March 14, 2022 – West Bend, Wi – The stress was more than evident on Sunday afternoon when restaurant owner Skinny Vic aka Vicki Lehnerz posted her feelings of frustration on social media regarding how some customers (not all) were treating her staff.
During a one-on-one interview on Monday afternoon, after Lehnerz cooled off for a bit, we wound her back up by seeing if there was a way to help.
“We all try our best. The reason for my post was to try to get everybody to fully, fully understand the big problem which of course is staffing,” she said.
The note below is what Lehnerz posted to her Skinny Vic’s social media page.
Skinny Vic’s Diner & Coffee Stop, 804 W. Paradise Dr. West Bend, WI
THIS IS SAD!!!!
Business owners don’t want to have to close their doors! We want to serve you! We are passionate about serving our communities.
EVERYWHERE right now is understaffed. Let me break it down to hopefully understand better. 3 cooks/ kitchen; 1 working 90 hours/wk, the 2nd working 60 hours/ wk & the 3rd working part time at 30 hours a week. Dishwasher = who works a total of 20 hours / wk (of course the cooks have to pick up the slack)
Servers= 4 total, 2 of which are full time, the 2 on the weekend teach our youth at local elementary schools! They come here to work on the weekend to pay their extreme high school loans and to subsidize their living!
Support- 4 students total- THIS IS THEIR first job- give them kindness and patience!
Today- one cook called in, no busser, no dishwasher, and short a server.
None of our staff have to be here! They choose to be but being mistreated makes them want to quit!
SO WHEN YOUR FAVORITE PLACES ARE CLOSED DUE TO STAFFING ,OR IN OUR CASE TODAY, RUDENESS TO THE STAFF, you can understand why!
We are all working very hard to SERVE YOU- please be kind and if you must- reach out to the owner! My staff doesn’t deserve to be treated with such disrespect.
In a world so full of anger and hate-
SHOW SOME LOVE!
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On a history note: It was May 2020 when Vicki Lehnerz was obviously excited to open her restaurant in West Bend. Who knew what was ahead…. from supply shortages to over-the
over-the- top staffing challenges to lockdowns… and now??
Skinny Vic has one message…
Excellent message and I applaud your reaction to the rudeness! I work in customer service too and the attitude of entitlement that some people have, and usually over menial things, is a disgrace to humanity.
I’m with Sharon all the way! I’ve worked my whole life. I’m 76 now and worked up until last year. I’ve encountered so many rude people, if I had to keep a tab, I’d run out of ink! BUT, I’d have to say, most of the time, most of the people were very understanding, smiling, not rude and luckily, there are more that ARE sweet than sour. Keep up the good work and I’m so very sorry the young people that are doing a good job have to go through this, please be assured the whole world is NOT full of ungrateful people! Thank you for the post!!