A video of all 16 employees at a Noah’s Bagels in Vacaville went viral after they quit in protest, alleging their former manager was unjustly fired.
The user, former employee Beonce Sarmiento, posted the video that shows all 15 of her co-workers showing up to the store to simultaneously quit. Sarmiento captioned it, “Say no to toxic management.” Since it was posted Jan. 15, the video has been viewed 3.5 million times on TikTok.
The location has also received a few scathing Yelp reviews.
According to KCRA, former manager Bre Kowalski said she received a call last week and was told that she’d be suspended because of a customer complaint. However, Kowalski told KCRA there was no such complaint. That’s when she saw the final paycheck in her bank account, and found out that she was reportedly getting fired without being told why.
“Nobody even said I was terminated, they said I was suspended,” Kowalski told KCRA.
A few hours later, she was told she was actually fired for another issue that happened while she wasn’t working at the store, KCRA reported. Despite her reaching out, management reportedly still hasn’t given her any answers.
According to the group of former employees, issues had already been mounting at their store, and Kowalski’s termination inspired the walkout.
“I have never seen anything like this as well, but that shows you how tight our bond is and how close we are together, not just as a team, but as a family,” one former employee told KTVU. The store is still open following their walkout.
The shop is currently operating and “very busy,” the new manager told SFGATE over the phone, and declined to immediately respond to a set of questions.
Representatives for Noah’s Bagels’ corporate office did not respond to SFGATE at the time of publication.