Post #524907 by Shangri-lodger on Mon, Apr 19, 2010 12:47 PM

My rant (and yes it is a rant) is less that new employees will or won't be able to join/form a union, than there are employees at Emeryville that were personally hired by Trader Vic himself. There are employees that have fifteen, twenty, thirty years of service with the restaurant. They got the same raw deal that those that have worked there for three months. This is the only location that has a true and identifiable connection with Trader Vic the man. Showing these employees the door will break a significant through-line of history at this location. Furthermore, a brief chat with a few regulars last night made it clear that people are already feeling alienated by the rough treatment and fear of what will be done. The corporate staff undoubtedly has a bad case of what can best be termed "Cadillac Syndrome", i.e. "if we don't get new, younger customers we will die ourselves."; however, the regular, albeit older customers, are the economic life-blood of that restaurant. For example, I am decidedly old, but in the past month I have taken (on three separate occasions) three people to Vic's (two young people I might add) who had never even heard of the restaurant. The corporate staff is obviously so misguided (TV's Bar & Grill anyone?) to believe that if they "update" the restaurant, those darn free spending thirty year olds are going to beat a path to their door. The corporate staff couldn't recognize a cultural trend if a bus load of Tiki-Crawlers showed up on their doorstep. I first started patronizing the Emeryville location about fifteen years ago. I begged the then restaurant manager (now embedded in the corporate staff) to take advantage of the coalescing tiki revival. Deaf, deaf ears. They simply don't care about anything other than market-share. The corporation doesn't care whether long time employees get fired, a long tradition of fine dining is squelched, and a serene environment is paved over with television monitors and a thumping disco beat. I pray, literally pray, that the corporation really will "renovate" the restaurant. Everyone knows the restrooms need help, the carpet is abysmal, some of the Naugahyde booths need recovering, and some fixtures could be refinished; however, I simply don't trust the people that let the Beverly Hills location be closed under the cover of darkness to really and properly reinvigorate this restaurant. I will part, and post no more, with this memory: About ten years ago I was idling in the bar on Sunday night with one of the real, old time bartenders that worked with Vic himself (and for decades). We were discussing the current state of disaster that the restaurant was in. Who was general manager? The very same person that is a vice-president with the corporation now. As the bartender said (verbatim quotation): "The Trader is surely rolling in his grave now."