Rain or Shine Coffee House — Restaurant in Portland

I do not recommend this coffee shop due to the way in which the owners handled their former employees during the COVID-19 crisis.

On or about April 20, 2020, employees of Rain or Shine Coffee (RoSC) received phone calls indicating that the owners wanted to reopen the coffee shop. Employees weren't told any sort of time line or given any details during these calls.

It wasn't until April 24th that the owners mentioned May 1, 2020 as the soft open date. There was no communication from the owners to the employees in between the phone call on 4/20 and the date announcement on 4/24.

On 4/27 there was a zoom call and the employees didn't feel heard or understood by the owners. The zoom meeting was just over an hour long. The owners disregarded and discredited the employees concerns during this meeting. This was only 3 days before the employees were fired/terminated/let go/forced into "voluntary resignations".

The owners are claiming that all but 4 employees demanded to be paid to stay home until June 4th. I seriously doubt anyone demanded to be paid to stay home. So, by the owners claiming employees demanded to get paid to stay home, I don't trust anything these owners say because it's obvious no one demanded to get paid to stay home. This is obviously an attempt on the owners' part to discredit these former employees.

The owners did offer to have former employees clean the store after it was closed as a way to avoid working directly with the public, etc. How many hours can someone really work to clean the store after it's closed for the day? One hour, maybe?

On April 28th, one of the owners made an online post (on slack) indicating they would delay the re-opening.

On April 29th, at 3:56pm, all employees got an email that RoSC would be opening on Saturday, May 2nd and the employees had until 5pm on April 30th to respond. That gave employees 26 hours to respond, not 10 days.

The employees sent a collective letter that same day, 4/29, indicating they wanted to work but wanted to delay the opening until June and wanted to make sure all employees were taken care. The owners ignored this letter instead of negotiating a date that worked for all of them (between May 2nd and June).

It's very important to note that in the 4/29 email from the owners they said "If we do not receive a reply, we will assume you are turning down this offer to return to work and your employment with Rain or Shine Coffee House will be terminated".

They used the word "terminated" not "voluntary resignation".

April 30, at 12:51pm, the owners sent another email indicating the employees had to respond by 5pm that day, indicating the owners would block employees from receiving unemployment if they did not respond. Employers are not legally required to respond to the Department of Employment inquiries. These owners can choose not to take any action regarding these former employees' unemployment benefits. The owners used the unemployment benefits as a pressure point "If you don't come back we have to tell the employment department you voluntarily left".

April 30th was also the first time that the owners indicated that the separation of employees from employers would be considered "volunteer resignation". The owners said "the absence of a response will be considered a voluntary resignation”.

So, again, it's not like the employees had 10 days of full disclosure to make a discussion. They were given about 4 hours to decide if they voluntarily wanted to return in a matter of 1-2 days.

These owners wanted any employee who needed reasonable accommodations for their disabilities to get a doctor's note within 4-5 days (including the weekend). I'm sorry, we're in a crisis right now. Not everyone can get a doctor's note in 4-5 days.

The employees sent another collective letter on 4/30 indicating they wanted to work but the owners seemed to be outside the law on some of their statements. The owner ignored the 4/30 email as well.

I don't believe these owners worked in good faith with...

I’ve been here a few times. The atmosphere was nice to work in, but I’m not coming back due to an extremely rude and confrontational employee. She clocked in as we were packing up to leave. My husband went to get a to-go cup and refill (using the smallest cup available even though we had paid for a medium) with his mug in hand. The employee came over and loudly demanded if he had paid for the coffee in front of everyone. He said he had and asked if there wasn’t free refills, which there is. The employee claimed she hadn’t seen the mug in his hand or that we had paid already since she had “just gotten there.” Then why go out of your way to admonish us in public?

It was clear we had been there for a while, we still had a plate and mug on the table. The employee felt the need to keep loudly reiterating that she didn’t know if he’d paid and then moved the goal posts because he had helped himself to a to-go cup located right next to the drip coffee station. It felt like that the employee had other problems going on and took it out on us and honestly seemed a little racially coded. We will not be coming back. There’s always another coffee shop and I don’t appreciate being accused of stealing or be unnecessarily and rudely confronted by someone on a power trip.

I don’t usually leave bad reviews and I otherwise liked this place but unfortunately one hostile employee can ruin an experience.

Edit for owner’s response:

You say cups by the register, but they are also right by the drip coffee station which is a lot more relevant to the issue here and confusing as to why they are placed there if not to use at the...

Was passing through Portland on the way to Tacoma and my daughter was determined to visit a local coffee shop to get a coffee. So after driving up and down many streets, we found this open coffee shop, which looked very inviting from the outside. However, when both my daughter and I entered the shop...and I am not exaggerating..everyone (and it was a pretty full house) stopped what they were doing and just stared at us. (Now we weren't dressed any differently than anyone else, we came in quietly and weren't even talking and I don't normally get that reaction when I enter an establishment) I literally felt like we had entered a secret club meeting as my daughter felt very negative vibes directed towards us. We ordered our drinks and some went back to what they were doing, but there were still a good many that continued to stare. I really felt like turning to them and stating "I guess you're all wondering why I called you here today." Anyway, the coffee was ok, and I felt very unwelcomed by the guests (the service was very good and the baristas were very kind and friendly) It was just a little spooky. So if you are new in town and it is Sunday afternoon, you just might receive that type of response from the clientele there. But other than that, it looked like a place I...