If you’re looking to end 2020 with a Nugget Tray or ring in 2020 with Waffle Fries, Chick-fil-A will be open for both. Most Chick-fil-A locations will be open on New Year’s Eve from 6:30 a.m. To 6:00 p.m., while on New Year’s Day, most restaurants will be open from 10:30 a.m. Inside Chick-fil-A. I started boycotting Chick-fil-A long before it became popular—almost nine years ago, actually. That’s when I chose to eat vegetarian. The spark that precipitated my decision was a conversation with a friend who raised a host of ethical reasons not to eat meat in America’s farm-factory system—animal cruelty, greenhouse gas emissions, and public health risks. The appearance guidelines contained in this handbook have been established for the Walt Disney World® Resort and may be changed at any time. Failure of any Cast Member to adhere to these or any subsequently established or modified standards will result in appropriate disciplinary action, not excluding termination. Cast Members, including those.

I started boycotting Chick-fil-A long before it became popular—almost nine years ago, actually.

That’s when I chose to eat vegetarian. The spark that precipitated my decision was a conversation with a friend who raised a host of ethical reasons not to eat meat in America’s farm-factory system—animal cruelty, greenhouse gas emissions, and public health risks.

This isn’t another article to sell you on vegetarianism. It really isn’t even about eating meats or nonmeats, or even about whether you should support a boycott of Chick-fil-A. It’s about pointing out the importance of letting ethics inform consumer decisions.

In the Chick-fil-A battle, fought on the status feeds of Facebook and the hashtag counts of Twitter, I have noticed one argument on which I want to push back. Call it the blowback to the blowback. Many folks are saying not to care about the moral positions of a company, and that the consumer market should never be made to make a moral point. I could not disagree more.

The Chick-fil-A controversy erupted when its CEO, Dan Cathy, citing Biblical values, commented that he personally did not approve of gay marriage. Gay rights activists responded with a call to boycott Chick-fil-A.

The boycott does not seem to have hurt Chick-fil-A in the shortrun. Lovers of Chick-fil-A chicken and opponents of gay marriage have rallied around the restaurant, leading to reports of long lines at many of its locations.

In an Atlantic article, Harvard philosopher Michael Sandell asks what isn’t for sale in our consumer-driven capitalist society. Burn dmg file to usb. Sandell notes that in different places across America you can buy a prison cell upgrade for $90 a night, the services of an Indian surrogate mother for $10,000, and the right to immigrate to the United States for $500,000. Obviously not everyone can purchase these things, but Sandell also points out new ways to make money. You can sell advertising space on your forehead with a tattoo and receive $10,000, fight in Somalia or Afghanistan with a private contractor for $1,000 a day, or serve as a guinea-pig in drug trials for $7,500.

Are we really ok with all these types of transactions and other similar ones? If so, is there any limit on what can be bought and sold in America? Most of us have ethical qualms with child labor, slavery and sex trafficking. Many of us even support ethical interventions in the market for things like a minimum wage. But where do we draw the line between inserting ethical considerations and allowing the free market to work?

Market values, and even market vocabulary, have come to dominate American life. Market values have seeped from the sphere of economics into the fabric of our social and ethical lives. Even our vocabulary reflects this amoral marketplace. We associate free-markets with the ethical judgment of ‘good’ and nonfree markets with the ethical judgment of ‘bad.’ We are now seeing people telling other people to keep their morals out of the marketplace.

But there might be a cost (pun intended) to this market thinking. In the words of Sandell, “sometimes market values crowd out nonmarket values worth caring about.”

In this case, I don’t think it’s fair to boycott a company based on the personal beliefs of its CEOs (Chick-fil-A isn’t practicing discrimination against gay individuals after all), but the gay rights movement is a long-term civil rights campaign and change only happens through adversarial actions like boycotts. As long as it doesn’t alienate more folks than it attracts, more power to the movement.

I’m not that excited about the boycott, but I’ll support it because I support the movement.

Sometimes consumer driven behavior does change the behavior of big powers quite drastically–think of the Montgomery bus boycott. Sometimes it creates new markets and opportunities for people to practice their ideals–think of the growth of the organic and local food industries.

Ultimately, the main reason for practicing responsible consumer behavior–if you have the means to do so–is for yourself. To borrow from Gandhi, happiness is when what you say, what you think and what you do are in harmony. It will cost you more, but if you think, for example, sweat shop labor is wrong, you will be happier if you don’t buy clothes from companies that use sweat-shop labor.

I give major credit to activists who believe that fighting for equality of gay and lesbian individuals in America is more important than market values.

I even give some credit to the folks on the other side, lining up at Chick-fil-A because they believe in so-called Biblical values. I appreciate that they bring something to the marketplace more than just dollars and cents. That’s all the credit I will give them before I start arguing with them that they are wrong, but that’s for another article.

Some things are more important than a delicious piece of chicken.

Companies are profit-maximizers. Only a demand shock can change companies production practices, not an appeal to their moral sentiments.

The first step towards responsible consumer behavior Is to do the hard work of defining your own values and being intentional about your consumer purchases. Don’t let the bigness of the challenge scare you. Start small, maybe with just one type of consumer purchase like dairy or making your home more energy efficient. Buying local whenever possible is a great first step. The second step is to engage others who disagree with an open mind. Changing consumer demand at a critical threshold means persuading others to join you. Preaching doesn’t change minds or hearts.

Ultimately, if we want to create an ethical society that is also prosperous, we must price our values into our consumer decisions while doing the hard work of understanding people with other values and engaging in dialogue.

Update: A reader points out that the boycott isn’t just about the personal beliefs of Chick-fil-A’s CEO, but also about the corporate practice of giving corporate cash to groups opposed to gay marriage. This is certainly more troubling and leads me to support the boycott more enthusiastically.

MLT Alum Adrissha Wimberly knows how to go after what she wants. Her knowledge, along with hard work, diligence and network landed her a coveted position as a Financial Return Consultant at MLT’s partner company, Chick-fil-A. She serves as a financial and operational thought partner to over 130 Chick-fil-A stores in the Atlantic region. We interviewed her to learn more about how she landed this position, her typical schedule and what she loves most about the Chick-fil-A corporate culture.

Tell us what it’s like to be a Financial Return Consultant at Chick-fil-A?

Chick-fil-A has over 2200 restaurants with multiple franchise Owner/Operators within those restaurants. As a Financial Return Consultant, I help Owner/Operators grow their incomes for the long-term health of their business. I bring insights and recommendations from data to Owner/Operators and their teams. The owners are focused on selling chicken everyday, but there are still financial return questions they will have. How are my sales growing? How is the productivity of my team members factoring in to my top line? How do I manage expenses such that I can impact my bottom line? I help them think through those questions.

So over the span of a week, what does your schedule look like?

I call it the “3-to-1” schedule. I travel three weeks out of the month, and I’m home in Atlanta for one week. I have internal staff meetings that are blocked off for most of my Monday and Friday, then, Tuesday through Thursday, I’m on the road in a store or multiple stores, visiting with an Owner/Operator. There are about 130 stores that I support between North Carolina, South Carolina, Southern Virginia and Western Tennessee. It’s awesome because that’s 130 different opportunities to engage with someone new and get to know their leadership style!

How did you first hear about Chick-fil-A and what made you want to join the company?

I heard about the company because Dan Cathy (CEO of Chick-fil-A) came to speak to the Christian Business Association while I was attending business school at Chicago Booth. One of my classmates from Booth, who also happens to be a close friend of mine, ended up joining Chick-fil-A right after school and has been with them ever since. She was a Financial Consultant and I was able to learn about her role and her experiences. Recently, she was promoted to a different area of the business and they were looking to fill her space. So, I tossed my name in the hat and was lucky enough to be able to join!

Chick-fil-a Employee Handbook Pdf

At this stage in my life, after having had such various career opportunities that have all kind of stacked on top of another, I was intentional about finding a particular company like Chick-fil-A. It was also time for me to take a step back from the very aggressive high-paced, high-charged, high cost of living area that I had been in and see what life would be like if I moved to a place where I could plan for the next 10 to 20 years.

What is your favorite thing about Chick-fil-A’s corporate culture?

Chick Fil A Employee Handbook Pdf

I have been in unforgiving work environments. In many finance industry environments, there is little room for error, because it’s the culture. And on the federal government side, you are literally impacting lives in the things that you do.

At Chick-fil-A, people definitely work hard and give it their all but there is a level of grace that surrounds this place. So, if I send an email and there’s a typo in it, I’m not afraid that I’m going to lose my job and people will think I’m incompetent. I’ve been in other places where if you sum a number wrong in real time you just cost someone 30 million dollars. So just being in that spirit of grace is one part of the culture that I really appreciate. I think that it inspires a different type of work ethic when you are able to just breathe in your role.

The second thing that I love about Chick-fil-A’s culture is this constant state of improvement and innovation. The founder, Truett Cathy, started with the chicken sandwich. From this chicken sandwich, the company has continued to innovate in order to provide the best service and the best food to our Customers. There’s always this moment of “okay, that’s how we did it, that’s how we are comfortable doing it, but it doesn’t mean it’s where we have to stay.” There’s an opportunity to improve, revisit and to do again.

What about the perks? Are free chicken sandwiches actually a thing?

Chick-fil-a Employee Login

On an everyday basis, no, I don’t receive free chicken. I can’t walk into any Chick-fil-A restaurant, flash my badge, and they’ll just toss a chicken sandwich across that counter. However, there are two things that happen.

One is that a fully subsidized lunch is provided in our cafe on campus each day. Though chicken sandwiches are typically a part of the daily menu selection, it is not always a Chick-fil-A centered lunch. It could be many different types of cuisine.

Second, every season we offer different promotions that customers will experience in the store. I will get free offer cards that I can share with customers who I meet in my travels. I don’t get to use those offer discount cards on myself, but there is a perk in being able to surprise and delight people who I meet along the way. There is nothing better than seeing someone who has had a hard day, who you’re sitting next to on the plane, and they ask you what you do, and you start to talk, and they’re like “Oh my goodness, I love Chick-fil-A!” Or even better, is when people say “I had this really tough experience when I went into store X Y Z.” And you’re like, “Oh, really? I am sad to hear you didn’t experience our guest standards. Next time you go back, dinner’s on me.”

Other cool perks include an onsite gym and a full wellness center. You can have a full body composition analysis or get a personal trainer. There is a nutritionist on site as well. Chick-fil-A provides perks and benefits so that its staff members feel cared for both professionally and personally.

What factors do you believe are important when looking for a company to work with?

I have found that there will be different priorities at different points in your career. But if there is one important factor I suggest, it is to look for consistent performance review processes that translate into salary growth. It’s also important to look for solid benefit packages. Being in a company where that is part of your experience will prepare you later in life for those tough conversations, and you will understand what a growth rate of salary could look like. I think that is something we overlook or just aren’t even necessarily taught to think about.

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.