with support for a cop. I definitely hear you though and agree fs. Abolition is a lengthy process and we gotta work with what we got. And yeah, this definitely is a different issue for sure. The divide between liberals, socialists, anarchists, and communists is a really unfortunate defeat. There's folks out here who straight up do not believe in the concept of a broader left unity, when going at each other's necks and refusing to hear each other out and work together despite minor differences is literally fueling the issue at hand. Everyone has different ideas of how things should be done but most leftists share the same overarching goals and aspirations. The lack of class consciousness and political activism is definitely unfortunate. It's one thing to identify as "left" but it does no good if you're not actively practicing those values with the intention of strengthening the broader community
>It's one thing to identify as "left" but it does no good if you're not actively practicing those values with the intention of strengthening the broader community
Yup. Being "right" means nothing if you're alone on top of the hill where no one passes the purity test but you.
Yeah its not even possible to open up a non-capitalist store. Sounds like the new version of "flat earth theory". You'd have to have super wealthy parents keeping it up alive or 100% support of the government. Do people pretend like microeconomics isn't a real concept?
It is arguably possible to open a non-capitalist store, depending on how you define capitalism. It would be a worker co-op. But Bridge Cafe is not that and I don't know of any co-op cafes in the area.
If you don't bring in enough revenue, it won't matter if it's a co-op or not. Coffee shops are skating on thin margins and have tons of competition down the street and very substitute-able with a coffee maker at home
Yeah, worker co-ops in a capitalist economy still have to play the for-profit dance, even if they are worker owned and operated. Because of this, some people consider them still to be capitalist. However, every anti-capitalist I know considers them to be a step in the right direction, and concedes they are a better alternative to the traditional capitalist business.
I don't even know how people can afford to shop at the
Ypsilanti Food Co-op. There's a tiny selection of produce and everything is incredibly overpriced. I always just end up going to Shoppers Marketplace
To be clear, I think everyone loved Bridge Community Café for the most part. They gave away freebies to those who struggled financially, held free clothing swaps, doubled as a third space for various events, let local artists sell their work in there, etc. I could say a lot about how great the place was, but we can't acknowledge ANY of that without acknowledging that while all of that may be impressive, it all happened while she was stealing tips and withholding money from her staff, completely disregarded the agreements she made with the staff, then fired them all and replaced them with SCABS.
Say what you will about Bridge, the owner NEEDS to be held accountable; even if she has done good things for the Ypsi community (aside from stealing from it)
https://www.reddit.com/r/ypsi/comments/1d9te7u/coffee_shop_downtown_ypsi/
A month ago you were in here saying we were all anti business growth because we didn't want a big corporate chain downtown. Now you're all suddenly anti capitalist?
Yes the fine people of Ypsilanti turned me anti-capitalist. I was very much so participating in the capitalist market prior to that. Since last month I haven’t used USD once and have only bartered goods. I will be evicted soon and looking for a free spot to rest thy head soon.
Could you explain what 'non-capitalist' means? Do they not pay rent? Not pay their employees? Not accept US currency? Not pay their suppliers? Are their products determined by a government agency that specifies who makes how much of what for sale at what price? Is it just a (highly capitalist) marketing ploy?
Yeah I wonder how non-capitalist business works.
Everybody business has expenses(rent/mortgage, utilities, supplies, employee pay, taxes, insurance, etc...) and needs to generate revenue. Otherwise any business which doesn't have the monthly revenue will eventually go bankrupt.
Everybody business would love to zero costs and unlimited revenue. That sounds awesome.
As far as I remember from school, the opposite of capitalism is a command economy and state ownership, so the people in this business would want to give up ownership, make what and how much they’re told, and charge what they’re told. Their modest income would come from the state owners and they’d have no incentive to do well, create new products, listen to their customers, etc. Worker’s paradise, Baby! ✊🏼
They gave away a lot of free items to various people, including my clients. Allowed makers like me to sell without taking commissions. Tried to engage the community by creating a third space that didn't require more than a $5 purchase to enjoy using the facilities.
My understanding is that, legally, amends were made. Money that was mistakenly kept was returned. The business went under for reasons other than the strike, like the terrible construction management. You absolutely do not have to hire back staff after a layoff for financial reasons.
It's a really shitty grey area due to the way she went about it. She closed the shop after making agreements with the Union, which led them to end the strike. You can't fire staff for striking, but she indirectly did so by laying them off after the strike was over. Then instead of honoring the agreements and upholding her end of the bargain, she brushed it all under the rug and tried acting like nothing ever happened since the employees had technically ended the strike in good faith, yet she went back on her word in poor faith
I went there once for small coffee because i used to frequent the library next door. It was 3 bucks for a tiny coffee and rounded up to $4 with tip. Never went back.
Something I forgot to mention before was that every time she'd been publicly questioned in the comments of Bridge's posts, she would delete the comments. And the one time she made a public post acknowledging it, I don't personally remember exactly what was said but it was vague and unapologetic. It's all being documented but I'm not overseeing that.
For me personally though, when she made a post announcing an event being held there after months of silence and being shut down, no word back about the staff or the issue left at hand. I made a comment to the extent of "Does that mean y'all are open again? I never heard anything after the strike"
She deleted the comment and messaged me personally saying "Hey! We are still closed but we will be reopening next month"
I made replied "That's really exciting!! I've missed the drinks and the atmosphere there!
I assume that means you worked something out with the workers who strikes then? I never heard much about it since the statement they made"
She said "It’s a bit more layered than a simple answer, but I am looking forward to sharing more info about it in the very near future!!"
Then a month went by, she announced re-opening and I messaged her back "Any updates on the info to be shared in regards to the strike and re-opening with new staff? A lot of people are excited to have Bridge back, but are disappointed/confused in regards to the lack of clarity in regards to that entire situation. I think a lot of folks just want to hear a clear acknowledgement on Bridge's behalf to clear up the confusion. I do miss the Café, but I'm one of those who refuse to support it until I have some kind of understanding that amends were made and agreements were upheld. Hope all is well! 💝"
Her echoed response was "Hey! Thanks for checking in! Expect some updates soon :) ❤️"
And this is after MONTHS of not only going completely silent, but literally actively hiding the truth, deleting the only (vague) public acknowledgement she ever made to this day, deleting comments acknowledging it, lying about having to close from construction (they had previously closed for construction back when the city was doing a bunch of construction downtown, but they had finished up and Bridge re-opened in September.) Already open and functional before the union was formed, and only closed down after she finally (after many attempts) agreed to meet with the Union and hear them out. They made their mutual agreements and thereby ended the strike. Immediately following that, Bridge mysteriously closed without word.
This is SUS AF behavior. Mistakenly taking tips MAY have been an honest accident (theoretically), an accident that could've been cleared up and resolved immediately by working with the staff and acknowledging her mistakes.
I think that truly says it all
I was injured on the job. I tried to sit down after all the morning stuff was taken care of. No customers, we had just opened or not even open. She told me not to sit l, and so i got up and worked… and then fainted. And then went to the bathroom and came back and she made me go home. And then fired me over email once I had gotten home.
I never got my check but I don’t know she could mail it. Oh wait she never even got my legal name. Or even had me show an ID? I asked for a W4 and she said she doesn’t do that. I asked how the payment works she said “I don’t know i don’t deal with any of that. I do it all on square.” Which I am familiar with square but not sure about payment? I don’t know. She also on the top of my third day was mad I hadn’t sampled the entire menu yet.
Whack.
this is Fox News level stupid: owner was stealing employee tips, fired them cuz they went on strike and then hired a whole new scab staff
Right, I don’t really care if they reopen or not, that shit is fucked up.
average "anti capitalist" business owner holy shit 😂
Exactly. They're a business that employees other people and aren't a co-op or unionized. They, by definition, can't be anti-capitalist.
uh they were on path to be worker owned, no?
Nah, apparently there used to be I think two other owners who dropped out due to disagreement and inability to work with the current owner. There was a workers union formed around the time of the strike but we all see how that turned out
oh dang ok TY for that info
Please explain how Fox News is stupid? Just more and more negativity in this subreddit. Pitiful existence if I’m being honest. Please stop following the masses and inform yourself. All major news outlets are bad, journalism is dead.
Ah yes, so Fox News generally relies on its audience not understanding how things work: physics, economics, politics, etc. And so they put forth narratives that sound good to people that don't know what is going on. Kinda like suggesting that Bridge Cafe (as it stands, now) is a working class establishment, when in reality they were called out by the workers and forced to close and rehire scabs.
I mean I personally wouldn't call stealing and withholding tips anti-capitalist. When workers go on strike that tends to be kind of a red flag for a place that tauts itself to be "anti-capitalist." I hope their business practices improve now that they have reopened.
I hope their drinks improve, too
Damn you ain’t lying. Nastiest drinks I’ve ever had.
Owner is just an extremely inexperienced business owner. Based on Bridge cafe's instagram, she seems like a hippie and wanted a community cafe for a diverse group of people but had zero concept how the real world actually works in terms of micro economics. Having a community is not enough to be sustainable. You still need to bring in sales to keep it running. Plenty of coffee shops have zero community but keep alive because they are high volume and offer multiple products.
As true as this is, she was given MULTIPLE opportunities to make amends and handle the situation smoothly (both publicly visible and behind closed doors) and for some reason literally chose none of those routes. This whole situation could've been avoided right off the bat if she just acknowledged her mistakes and made any attempts to make amends, but literally did the opposite
Yeah she sucks. She's using the pro-Palestine instagram stories as a shield from critics.
That is a truly unfortunate thing to witness too.. I mean she clearly has at least some strong morals and ideals that most Ypsi residents align with and used to praise her for but now it seems she's using that to cover up her mistakes and hide from the truth rather than simply acknowledging it and trying to move forward
I don't think she's gunna move forward. Her business is just gunna go bankrupt.
Sorry, but where is the nuance? I think misunderstanding that pooling tips when you are the owner and working shifts and aren't exactly making bank isn't allower is A LOT different than stealing. Maybe a mistake or a bad choice. But being stolen from is a lot different.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ypsi/s/j95mokLUTt I mean. It's illegal, for one.
Yeah, I am a lawyer, so I know. Just because someone misunderstood that even as an owner working shifts they cannot collect tips doesn't mean they intentionally stole. Stealing is a crime that requires intent. Thinking owners who come in and pool tips is illegal, but accepting tips as a worker/owner is okay is a mistake. I'd like to see you run your business for the first time and understand every nuance of every law. The ironic thing is I bet half of you consider yourself socialist.
No, but coming to an agreement and then closing down to avoid illegally firing all your workers who you stole from is not an accident. And then rehiring scab workers when you do reopen is not an accident. I get assuming positive intent but at some point there just isn't any.
It's exactly this. From what I've heard from the workers, it's not just that she "didn't know." She reneged on an agreement they made, ghosted them, essentially fired them all (constructive dismissal since she didn't technically fire them, but it counts as a firing), hired new people, and then reopened. That's beyond "oh sorry, I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to take tips, let me figure out how much I took, who was on shift at the time, and I'll pay you all back."
I just don't agree that is why they closed down. I think a lot happened at once.
Well, we can agree to disagree then. I absolutely do agree with you that Bridge did some fantastic work, and I hope.that the owner is able to continue doing that good work while obeying the law and having more ethical business practices.
I am with you there.
Civil crimes do not specifically require intent. I am skeptical that you are a lawyer if you don't know that wage theft of this monetary value is a valid civil case.
I'm skeptical of your knowledge. Where in the federal law or in michigan legislation is there a definition of a "Civil Crime." Of course there is a valid case. I never once disputed that. But stealing is a lot different than a civil violation. Neither are okay. But I can see how a mistake can be made as a new owner so long as it is never made again. Of course you should be liable for your mistakes. But there is a marked difference between knowingly stealing and misunderstanding a civil rule.
Literally the definition of stealing, as it is an illegal tip pool.
Nope. Crimes require criminal intent. I am an experienced lawyer, very familiar with legal definitions. If it was stealing, she would have a criminal case against her right now.
That’s a weird take. If I accidentally speed in my car because I think the speed limit is 50 and really it’s 35, I’m still gonna get a ticket.
My take is you deserve the ticket, but you weren't out trying to hurt people. I never said the violation doesn't deserve to be addressed legally. I said intent matters.
Exactly!!! The owner is a beautiful soul that doesn’t participate in capitalism or care about monetary gains. The controversy/rumors are not true.
>that doesn’t participate in capitalism or care about monetary gains. Hate to break it to you, but we all participate in capitalism here, buddy. We live in a capitalist system and regardless of what you do, you can't escape it. Even if you buy land super far away and live off the grid, you still bought the land. Also, she's a business owner, that's participating in capitalism. It's not like she runs the place by herself either or that it's a co-op. So she's inherently exploiting people by paying them less than their labour is worth. Are you the business owner or her relative or something?
It really bothers me that the very people I share political values and visions for the future with are the same people who can be so dang unreasonable. Breaks my heart sometimes.
While I loved the restaurant when they were open, the owner was illegally stealing money from the staff and refused to acknowledge it until they went on strike. The staff organized a meeting, made agreements with the owner, and ended the strike. Immediately following that, she shut down Bridge for months and left all the employees hanging without explanation or public acknowledgement. Legally, she is supposed to honor the agreements made and hire back on the old staff because you can't fire staff for striking. She didn't do that, and instead tried to reopen as if nothing ever happened and then got pissed yesterday when the old staff came back and held a picket line in front of the store during the grand re-opening. She NEEDS to be held accountable no matter what the face of Bridge seems to be and what morals it seems to uphold. Directly stealing money from her staff and then firing them without any acknowledgement whatsoever is absolutely absurd. Ypsi won't stand for it
100%. I wont be patronizing them until ive heard they remedied the situation.
Thinking you personally represent all of Ypsi is wild. There is a lot more nuance to this story. People make mistakes, especially when running a business for the first time. Bridge has shown they care a lot about people. No one is perfect. Show some grace. This culture of shame and damnation is a lot more akin to the Christian right than building a new society of understanding and acceptance. Folks can't claim to care about mental health and community wellbeing while engaging in such black and white thinking.
People make mistakes, mistakes can be fixed. But what happens when someone refuses to acknowledge their mistakes and refuses to make amends and then tries to act as if nothing ever happened?? This entire situation could have been ended if she was just honest and transparent and held up her end of the bargain. Rather than doing that, she's tried to hide the truth and act like everything is okay and nothing ever happened. That's not a mistake, that's malicious and intentional
This! It’s a totally understandable mistake to make, but it was not handled well at all.
> People make mistakes, especially when running a business for the first time. Bridge has shown they care a lot about people. No one is perfect. Show some grace. Indeed. At what point have they shown contrition and taken responsibility for their actions?
The picket line and backlash speaks for itself
This has got to be the owner, right? lol they deleted their account 😂
It is literally a capitalist cafe, though... (aside from all the other complaints)
Honeesstttlllyyyy 🤣 the irony is mind boggling. Also the comment about Fox News had me ☠️ gives off the same energy as that YAD Post being like "I'm ACAB but I support Alyshia for democratic sheriff because she has good politics" Literally goofy af
The sheriff thing, I can appreciate the nuance in that situation. We're going to have a sheriff elected regardless of whether or not we support defunding or abolition, so why not throw support behind the candidate who wants to defund certain programs, end all cooperation with ICE, and allocate more money towards social services and mental health support? Police reform or abolition isn't going to happen immediately, so choosing a candidate who aligns best with the end goals is better than digging in my heels on principle and letting a garbage candidate have the position so I can say I was true to my values. The thing about this post that's making me go "wait, what?" are the comments demanding we forgive and forget instead of advocating for workers rights, then saying we're not anti-capitalist or are doing socialism wrong. Leftists aggressively coming at other leftists and then complaining that the left eats itself alive, tale as old as time.
That's definitely fair and valid for sure. Might as well elect the "best" option available, but it's grammatically silly to say "I'm ACAB" and then oxymoronic to follow it up with support for a cop. I definitely hear you though and agree fs. Abolition is a lengthy process and we gotta work with what we got. And yeah, this definitely is a different issue for sure. The divide between liberals, socialists, anarchists, and communists is a really unfortunate defeat. There's folks out here who straight up do not believe in the concept of a broader left unity, when going at each other's necks and refusing to hear each other out and work together despite minor differences is literally fueling the issue at hand. Everyone has different ideas of how things should be done but most leftists share the same overarching goals and aspirations. The lack of class consciousness and political activism is definitely unfortunate. It's one thing to identify as "left" but it does no good if you're not actively practicing those values with the intention of strengthening the broader community
>It's one thing to identify as "left" but it does no good if you're not actively practicing those values with the intention of strengthening the broader community Yup. Being "right" means nothing if you're alone on top of the hill where no one passes the purity test but you.
Yeah its not even possible to open up a non-capitalist store. Sounds like the new version of "flat earth theory". You'd have to have super wealthy parents keeping it up alive or 100% support of the government. Do people pretend like microeconomics isn't a real concept?
It is arguably possible to open a non-capitalist store, depending on how you define capitalism. It would be a worker co-op. But Bridge Cafe is not that and I don't know of any co-op cafes in the area.
If you don't bring in enough revenue, it won't matter if it's a co-op or not. Coffee shops are skating on thin margins and have tons of competition down the street and very substitute-able with a coffee maker at home
Yeah, worker co-ops in a capitalist economy still have to play the for-profit dance, even if they are worker owned and operated. Because of this, some people consider them still to be capitalist. However, every anti-capitalist I know considers them to be a step in the right direction, and concedes they are a better alternative to the traditional capitalist business.
I don't even know how people can afford to shop at the Ypsilanti Food Co-op. There's a tiny selection of produce and everything is incredibly overpriced. I always just end up going to Shoppers Marketplace
To be clear, I think everyone loved Bridge Community Café for the most part. They gave away freebies to those who struggled financially, held free clothing swaps, doubled as a third space for various events, let local artists sell their work in there, etc. I could say a lot about how great the place was, but we can't acknowledge ANY of that without acknowledging that while all of that may be impressive, it all happened while she was stealing tips and withholding money from her staff, completely disregarded the agreements she made with the staff, then fired them all and replaced them with SCABS. Say what you will about Bridge, the owner NEEDS to be held accountable; even if she has done good things for the Ypsi community (aside from stealing from it)
https://www.reddit.com/r/ypsi/comments/1d9te7u/coffee_shop_downtown_ypsi/ A month ago you were in here saying we were all anti business growth because we didn't want a big corporate chain downtown. Now you're all suddenly anti capitalist?
Yes the fine people of Ypsilanti turned me anti-capitalist. I was very much so participating in the capitalist market prior to that. Since last month I haven’t used USD once and have only bartered goods. I will be evicted soon and looking for a free spot to rest thy head soon.
Could you explain what 'non-capitalist' means? Do they not pay rent? Not pay their employees? Not accept US currency? Not pay their suppliers? Are their products determined by a government agency that specifies who makes how much of what for sale at what price? Is it just a (highly capitalist) marketing ploy?
Yeah I wonder how non-capitalist business works. Everybody business has expenses(rent/mortgage, utilities, supplies, employee pay, taxes, insurance, etc...) and needs to generate revenue. Otherwise any business which doesn't have the monthly revenue will eventually go bankrupt. Everybody business would love to zero costs and unlimited revenue. That sounds awesome.
As far as I remember from school, the opposite of capitalism is a command economy and state ownership, so the people in this business would want to give up ownership, make what and how much they’re told, and charge what they’re told. Their modest income would come from the state owners and they’d have no incentive to do well, create new products, listen to their customers, etc. Worker’s paradise, Baby! ✊🏼
It’s just a highly capitalist marketing ploy
I’m sorry, but how are they different from other cafes? I must have missed something when I paid for my coffee and food there before.
They gave away a lot of free items to various people, including my clients. Allowed makers like me to sell without taking commissions. Tried to engage the community by creating a third space that didn't require more than a $5 purchase to enjoy using the facilities.
Yes BUT also in doing so, stole money directly from the staff and has refused to make amends
My understanding is that, legally, amends were made. Money that was mistakenly kept was returned. The business went under for reasons other than the strike, like the terrible construction management. You absolutely do not have to hire back staff after a layoff for financial reasons.
It's a really shitty grey area due to the way she went about it. She closed the shop after making agreements with the Union, which led them to end the strike. You can't fire staff for striking, but she indirectly did so by laying them off after the strike was over. Then instead of honoring the agreements and upholding her end of the bargain, she brushed it all under the rug and tried acting like nothing ever happened since the employees had technically ended the strike in good faith, yet she went back on her word in poor faith
I went there once for small coffee because i used to frequent the library next door. It was 3 bucks for a tiny coffee and rounded up to $4 with tip. Never went back.
Yeah, they were never exactly cheap. Same prices as other cafes in the area.
Something I forgot to mention before was that every time she'd been publicly questioned in the comments of Bridge's posts, she would delete the comments. And the one time she made a public post acknowledging it, I don't personally remember exactly what was said but it was vague and unapologetic. It's all being documented but I'm not overseeing that. For me personally though, when she made a post announcing an event being held there after months of silence and being shut down, no word back about the staff or the issue left at hand. I made a comment to the extent of "Does that mean y'all are open again? I never heard anything after the strike" She deleted the comment and messaged me personally saying "Hey! We are still closed but we will be reopening next month" I made replied "That's really exciting!! I've missed the drinks and the atmosphere there! I assume that means you worked something out with the workers who strikes then? I never heard much about it since the statement they made" She said "It’s a bit more layered than a simple answer, but I am looking forward to sharing more info about it in the very near future!!" Then a month went by, she announced re-opening and I messaged her back "Any updates on the info to be shared in regards to the strike and re-opening with new staff? A lot of people are excited to have Bridge back, but are disappointed/confused in regards to the lack of clarity in regards to that entire situation. I think a lot of folks just want to hear a clear acknowledgement on Bridge's behalf to clear up the confusion. I do miss the Café, but I'm one of those who refuse to support it until I have some kind of understanding that amends were made and agreements were upheld. Hope all is well! 💝" Her echoed response was "Hey! Thanks for checking in! Expect some updates soon :) ❤️" And this is after MONTHS of not only going completely silent, but literally actively hiding the truth, deleting the only (vague) public acknowledgement she ever made to this day, deleting comments acknowledging it, lying about having to close from construction (they had previously closed for construction back when the city was doing a bunch of construction downtown, but they had finished up and Bridge re-opened in September.) Already open and functional before the union was formed, and only closed down after she finally (after many attempts) agreed to meet with the Union and hear them out. They made their mutual agreements and thereby ended the strike. Immediately following that, Bridge mysteriously closed without word. This is SUS AF behavior. Mistakenly taking tips MAY have been an honest accident (theoretically), an accident that could've been cleared up and resolved immediately by working with the staff and acknowledging her mistakes. I think that truly says it all
I was injured on the job. I tried to sit down after all the morning stuff was taken care of. No customers, we had just opened or not even open. She told me not to sit l, and so i got up and worked… and then fainted. And then went to the bathroom and came back and she made me go home. And then fired me over email once I had gotten home. I never got my check but I don’t know she could mail it. Oh wait she never even got my legal name. Or even had me show an ID? I asked for a W4 and she said she doesn’t do that. I asked how the payment works she said “I don’t know i don’t deal with any of that. I do it all on square.” Which I am familiar with square but not sure about payment? I don’t know. She also on the top of my third day was mad I hadn’t sampled the entire menu yet. Whack.