Friedman's Failure to Communicate - Cutting Remarks

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Rob Bates

Friedman's Failure to Communicate
April 4, 2008

JCK's Monday story about Friedman's plans to close its stores has turned into a something of a message board for Friedman's employees, where for the last few days they have been commiserating and swapping gossip. (One point: Many think the plan to sell 78 stores to Whitehall has fallen through. That hasn't been confirmed. Things are fluid.)

I know there is no truly artful way to let people go. But it seems that, as the company's lawyers were petitioning in court to call in the liquidators, most of its employees only found about it through news reports. That is awful. Executives with responsibility for some 3,000 workers have to do better. Here's one comment:

I have been an employee for many years. I honestly had faith in this company, my DM, my VP...I bought the line of "just a rough patch, everything will be fine...oh yeah! and we've been through worse". Forgive me if I didn't buy into the "dishonesty game" I expected better that's all. I am just a little peon in a small town that loved my job. My heart is broken.

That is enough to break my heart too. What a way for an 80-plus year old company to go out. Our best to all the employees of Friedman's and their families ...

Posted by Rob Bates on April 4, 2008 | Comments (3)

April 4, 2008
In response to: Friedman's Failure to Communicate
diamondzdoll commented:

Thank you so much for standing up for the employees of this company. I have been with this company for 19 years and it really is sad to see a decade of Friedman's tradition go down the drain. I feel so much pain today. I've lived my entire adult life working for them and serving our customers. You are awesome for writing this article.

April 5, 2008
In response to: Friedman's Failure to Communicate
diamondsaregirlsbestfriend commented:

I previously worked for this company for many years, and through the numerous chapter 11 filings the employees were always left in the dark. We relied solely on this web sight to know any of the information pertaining to the direction the company was headed in. I have to say that Friedman could care less about their employees at store level. You never really know what they are going to do next. Im so sad for my former co workers, for staying around and believing the line of BS about just a rough patch. Thankyou Jck for keeping us informed since the co obviously is not concerned!

April 9, 2008
In response to: Friedman's Failure to Communicate
DIAMONDANGEL commented:

AS AN EMPLOYEE OF THE COMPANY I FEEL LIKE A USED UP VESSEL THAT HAS WORKED SO HARD AND BEEN SO DEDICATED TO THIS COMPANY AND REALLY BELIEVED IN IT I AM TRULY HEARTBROKEN ABOUT THIS AND HAVE ALL THE OTHER EMPLOYEES COMPANY WIDE IN MY PRAYERS. THIS JOB IS MY SOLE SUPPORT AS WELL AS MANY OTHERS. I HOPE THEY REALIZE WHAT THEY HAVE DONE.