Open Letter to Gary Ehrlich
Mr. Ehrlich
I am certain that after further review, your understanding of my situation will be much clearer. I know that you talk down to everyone that you don't feel any need to respect. However, the people that your business success depends on are the people that are being marginalized and squeezed out of the economy. The public doesn't have to support your business. I can understand your response to my situation. Perhaps you will one day appreciate the support that you've gotten from people that you would boot out the door.
The "20 minute rule" that you refer to is not a rule that is uniformly applied to all customers. If it were, you would be legally required to post a notice to the public. That "rule" comes out of the time/motion studies of the '60s and '70s. In 1978, I read the Mcdonald's training manuals, including the internal store memos on the "20 minute rule". It is a performance target, not a demand of compliance on the part of the public. The text of the memo has more to say about employee performance than public response. In the past, efforts to coerce the public in these time targets have resulted in severe backlash against McDonald's Corp. In the case of the late '70s, the memo instructing stores to set winter time thermostat settings uncomfortably low, encouraging quicker seating turnover, resulted in a national boycott. Such Elitist and manipulative behavior still continues. In Pittsfield, MA., the owner of several McDonald's franchises was replaced, after his behavior resulted in organized boycotts against his stores. They almost closed, completely.
Over the past 9 months, I have prevented at least $5,000 in losses from your drink dispenser. Additionally numerous incidents of theft and vandalism were prevented, just because I was there. Teenagers quickly learned that they couldn't get away with anything. One day, a McCaf'e decal was stolen from a table. The kid headed out the patio door. I notified the manager. The manager recovered the decal, undamaged.
I must excuse and forgive your reaction to my appearance. It is my role in life to be one of the outcasts that I write about. Being a widely published social conscience is, of necessity, a low-paying vocation. My most important assets would never outwardly impress anyone. I may never have the material comfort that most people take for granted. None of thosethings are as valuable to me as a clear conscience. My deeply ingrained sense of justice and my writing ability have made a mark in the world.
My blog entry from last Thursday, "McCorporatism", is included below. In addition to being emailed to 138 people on 6 continents, it is published on several websites. I have posted this one as a discussion topic on almost every "Boycott McDonalds" group on Facebook. Since my experience has exposed a number of National Socialist practices, I am also posting on applicable Civil Rights groups profile pages.
When local law enforcement conducts descriminatory and prejudicial activities in favor of a private interest, the danger to society is obvious. This is how things were done in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Sincerely,
George Forfa
McCorporatism
One of the historically significant displays of Corporatism in U. S. history is in the fast food industry. Most notably, McDonald's Elitist view of the consumer comes to the surface. Corporatism is where you find it. I've found it, right here in Johnstown, Colorado.
The McDonald's franchise here in Johnstown is "owned" by a man named Gary, last name isn't important. He "owns" 8 McDonalds franchise locations, in the same circumstance that "proprietors" in the Northeast "owned" Exxon stations, in 1980. They found that they could be bought, sold, traded, fleeced and butchered, along with the public. At one point, in the station I worked in, the wholesale price on the invoice was a penny/gallon more than the retail price displayed across the street, at the Sunoco station. Everyone got pillaged by a corporate predator.
The present story is interesting because it comes out of so many unknowns. The greatest advantage in life is to be underestimated. I do "underestimated", very well. Appearances would never suggest that I've been a photographic speed reader, capable of reading multiple books at the same time, for 52 years. Gary couldn't possibly know that I read all of the McDonald's training manuals, 31 years ago. That was at a time when McDonald's was searching for methods to speed up the turnover rate on their seating capacity. One method was to maintain the thermostat settings in cold seasons and climates at an uncomfortably low level, encouraging people to consume their purchase as quickly as possible, and leave. Of course, that resulted in one of the great consumer backlashes of the '70s.
Today, Gary continues that marketing philosophy. By his own statement, he tolerates customers in his McFeedlot for a maximum of 20 minutes, and only if they bring him money. The comical point is, that it isn't money. It's borrowed debt. Perhaps he believes that he's playing the debt game, really well. He'll find out. Those who do not learn the lessons of history, are doomed to repeat them. Inflation will change the financial landscape. People won't be inclined to go through the processing plant that is McDonald's when the meals on the menu start at "$?"12 and change. Gary forgets that he can't schedule the customers. He can't fire them for not performing up to his expectations. He also can't judge people by appearance.
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