This might just be a problem with your branch. I’ve been in the branch in Columbia MD a number of times after 8pm (they are also open until 10pm) and they seem to be doing good business and not rolling up the welcome mats.

Now as to why the staff does things like this. Well basically these sorts of jobs suck. The employees, in general, have not incentive to actually care about the business. So why not do what is in their best interest (getting out of work as soon after closing as possible).

I agree with that assessment. But the staff isn’t doing this on the Q.T. — the manager, who should be looking out for the interests of the owners (i.e. the Wendy’s shareholders) was in fact the person collecting the sauce bottles from the tables.

Generally, in a lot of these cases you find that the problem is that the company is unwilling to pay their staff for a long enough period after the doors are locked to do all these tasks after closing.

The ultimate cause of the problem, regardless of the proximate cause, is that the Baja Fresh management at some level just doesn’t give a shit about actually doing what they set out to do when they ordered the big lighted sign for the front of the building.

i have worked at baja fresh in columbus, oh (the polaris location) for the better part of three years, and even though, yes, my job sucks, one must realize that 70-90% of the time, it is not the employees that make the decision to clean up, but the manager’s decision. many times, buisness drastically decreases around 8:00 pm, so in order to keep the labor costs and overtime down, managers will have employees start closing procedures that if done as published in the training manual (feel free to talk to the corperate offices in thousand oaks, ca to obtain a copy for yourself) do not make the resteraunt so that customers feel unwelcomed to dine in. appx. 1 hour prior to closing time, the salsa bar should be changed out to the smaller, roundbowls from the larger oblong shaped ones. the rugs should be swept off with the broom, but not rolled up, if this is possible. (many times, this is not possible due to customers sitting in the proximity of where the dust from the carpets may fall.) cashiers should start cleaning the countertops in the front line and sweeping, and, again if and only if buisness is slow, scrubbing the floor with a deck brush and soapy hot water. while this is happening, the manager(s) should be counting 2 of the 3 register drawers and starting nightly inventory. Utility should be sweeping the floors where it is possible without disturbing the customers, and if buisness was busier than normal, closing off the smaller half of the resteraunt so that the tables may be cleaned, the floor swept and mopped, salsa bottles cleaned and filled, and the windows cleaned.

this follows the adage “killing 2 birds with one stone” because not only does it increase employee safety from robbery, it also cuts down on overtime.

as stated before, i have worked with the company at the same store under the supervision of at least a dozen different managers for the better part of three years, and yea, the job does suck. the hours suck unless your a mexican (not intended to be racist, just the truth) and as a minority (one of 3 non-hispanics out of a total of about 20 employees) i’m lucky to average around 12 hours a week unless i want to bust my ass working split shifts every day of the week and not have any life at all. i played that game for too long before i was forced to cut my hours down due to an injury (non job related) which required surgery. i am on no side here, just stating things how they are.