Why TikTok Called Dunkin' Out Over An Employee Breakdown
With more than 11,000 locations nationwide, Dunkin' is a frequent topic of conversation amongst customers and employees on social media. Still, not all the mass attention paid to the affordable coffee company is positive. Social media has increasingly become an outlet for people to vent and call out those affiliated with Dunkin' for their sometimes unethical behavior. Now that TikTok has been labeled the most downloaded app so far in 2022, it's no surprise that most of these grievances are aired through the buzzworthy platform.
Dunkin' fell out of TikTokers' good graces when employees were recorded throwing out dozens of dougnuts at the end of their shifts. If that wasn't enough, social media users also had mixed feelings over why a Dunkin' employee gave a customer $1.
However, you may want to cut Dunkin' employees some slack since working for the mega-chain is not for the thin-skinned. When asked about their craziest work experience, one Reddit user claimed to have been exposed to theft, violence, and irate customers as an overnight Dunkin' employee (per Reddit). If you find that hard to believe, all you need to do is watch the viral Tiktok video (viewer discretion advised) of an enraged Karen making unbelieve threats to Dunkin' workers. It's safe to say Dunkin' employees have a lot to juggle and a recent video of one employee may cause you to change your views about the coffee and doughnut conglomerate.
Dunkin' employees are underpaid and overworked
Beyond the weird rules that Dunkin' employees need to follow, workers have a lot to juggle. A few months ago, one Dunkin' employee uploaded a TikTok video of a fellow employee crying with the captioned text "when you get 3 callouts and 2 people quit all in the same day." With over 4,000 comments, the majority of TikTok users sympathized with the post.
A lot of those who commented had been past or current employees of the chain, as one stated, "Dunkin' was the worst company I've ever worked for," while another firmly commented, "will never return." Most of the comments, though, centered on the lack of pay for employees and how "the service industry needs to be restructured."
The COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot for restaurant staff but mainly, employees reconsidered their service jobs in late 2021 because they not only wanted to be paid more overall, but they also wanted better scheduling and more advancement opportunities (per a report from Black Box Intelligence and Snagajob via Restaurant Dive). Dunkin' employees have made their longtime dissatisfaction known on Reddit and many employees agree that they're underpaid.
With workers revealing what it's really like to work at Dunkin', next time you stop for a small coffee and glazed donut, maybe take an extra second to smile and be genuine to those serving you: Those little extra acts of kindness go a long way in the service industry.