A worker used TikTok to make a very public announcement to his employer, popular convenience store Casey’s, while in uniform on Feb. 1.
Chaz (@chazonator), who says he worked at Casey’s for four years, resigned and outlined his reasons for doing so in the video. “This is a message for Casey’s general stores. I’ve been working for you for almost four years, and today, I fucking quit. Why? Several reasons and I’m gonna explain them all to you right now,” he starts his video, which has since been viewed over 1.1 million times.
He says the company failed to provide him with a livable wage in the state of Illinois (he gets paid 50 cents above the minimum, which is $13.35 for non-tipped workers) and was unable to adjust its pay to match inflation. “It’s a dying wage and a starvation wage. And because, after four years, the cost of living has gone way up while your wage continues to go down. Quite frankly, I’m getting tired of paying you to work for you. You heard that right. When you fail to pay a cost of living increase, you’re making me worth less. And guess what? I’m not fucking worthless,” he says.
He says his co-worker was recently fired “because someone in upper management decided to spend a long time scrolling through video footage just to see if they could catch her doing anything wrong.”
“Apparently, she forgot to pay for some pizza—some pizza you were gonna throw out anyway,” he says.
Chaz says in the last four years he’s worked there, he has had five different managers. “Each one replacing the next as a white, CIS heterosexual female, and I have nothing against white CIS heterosexual females, but apparently, someone in this district only wants them to be managing the stores. … I’ve seen too many minorities get passed over for management promotion,” he adds.
He also accuses the store of up-charging products he notices Black customers predominantly purchase, speculating Casey’s is trying to keep them out of the store. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you keep jacking up the price on the Newports and then Swisher Sweets either. The Black people in our community certainly have. Because they tell me every day that they can get the same damn Swisher for 99 cents right across the street. It almost feels like you don’t want Black people in the store,” he says.
He also takes aim at Casey’s tagline “Here For Good,” arguing the chain is not here for anyone’s good.
“You don’t recycle shit. You don’t recycle the garbage inside the store, and you don’t recycle the garbage outside. You don’t even put recycle bins for your customers to use. Why is it you say that you’re here for good? … Who’s fucking good? Certainly not the good of the planet,” he says.
“So now I’m just gonna save you the time of having to dig through the video for hours looking for something to fire me with,” he says as he rips his uniform. “I quit. Goodbye.”
He summed up his message in the video’s caption, tagging Casey’s and writing: “I’ve been working for you for almost 4 years and today I quit. This is my official resignation. I have watched you bypass minorities to promote cis white heterosexual females to upper management positions for years while overlooking my minority coworkers for promotion. You pay a starvation wage and fire people who forget to pay for the pizza that you throw away every day. You don’t recycle any garbage or even offer recycle bins to customers. You say you’re here for good. Whose good? Because it’s sure not the good of the planet. I love your customers. I don’t like you.”
The Daily Dot spoke with Chaz via email about his experience working at Casey’s. He said the chain hasn’t reached out to him following his resignation. He also added his co-workers were thankful for his video. “Co workers have reached out to me showing support and thanking me for exposing these truths they’ve been living with during their time working for Casey’s,” he said.
Chaz said that while non-white employees at his former store in Carbondale, Illinois, have been promoted to assistant manager, they never received adequate support “to excel higher up.”
Chaz also gave more insight into his co-worker who he says was fired for eating pizza she failed to ring up. “The newest manager has been there a week. It’s a white man. And now [a] lesbian assistant manager … [was] fired because he spent hours looking for a reason to fire her and found one. Eating pizza which was headed for the dumpster. It’s easy to forget to pay for lunch when you have to eat it while ringing up a sea of customers.”
Chaz said he posted the video to “bring attention to how corporations treat minimum wage employees.”
Chaz said he prided himself on his customer service skills and that he primarily worked at Casey’s as a means of “relieving [his] social anxiety” before stating, “I’d never received a complaint about my work or customer service. I’ve only been praised by customers and coworkers.”
That notion is backed up by viewers of his viral video who recognized Chaz after frequenting the Casey’s location he worked at. “As someone who would be in your presence for short periods of time in your check out line, I want you to know that your kindness was not unseen,” one TikToker wrote.
Some said his video may influence their decisions to shop there in the future. “Love this insight. As a midwesterner, I’m no stranger to this franchise. Good to know,” one wrote.
The Daily Dot also reached out to Casey’s via Twitter direct message.
