Pegulas taking heat for treatment of PSE employees during quarantine; donate 1.2 mill to WNY pandemic relief

[YoloinOhio]

 

 

[stevewin]

15 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

 

Had to read the last one like 4 times - kept seeing "provide groceries to undeserved and unemployed"

[SectionC3]

Good on them for going this.  

 

I'm still torn on how I feel about their treatment of their employees during the pandemic.  On the one hand, I'm not impressed with the layoffs in the absence of even modest termination pay (two weeks' wages/tips, for example).  On the other hand, I appreciate that there has to be a business for the employees to return to when this is over.  And it may be that preserving the hospitality aspects of the business required the cutbacks.  

 

Hopefully we put the brakes on the spread of the virus and this is a non-issue in a couple of months. 

[C.Biscuit97]

29 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

 

Good on them.  I wonder how much the social media response forced their hand.  But I’m glad they are doing this.  I love the Pegulas and was hoping they weren’t the billionaire scumbags like other owners (see the Jacobs family).

[Kelly the Dog]

Ralph is cheap. 

[HappyDays]

 

[YoloinOhio]

1 minute ago, HappyDays said:

 

Morse donated 100k last week! Keep up, Joshua. ?

Edited March 25, 2020 by YoloinOhio

[BillsFan17]

4 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Morse donated 100k last week! Keep up, Joshua. ?

These frugal millionaires! Lol.

 

Glad to see more and more people helping out where they can! Really do think there is a lot more kindness than not in this world.

 

I know, funny coming from me, one of the meaner posters on the board lol.

[Augie]

1 hour ago, SectionC3 said:

Good on them for going this.  

 

I'm still torn on how I feel about their treatment of their employees during the pandemic.  On the one hand, I'm not impressed with the layoffs in the absence of even modest termination pay (two weeks' wages/tips, for example).  On the other hand, I appreciate that there has to be a business for the employees to return to when this is over.  And it may be that preserving the hospitality aspects of the business required the cutbacks.  

 

Hopefully we put the brakes on the spread of the virus and this is a non-issue in a couple of months. 

 

I will again say that they should NOT be held to a higher standard than the rest of the industry. Why do people want to single them out?

 

This is a huge, generous and positive gesture and should be only taken as a positive. Just one guy’s opinion. 

[Saint Doug]

9 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Morse donated 100k last week! Keep up, Joshua. ?

We should start a thread of which athletes are donating. They are treated like hero’s, but I think we all know who the real hero’s of society are. 

[Mr. WEO]

Did they lay off their daughters from that hokey $9 smoothie vanity project snack shop?

[Doc Brown]

34 minutes ago, Saint Doug said:

We should start a thread of which athletes are donating. They are treated like hero’s, but I think we all know who the real hero’s of society are. 

Definitely not jerks on message boards that point out the incorrect spelling of the plural form of hero.

37 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

I will again say that they should NOT be held to a higher standard than the rest of the industry. Why do people want to single them out?

 

This is a huge, generous and positive gesture and should be only taken as a positive. Just one guy’s opinion. 

Because in times of crises if somebody has the means to easily help their fellow citizens through a rough time then it's the decent thing to do.  Most restaurant owners don't have those means.

[Bronxbomber21]

Allen is one rookie deal though 

[PromoTheRobot]

1 hour ago, HappyDays said:

 

 

[Augie]

17 hours ago, Doc Brown said:

 

Because in times of crises if somebody has the means to easily help their fellow citizens through a rough time then it's the decent thing to do.  Most restaurant owners don't have those means.

 

How about you look at what Marriott and Omni have done for a comparison. That is a fair comparison. I think you are missing the point here. My future daughter-in-law works for one of the big hotels. She went to a meeting with 600 people, and they slowly, painfully and horribly managed the firing of 560 of those people. She still has a job, but feels like she’s in the next wave. 

 

The Pegula’s have just donated $1.2 MILLION dollars to help people in need. I don’t think this is the time to be criticizing them. 

 

Just my opinion. 

 

EDIT: As of this morning she has been furloughed. There are few guarantees in life, which is why you shouldn’t live as though you will always get “the best case scenario”. Just like we will all know of someone with the virus, we will all know someone who was affected in some other way. This is one giant mess. 

 

 

. 

Edited March 26, 2020 by Augie

[billsfanmiami(oh)]

People have a hard time comprehending that the Pegulas owning businesses and having employees isn’t the equivalent of being parents and giving allowance to your kids. Especially when you have the kind of coin they do, just the business / corporate structure alone is extremely complicated. It’s not as easy as just opening the checkbook. There are policies, procedures & laws they have to follow. If these were truly horrible people with no morals, we wouldn’t be having the discussion because 716, the Bills, the Sabres, and a whole bunch more wouldn’t exist. It’s easy to throw rocks when you don’t have all the details and just read the cliff notes of some ***** stirring article by another buffalo media hack. 

[Green Lightning]

Again, all those employees being furloughed wouldn't have had those jobs in the first place if it weren't for the Pegulas. $1.2M is damn impressive. 

Edited March 26, 2020 by Green Lightning

[Mango]

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
 

Somebody referred to holding the Pegula’s to a different standard than the rest of the “industry”.
Does this mean hospitality? How many restaurant owners would love to pay their staff but can’t? Or are you referring to the NHL where the owners are paying the staff for games missed? 

[Augie]

7 minutes ago, Mango said:

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
 

Somebody referred to holding the Pegula’s to a different standard than the rest of the “industry”.
Does this mean hospitality? How many restaurant owners would love to pay their staff but can’t? Or are you referring to the NHL where the owners are paying the staff for games missed? 

 

I believe that the “somebody” you are referring to may be me! Because I certainly said that, and I believe it.

 

It doesn’t matter if the owner of Bob’s Deli would like to pay his staff.  Did Bob sell his house to pay the cashier? It’s a decision, and it’s complicated. The fact is, almost all of hospitality is laying off or furloughing employees with similar benefit packages, which is close to nothing. Why should the Pegulas be held to a different standard? Don’t tell me “because they are rich, they can afford it”. Marriott has some cash in the bank. I want a real grown up answer.  

 

They gave $1.2 MILLION dollars to help lessen the blow, and that’s not enough? Get a grip on reality is how I see things. Life is not a bottomless charity bowl. 

[Mango]

29 minutes ago, Augie said:

 

I believe that the “somebody” you are referring to may be me! Because I certainly said that, and I believe it.

 

It doesn’t matter if the owner of Bob’s Deli would like to pay his staff.  Did Bob sell his house to pay the cashier? It’s a decision, and it’s complicated. The fact is, almost all of hospitality is laying off or furloughing employees with similar benefit packages, which is close to nothing. Why should the Pegulas be held to a different standard? Don’t tell me “because they are rich, they can afford it”. Marriott has some cash in the bank. I want a real grown up answer.  

 

They gave $1.2 MILLION dollars to help lessen the blow, and that’s not enough? Get a grip on reality is how I see things. Life is not a bottomless charity bowl. 

Sorry, normally I quote, but I was on my mobile and already started to reply and got lazy. Ha.

 

Nobody expects Bob of Bobs deli to sell his house for his cashier. And nobody is asking Pegula to do that either. If he has a Billion dollars, which he has more, interest is 50M per year at 5%. So if he has 300 employees at the arena, and 100 at 716. Say they’re all making an average of $15 per hour (they don’t) and all work 40 hours per week (they don’t) It would cost him 960k to shut down for a month. Less than 2% of his interest collected. 
 

Instead he gave 1.2M for additional tax deductions on top of the deductions he’ll take for declining business and declining property value (almost every major corporation does this). Plus the tax 57M tax break he gets on the harbor center itself. 
 

The point is, big boys like Mark Cuban in these moments shouldn’t be the exception, they should be the standard. And we should stop pretending like Billionaires are dealing in comprehensible money that any of us can wrap our heads around. On a yearly basis he receives generational wealth in interest. At the very least he could pay out earned PTO with the change he finds in his couch cushion. 

Edited March 26, 2020 by Mango
Grammar/fat fingers

[Augie]

19 minutes ago, Mango said:

Sorry, normally I quote, but I was on my mobile and already started to reply and got lazy. Ha.

 

Nobody expects Bob of Bobs deli to sell his house for his cashier. And nobody is asking Pegula to do that either. If he has a Billion dollars, which he has more, interest is 50M per year at 5%. So if he has 300 employees at the arena, and 100 at 716. Say they’re all making an average of $15 per hour (they don’t) and all work 40 hours per week (they don’t) It would cost him 960k to shut down for a month. Less than 2% of his interest collected. 
 

Instead he gave 1.2M for additional tax deductions on top of the deductions he’ll take for more deductions for. Plus the tax 57M tax break he gets on the harbor center itself. 
 

The point is, big boys like Mark Cuban in these moments shouldn’t be the exception, they should be the standard. And we should stop pretending like Billionaires are dealing in comprehensible money that any of us can wrap our heads around. On a yearly basis he receives generational wealth in interest. At the very least he could pay out earned PTO with the change he finds in his couch cushion. 

 

I should not have thrown in Bob’s apparently. That seemed to be not clear enough.  Focus on Marriott or Hilton. That is apples and apples. 

 

Rich people owe us nothing beyond what we have agreed upon. I work, you pay. Is there a contract to live by? Go there. If not, the law lays out what is required. IF you get any more than that, it’s a blessing. They gave away a MILLION PLU$ and they should NOT be getting grief. 

 

You don’t have to match the most generous employer to be a good person, especially when you have ZERO idea what the numbers look like. Without a serious deep dive into the books, who knows what this means to different industries and teams? 

 

Do NOT make this emotional. We don’t know enough to judge. I just know hospitality is generally doing $1.2 million LESS than what the Pegulas are doing. 

 

EDIT: Let me ask this: Do we know if the $1.2 mil is more or less than the cost of keeping the staff? When you get an exact answer, please get back to me. Without an answer, please reserve judgment. 

 

. 

Edited March 26, 2020 by Augie

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

4 hours ago, Mango said:

Sorry, normally I quote, but I was on my mobile and already started to reply and got lazy. Ha.

 

Nobody expects Bob of Bobs deli to sell his house for his cashier. And nobody is asking Pegula to do that either. If he has a Billion dollars, which he has more, interest is 50M per year at 5%. So if he has 300 employees at the arena, and 100 at 716. Say they’re all making an average of $15 per hour (they don’t) and all work 40 hours per week (they don’t) It would cost him 960k to shut down for a month. Less than 2% of his interest collected. 
 

Instead he gave 1.2M for additional tax deductions on top of the deductions he’ll take for declining business and declining property value (almost every major corporation does this). Plus the tax 57M tax break he gets on the harbor center itself. 
 

The point is, big boys like Mark Cuban in these moments shouldn’t be the exception, they should be the standard. And we should stop pretending like Billionaires are dealing in comprehensible money that any of us can wrap our heads around. On a yearly basis he receives generational wealth in interest. At the very least he could pay out earned PTO with the change he finds in his couch cushion. 

 

Lol 5%. You guys are too much. What this thread is is a little bit of good old fashioned envy.

[BillsFan17]

55 minutes ago, Joe in Winslow said:

 

Lol 5%. You guys are too much. What this thread is is a little bit of good old fashioned envy.

It's a good practice in people putting their hands in others pockets because they see big numbers and assume it just as simple as writing a fat check. Again, always like seeing how others would spend other peoples money.

[SectionC3]

13 hours ago, Augie said:

 

I will again say that they should NOT be held to a higher standard than the rest of the industry. Why do people want to single them out?

 

This is a huge, generous and positive gesture and should be only taken as a positive. Just one guy’s opinion. 

 

A bit touchy, eh?  I re-read what I wrote and I'm still not sure I held anyone to a higher standard.  Just because I might disagree with the treatment of discharged employees by the Pegulas (who happen to the the subject of this thread) doesn't mean that I'm singling them out.  The fact of the matter, though, is that I wrote that I appreciate both sides of things.  It's tough for employees across our economy to be cast aside as many have been over the past two weeks.  The flip side is that there has to be a business for these employees to come back to.  One way to preserve the business might be to let the government fund the employees at significant discount (not sure what the haircut is on unemployment, maybe 40% of prior take home is provided?) during the crisis, which appears to be what the Pegulas have done. 

 

The bottom line on my end is that when all of this is over I will treat well businesses that had the means to treat their employees well during this fiasco and then did so.  The Pegulas' donation is a step in the right direction for them.  Delaware North's act of providing at least one week severance to its employees is a good thing.  We'll see how things go from here. 

[eball]

I'm sure Timmah Graham has already posted an update to his story with news of the Pegulas' generosity and donations during this crisis, along with an analysis of what has happened to the hospitality industry in general....right?  Right?

[YoloinOhio]

4 hours ago, eball said:

I'm sure Timmah Graham has already posted an update to his story with news of the Pegulas' generosity and donations during this crisis, along with an analysis of what has happened to the hospitality industry in general....right?  Right?

Nope.

 

Mitch Morse donated last week and Kroft is donating as well 

[Mango]

8 hours ago, Joe in Winslow said:

 

Lol 5%. You guys are too much. What this thread is is a little bit of good old fashioned envy.

 

You are welcome to halve it. $25M is still generational wealth gained in interest yearly. Josh Allen and Mitch Morris have donated higher percentages of their net worth than TP to help his own employees. Mark Cuban is paying his employees. Drew Brees is donating $5M. Every other NHL owner is paying their employees. Richard Bronson has announced a 15% executive pay cut and a hold on all executive bonuses.That is the standard. Pegula is not some worldly businessman in the hospitality industry. He owns a restaurant and staffs a hockey arena. He may have financial interests globally, but none of them in hospitality. 

 

12 hours ago, Augie said:

 

I should not have thrown in Bob’s apparently. That seemed to be not clear enough.  Focus on Marriott or Hilton. That is apples and apples. 

 

Rich people owe us nothing beyond what we have agreed upon. I work, you pay. Is there a contract to live by? Go there. If not, the law lays out what is required. IF you get any more than that, it’s a blessing. They gave away a MILLION PLU$ and they should NOT be getting grief. 

 

You don’t have to match the most generous employer to be a good person, especially when you have ZERO idea what the numbers look like. Without a serious deep dive into the books, who knows what this means to different industries and teams? 

 

Do NOT make this emotional. We don’t know enough to judge. I just know hospitality is generally doing $1.2 million LESS than what the Pegulas are doing. 

 

EDIT: Let me ask this: Do we know if the $1.2 mil is more or less than the cost of keeping the staff? When you get an exact answer, please get back to me. Without an answer, please reserve judgment. 

 

. 

 

It is not apples to apples, and the Hilton and Marriott are coming under fire. TP has a restaurant and an NHL arena where he employs maybe a couple hundred people. Hilton employs 170,000 people alone.

 

As much as you want to reserve judgement for saying TP is treating his staff like popo, please refrain from saying he has done anything good other than a $1.2M tax right off rather than pay his staff because you can't prove that either. 

[ngbills]

Brees $5M...

[Augie]

1 hour ago, Mango said:

 

You are welcome to halve it. $25M is still generational wealth gained in interest yearly. Josh Allen and Mitch Morris have donated higher percentages of their net worth than TP to help his own employees. Mark Cuban is paying his employees. Drew Brees is donating $5M. Every other NHL owner is paying their employees. Richard Bronson has announced a 15% executive pay cut and a hold on all executive bonuses.That is the standard. Pegula is not some worldly businessman in the hospitality industry. He owns a restaurant and staffs a hockey arena. He may have financial interests globally, but none of them in hospitality. 

 

 

It is not apples to apples, and the Hilton and Marriott are coming under fire. TP has a restaurant and an NHL arena where he employs maybe a couple hundred people. Hilton employs 170,000 people alone.

 

As much as you want to reserve judgement for saying TP is treating his staff like popo, please refrain from saying he has done anything good other than a $1.2M tax right off rather than pay his staff because you can't prove that either. 

 

Our future daughter-in-law just got furloughed this morning from a major hotel. She’s upset, but she’s dealing with it. She’s not blaming the employer, she knows they can’t pay people to run an empty hotel. They can’t pay her for the conventions she cannot bring in.

 

She’s upset with the situation, but not her employer......because she’s a grown up and she understands the situation. The best she can hope for is to get back to work as soon as possible, at the same place hopefully. 

 

As for the bold, you do realize that he doesn’t get $1.2 million back, right? That is serious money that you seem to be taking lightly. They do something extremely generous, and just can’t win. How about you kick in something? 

 

EDIT: It frequently amazes me how some people A) resent wealthy people and B) want to tell them what to do with their money.

 

Here’s a situation where a guy gives away $1.2 million to help others, and the reaction is that it is just not enough.  Amazing. They have been extremely generous to different causes over the years. I’ll appreciate what they have given, not complain that it’s not enough. 

 

 

.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Augie

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

14 hours ago, Mango said:

Sorry, normally I quote, but I was on my mobile and already started to reply and got lazy. Ha.

 

Nobody expects Bob of Bobs deli to sell his house for his cashier. And nobody is asking Pegula to do that either. If he has a Billion dollars, which he has more, interest is 50M per year at 5%. So if he has 300 employees at the arena, and 100 at 716. Say they’re all making an average of $15 per hour (they don’t) and all work 40 hours per week (they don’t) It would cost him 960k to shut down for a month. Less than 2% of his interest collected. 
 

Instead he gave 1.2M for additional tax deductions on top of the deductions he’ll take for declining business and declining property value (almost every major corporation does this). Plus the tax 57M tax break he gets on the harbor center itself. 
 

The point is, big boys like Mark Cuban in these moments shouldn’t be the exception, they should be the standard. And we should stop pretending like Billionaires are dealing in comprehensible money that any of us can wrap our heads around. On a yearly basis he receives generational wealth in interest. At the very least he could pay out earned PTO with the change he finds in his couch cushion. 

 

My bro just got laid off by the padres... He got his vacation pay at least.  No guarantee they hold his job or anything either. 

[Augie]

18 minutes ago, dneveu said:

 

My bro just got laid off by the padres... He got his vacation pay at least.  No guarantee they hold his job or anything either. 

 

VERY SORRY to hear that. This sucks for everyone. Our future DIL has no guarantees, but hopefully, when things begin to resemble “normal” again, they will appreciate the work she has done and come to her first. I hope the same applies for your brother. 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

1 hour ago, Augie said:

 

VERY SORRY to hear that. This sucks for everyone. Our future DIL has no guarantees, but hopefully, when things begin to resemble “normal” again, they will appreciate the work she has done and come to her first. I hope the same applies for your brother. 

 

I mean - he was in management so i assume they would?  It just makes sense to send an email "hey - if u still want it etc." rather than interview people and spend tons of time.