Next time you visit Portland and want a doughnut, don't go to Voodoo Doughnut

[oregonjen]

https://www.koin.com/local/multnomah-county/voodoo-doughnut-workers-fired-after-heat-related-walkout/

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Eleven employees at Voodoo Doughnuts in Old Town said they went on strike after facing heat exhaustion during the record-breaking heat wave last weekend, and said 7 of the 11 have been fired.

Max Fleisher told KOIN 6 News he was fired from Voodoo Doughnuts on Thursday. He said the extreme heat created an unsafe work environment. He has pics of thermometers from inside the Old Town location that showed the inside temp was 95 and 96.

“It’s super frustrating. We know that it’s a protected action. It was unsafe in the store,” Fleisher told KOIN 6 News. “Like I said people were getting hives, people were getting nose bleeds, we were very concerned about the heat.”

[CentralMass]

1. Thanks for posting this. I usually only go there when friends or family visit but I will not go agai

[oregonjen]

2. You're welcome. The employees tried to unionize, but were rejected

They feel getting fired was also retaliation for it, along with walking off the job in unsafe conditions.

[calimary]

24. Good to know! Will avoid!

But then again, I shouldn't be eating donuts anyway.

[brush]

3. 90 and 95 degrees?

[oregonjen]

4. 95 and 96 degrees in the store

Alongside fryers, that would be really hot. I read in an earlier story that customers were walking in and walking right back out because it was too hot to even be in the store.

[wnylib]

17. Not just fryers, but ovens, too.

There would be also be sanitation problems in that heat for cream and jelly filled doughnuts unless they were kept refrigerated until purchased. Not safe to keep them on display on a shelf. I'd think that the icing and glaze on some of them would melt and run.

(I have had a variety of work experiences from my college days, including a doughnut shop and the bakery of a supermarket.)

[BlueTsunami2018]

5. I work out in the elements all the time.

Single digits in the winter, triple digits in the summer. Try running conduit in an industrial boiler room where it’s 130 degrees and no air circulation. 95 degrees isn’t all that hot. Certainly not hot enough to be causing heat stroke, hives and nose bleeds.

[smirkymonkey]

9. Just because you can handle it, doesn't mean that everyone can.

People have different tolerances. I can barely tolerate 85 degrees, and at the same time, I can't really tolerate extremely low temps either. Some of us have bodies that don't react well to temperature extremes.

I don't blame them at all. Those temps are unbearable for most people. I would have walked out and have never gone back. The owners clearly don't care about their well being.

[wnylib]

25. Were you in that boiler room for 8 hours straight?

And when done, were you able to go outdoors to tolerable temps or to an air conditioned room to recover? Did you have a water bottle on hand to rehydrate? Were you required to wear a hat and uniform?

In a doughnut shop, employees wear uniforms and hats (hats or nets required for sanitation). Food workers are not supposed to drink liquids (or eat food) on the job due to sanitation requirements (to avoid their crumbs or saliva getting into customers' food).

Do you want to eat a doughnut made, iced, or handed to you from someone whose sweat might have dripped onto it?

Some work settings have rules and laws that don't allow people to take normal measures to alleviate excessive heat conditions. Can't take off a shirt in a restaurant or doughnut shop. Can't wipe sweat from their face while handling food. Have to put hands in hot water to clean and sanitize equipment or handle hot equipment and dishes coming out of a commercial industrial
dishwasher/sanitizer in a room that is already 95 degrees.

[Jedi Guy]

6. Welcome to working in a commercial kitchen, kids.

Until recently (thanks a lot, Covid) my wife was an executive chef at a venue hosting large (100+ people) weddings. Temperatures in the kitchen regularly topped 110 degrees. Given the equipment in operation, this shouldn't come as a surprise. There's an old saying about heat and kitchens.

Per the story, management made reasonable changes to mitigate the heat.

[oregonjen]

7. Understood, however we were experiencing record heat and many

restaurants around the PDX area closed to protect the health of their employees. Voodoo has been in the news in recent years for horrible employee treatment, which is why employees wanted to unionize.

[sarisataka]

10. I have worked kitchen jobs a few times

You are correct about the temperature. 95 or so would have been considered quite tolerable, over 100 was normal and more than a few times the thermometer hit its 120 peak

[Zeitghost]

14. Someone should come up with a saying

Someone should come up with a saying or something... Maybe, "If the temperature in the kitchen is too high for your comfort, find another place that better suits your preferences." Or something catchy like that.

[nilram]

11. And other places here shut down during the heat wave.

Because they are humane employers.

[oregonjen]

12. Exactly, thank you, that's my point.

[happybird]

15. +1

That’s summer in the restaurant business.

We’ve hooked up extra fans to help cool off our 2 kitchens and keep a huge container, the type with a tap, of ice water in the fridge so we can keep refilling our water bottles. Lots of Gatorade in the fridge, too (we sell it for carryout orders and my boss lets us have as many as we want or need. She’s awesome.)

Everyone loves going to the walk-in to grab items and hang out for a minute or two.

I start preparing for the kitchen heat by never running the AC in my car on the 30 min. ride to work, no matter how hot it is outside.

[wnylib]

29. And on breaks or after your shift,

you can go outdoors for a breath of fresher, cooler air, but not when the temp outdoors is 115 degrees and humid.

Places like Arizona must have ways to deal with their heat because they are used to it, e.g. an air conditioned break room. But in Washington and Oregon, nobody is prepared for that kind of heat. People there don't have a/c like in other locations.

[ShazzieB]

35. Please don't do this.

If you and your wife are impervious to heat and all the other ills that flesh is heir to, that's really nice. For you. It does not help anyone else. Your experience was your experience. Your wife's experience was her experience. Those experiences have nothing to do with anyone else's experiences.

People in the Pacfic Northwest are experiencing something highly abnornal right now, and they are suffering. A significant number are DYING. They deserve our sympathy, not a lecture about how some stranger on the internet thinks they "should" be feeling.

I'll admit I'm a little biased. I do not handle heat well myself (I start to fold up like a wilted flower somewhere in the mid 90s), and that heat dome sounds like one of my worst nightmares come to life. I can hardly stand to think about how horrible that must be, and listening to someone minimize the misery that's going on out there does not sit right with me.

[Jedi Guy]

36. Working in commercial kitchens isn't for everyone.

Last edited Sat Jul 3, 2021, 09:22 AM - Edit history (2)

The fact remains that the temperatures cited in the story really aren't that bad or unusual for a commercial kitchen. If people find it intolerable, there's really one solution: find work that doesn't involve being in a hot environment.

I don't tolerate humidity well at all after living in the desert for many years. I now live in Ontario, where it's brutally humid in the summer. The absolute last thing I'd do is take a job that involved outdoor work in summer. Knowing your limits and operating within them is just how the real world works.

ETA: I'm not unsympathetic to the people in the PNW. I'm unsympathetic to these particular people, because they're complaining about the nature of the beast. I'm reasonably confident the kitchen has A/C given that commercial ovens and other equipment, which generate a lot of heat, are in operation there. They probably also have a walk-in fridge or freezer. Management shifted production times to cooler parts of the day and provided extended breaks, and I've no doubt cold water is freely available. Those are reasonable measures, so it's not as if they did nothing and told them to suck it up. And if you walk off the job, you really shouldn't be surprised when you get the boot.

[BannonsLiver]

8. I think I'm still going to go.

Went in April on a visit to Oregon and will likely do so again next spring if we’re fortunate enough to return.

[nilram]

13. Try Blue Star or Nola Donuts. Both are better than Voodoo.

IM(ES)HO

[BannonsLiver]

21. I'll give them a try as well. Thanks!

[ihaveaquestion]

26. Also try Mr. Maple donuts just across the Columbia river

in Vancouver, WA.

It's only a short drive and the donuts are worth it, believe me!

[calimary]

27. Oooooooooh Nola Donuts!

WORTH IT!!!

[tonedevil]

32. Of course you will...

no one expects anything else of you.

[Jedi Guy]

33. Ah yes, there it is.

"Hey everybody, look at this guy over here! He's not joining the crowd so he must be shamed! Shame on the sinner!
Shame! Shame!"

Game of Thrones taught us that the people yelling "Shame!" at others aren't the good guys...

[tonedevil]

34. OK.

[LanternWaste]

37. Ah yes, there you are.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

(and there's the back of your tshirt...)

[Jedi Guy]

38. I knew you'd pop up in response to this comment. I made a bet with myself and I won.

I am still very disheartened by the lack of the shrugging emoji, though. Oh well, there's always next time, I guess. Hope springs eternal, after all.

[USALiberal]

42. Typical of his posts! Nt

[Sympthsical]

46. Seriously n/t

[USALiberal]

41. Fix your quote! Nt

[Hoyt]

16. They probably should have just closed place, temporarily, if they couldn't

keep it cool.

[Permanut]

18. People died in the heat.

"At least 63 people throughout Oregon died from health issues related to the hot weather over the past few days, with 45 of those deaths in Multnomah County, authorities say. Portland broke heat records on three consecutive days, hitting a high temperature of 116 on Monday."

from oregonlive.com

[Scruffy1]

19. The OSHA rule go's by wet bulb temperature.

I can't recall or they might changed, but IIRC it starts at 15 minutes ever hour and precedes to half a hour with increase. I could look it up> buts what the point when the reporter could not be bothered. I do know that we forced a NYSE listed company to air condition its pants.

[bringthePaine]

20. voo do NOT

[MFM008]

22. Been there once

Coming back from Lincoln City after spending a few days there with friends I had a vegan donut is it was I won't go there again.

[David__77]

23. I appreciate these kinds of campaigns.

OSHA is not enough. I hope that people will be true allies of workers in exposing and combatting bad working conditions. If the AC isn’t sufficient the solution is new AC units. They may need to have “excess” capacity for high heat situations or should close.

[wnylib]

30. If customers were walking out as soon as they

encountered the heat inside, it was pointless to stay open. Cost them more to be open than they were making.

[GulfCoast66]

28. It must be what your used to. In the PNW they are not accustomed to the heat.

My employees, and me before I got promoted spend all day in 90 degree heat doing hard work. Digging up and repairing utilities. And Florida is always super humid. For the last year wearing a mask. Actually most of the summer it’s upper 80’s once we get our rains but then the humidity it impresses. May is the worst. No rain yet so temperatures can reach the mid-90’s.

I don’t do the hard work but still spend most of my day outside.

And I have friends who are chefs and sous chefs. Even with AC their kitchens can go above 100 degrees.

There is one advantage. Keeping your AC at 78 is no problem. Most Floridians keep it at 72 or so.

[Fiendish Thingy]

31. My fave when I visit Portland is CoCo donuts

Just good quality, decent prices, none of that fancy schmancy nonsense like putting candy, cereal or bacon on top and charging $5 for one donut.

[MurrayDelph]

40. putting STALE cereal on donuts

Tried them once and was extremely unimpressed. I prefer small chain (Blue Star in Portland and L.A.; Heavenly in Portland, Longview, and Redding; Doughboy in Reno) and independents (Randy's near LAX).

My opinion is VooDoo is all hype. If you're going in order to say you've been, that's one thing. If you're looking for a good donut, go to a mom-and-pop. And I say this as a lifelong fat person who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, where if you were to drive across it on surface streets and stop at every don't shop along the way it would take you twelve hours (and if you weren't diabetic before you would be).

[Fiendish Thingy]

43. Just to clarify, it's VooDoo who puts cereal on donuts, not CoCo. Nt

[MurrayDelph]

44. You are correct

Sorry for my being unclear.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

39. Really great solidarity on this thread. Good job, everybody!

[Politicub]

45. I queued up at that tourist trap a couple of years ago. The donuts were okay.

I liked the boba tea from the little place across the street more, though.

I will fight anyone who disagrees that the best donuts are from mom and pop shops in the Bay Area.