Canadian Taqueria Offers One Small Taco for One Hour of Labor

 

tacosTilde, a new Canadian taqueria, is currently a bit behind schedule for its intended June opening, what with renovations and all, so it came up with a very clever scheme: crowdsource its labor! So it put out the offer of a lifetime: for every one hour you spend “painting walls,” “painting furniture,” “moving equipment,” and conducting “similar small tasks,” you will receive…one taco.

No, that is not “one hundred tacos” or “one decently-sized box of tacos” or even “one taco and a basket of chips and maybe a margarita.” You shall receive one lonely taco for your hour of labor. (And free coffee, and your photo on their wall, but that’s the restaurant equivalent of having your parents getting you a “personalized” novelty shotglass from a Vegas gift shop.) Considering the average price of a taco is usually less than $5, this is much less than Canada’s generous $11/hr minimum wage. This is technically legal (BARELY), but figuratively stingy.

Also, since Tilde’s tacos are a “contemporary take on tacos,” they’ll probably be those tiny little authentic-ish tacos that fit into the palm of your hand. As one commenter at BlogTO.com pointed out: “In exchange for 3 hours of work you get 3 tacos, which is probably barely even a meal.”

Oh, and those commenters are disappointed in this marketing strategy, which basically asks people to throw away their time in exchange for a taco of indeterminate quality. (Seriously, would you ever eat a taco created by the people who designed this website?)But anyway, the commenters are mad:

I have to say, by offering such a lowball deal, they’re just trying to take advantage of their neighbours. Think about what you do in your own life. The last time I had friends help me move, I treated them to a much nicer meal than 3 tacos!…

Volunteer efforts are usually motivated by some kind of clear feedback loop into the community but this plan literally imposes on the community with very little tangible benefit to anyone but Tilde and possibly those who experience 10 seconds of (yet-to-be-determined) taco delight. It’s a lottery ticket that costs you an hour of time and fume inhaling physical labor.

FUTURE NEWS:
Taco restaurant built by hobos collapses. 6 dead.

Our favorite part is when the owner jumps in the comments section and explained that they threw in the free taco as an afterthought. How nice.

(Also, we hope your restaurant doesn’t fail, person who quit their job as a nuclear engineer to fulfill their dream of opening a taqueria…but it’s probably gonna fail.)

[BlogTO.com]

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com

Filed Under: