Avery K. Tingle, The Gamer Author

According to Business Insider, a Colorado Springs Dunkin’ Donuts is being forced to close due to a ‘labor shortage’. The number of employees dropped from fifteen to three. The store can’t stay open.

The article is written to garner sympathy for the corporate overlord who has to temporarily shutter a location. According to Alex Apodaca, COO at JB Partners, “We just can’t get people to work.” He goes on to say “We’re in a major labor crisis and that is one hundred percent of why we’re closed. No other reason.”

But this isn’t the whole story. A location doesn’t stay open for more than half a century and then close suddenly because of a “labor shortage”.

Do you notice, the article is written in a manner that demonizes the working class? Absolutely no responsibility is placed upon management for the failure. This is indicative of what the higher-ups think of America’s working class. Management’s upper echelon can do no wrong. If a business is failing, it must be the fault of the employees. Because most of us are utterly consumed by simply trying to survive the day-to-day, we’re not inclined to devote the headspace necessary to challenge this narrative.

But this story is incomplete.

This article goes on to say, without context, that if they could recruit from locations three miles away, they wouldn’t have this problem. This leads one to believe that this location is difficult to access. Lack of public transportation, and the like. This also means they were more than likely paying the minimum wage, which is unsustainable in today’s America. What was the management like? Was this a difficult place to work? Did the employees attempt to change things before walking off?

Another false narrative pushed today is that people don’t want to work. There’s a modicum of truth to this: there are always going to be people who try to milk the system without putting into it. But people want to work. When these people clocked out for the last time, they knew they were facing an uncertain future. As bad as the job might have been, it was still a paycheck. Imagine how horrible the system must have become for these people to give up their only income.

America is not in a “labor shortage”. America is undergoing its biggest cultural awakening since the 1960’s. America is realizing that for too long, they have been on the short end of the stick when it came to the employee/employer relationship. It is no longer enough to work ‘simply for the privilege of working’. If an employer isn’t paying enough to cover even the most basic necessities of living, or creating such a horrendous environment that the thought of walking into the place induces a panic attack, then what’s the point of going?

Then again, it’s entirely possible that these people simply walked off the job.

We don’t know, because we don’t know the whole story.

What do you think?

Thanks for reading.

Avery K. Tingle is a scifi/fantasy author currently residing in the Las Vegas area. Owned by two cats, he is passionate about social justice, Star Wars, and mental health. Connect to his award-winning writing and social media here.