Just over a week ago a group of shocked. stunned, hurt and angered employees found their jobs were wiped out when the owner of Dockside Bensalem and Nicks Roast Beef of Woodhaven, deleted social media accounts, called booked bands to cancel shows and counted on social media speed catching the eyes and notification alerts of employees from both locations to discover they were no longer employed days before the unofficial launch of the holiday season
At breakneck speed, beginning Monday morning and hitting the high C pitch, some of the singers fronting local bands playing gigs created a death metal type growl from the community at large for employees of both night spots. Its strange, but true twist comes from the waterfront restaurant that had reopened a little over 18 months ago under Matthew Rossi’s ownership, who also owns Nick’s.
In response to our story published last week, Lower Bucks Source received tidbits of information, observations, and the general feeling that most people involved in the establishments were informed about the closing hours after it became a hot topic in Lower Bucks and Philadelphia. One employee thought the reports were just unfounded rumors and took about a one-hour trip using mass transit to get to work, only to find out the rumors were true.
Meanwhile, hoisted into the role of community ambassadors, the team over at Broken Goblet started a community wide effort to support the newly unemployed by offering work, connections to new jobs, reached out to the bands that were scheduled to play at both sites, and offered customers with party/banquet reservations open slots at the Bensalem night spot that were available. Unfortunately, the Goblet’s efforts to counteract the cumulative losses for all seemed to escape the watchful eye of other publications.
The Phoenix Sports Club in Trevose followed Broken Goblet’s lead reaching out to similar business establishments who had job opportunities, open dates for parties and looking to get local bands gigs and opportunities to rock out.
On Wednesday, Thursday and early Friday, the crew of former employees received some good news that helped to allay the pre-holiday pre-rent day anxieties. Five of the employees said they were told they could pick up their last paychecks Friday after 11 a.m. Getting that last pay was not a certainty, each said in conversations last week.
“I’ll believe it when it’s in my hand as cash,” one of the five said late Thursday.
Four of the five former employees said they received their full pay, which was given to them by the manager, not Rossi.
One former employee said before they submitted the check to their financial institution they asked to make sure the check didn’t have any bounce in it, and thankfully it didn’t.
The last Dockside/Nick’s employee the publication spoke with was relived to get paid, said sure getting paid is important, but losing the connections with the people I was working with, that’s not something a paycheck can replace. And off they went to a local bar to watch the Eagles throttle the Rams.
Now job searches will become each person’s focus still sounding shocked, dazed, and hurt by a business owner who couldn’t even say sorry to them in person.