Photo taken by Amelie’s customer

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As Amelie’s French Bakery & Café’s has recently reopened its Uptown location, employees have been dealing with disorganized operations and mismanaged resources. After the store’s grand re-opening on the 15th, one employee has already resigned due to the store’s inhospitable conditions.

“Everyone from Uptown wants to quit,” they said. Uptown employees are expected to pay $21 a day in parking fees but are only reimbursed an extra $2 per hour. Employees are paid an average of $9 an hour, meaning full-time employees lose about one hour’s wages every day to work there.

The store’s impractical design also boasts three levels, with corresponding flights of stairs which employees must scale regularly for operations and maintenance.

The former employee told us that the location is overstaffed and has a product surplus, with products dating as far back as June 9th. Because customer tips are pooled, the overstaffing has caused a strain on tip share for each employee. When they aren’t losing tips, employees are losing hours. A worker at Amelie’s told us they were sent home four hours early twice in one week alone.

Much of Amelie’s workforce comes from some of the most exploited sections of the working class. Students and the formerly incarcerated who due to a lack of opportunities are forced to put up with poor conditions and wages barely above minimum wage.