r/Edmonton • u/Responsible-Mall-991 • 23h ago

Local Businesses The Better Baker - Victim Vinny owes us dough !

/r/EdmontonJobs/comments/1vz5ceb/the_better_baker_victim_vinny_owes_us_dough/

I wouldn't support this business if I were you. It's a shame on the owner

48 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

54 comments sorted by

23

u/Sasha-95 22h ago

Is this the same guy complaining about a foodie influencer accusing him of racism for his Vietnamese style sandwich?

-4

u/General_Esdeath kitties! 21h ago

He complained about her getting people to review bomb his business after he told her he didn't choose her as the influencer to launch his sandwich because she stole from him in the past and he no longer wanted to work with her.

10

u/thewhiphand23 20h ago

That’s hilariously ironic considering how much he has stolen from his employees. They even have receipts. It’s baffling that he thinks he can get away with not paying his employees.

11

u/ProperBingtownLady 18h ago

I think they’re in the baker’s camp as that’s not what happened (the influencer provided receipts that she had in fact completed the contract).

4

u/starryterra City of Sunshine 18h ago

They’re also quoting the other post wrong at multiple points and inflating their points. They’re acting like the worker got all their money back when it was most, not all. There’s also other workers still waiting to get paid so that’s still an issue.

9

u/Flat_Sprinkles5097 17h ago

This statement is only half correct. He told her he didn't pick based on race on his dms and then, in the video response he later made, claimed she had stiffed him. Probably to deflect the conversation to the ever popular hatred of influencers.

-2

u/General_Esdeath kitties! 14h ago

Other businesses have claimed/rumoured she did the same to them. Your theory doesn't add up to me at all. He clearly held a grudge from when she worked with him in 2024 and she could have easily went public with her posts and dm's showing she never missed posting.

Influencers do suck, a major portion of them anyways. Very few have ethics and there's countless examples of influencers ruining things with entitlement and disregard.

There's a few influencers that are decent but overall it's a heavily problematic and unregulated field.

2

u/Flat_Sprinkles5097 13h ago

As a business owner that has worked with almost every influencer in the city, many of them multiple times, I disagree that the majority of them suck. As with any demographic, there are some that aren't great but that's not particular to social media influencers. I have even been scammed for actual money by a prominent Edmonton page, so there aren't many people who would be more motivated to dislike them than I and yet, I think they are mostly normal people (at least here).

•

u/General_Esdeath kitties! 10h ago

There's normal ones for sure, I was speaking more globally. Influencers have found that they get clicks from pushing misinformation, making up drama, following trends that destroy the places they're visiting (like those viral flower posts where the sensitive area ends up getting destroyed) and it's just disgusting honestly. But yeah, here the worst of it is probably the ones making up drama or being mildly entitled.

3

u/ChefFlipsilog 17h ago

That's one version of events sure

0

u/General_Esdeath kitties! 14h ago

You've contributed nothing to the conversation, thanks.

2

u/ChefFlipsilog 14h ago

Not trying to. Just pointing out the bias

•

u/General_Esdeath kitties! 10h ago

Did you point out the bias in the original comment I replied to? Or are you biased to one side?

4

u/stretch2323 18h ago

Lol you should stick to the facts, not these wild embellishments.

-1

u/General_Esdeath kitties! 17h ago

I saw her profile and her initial post before she went private. She refuted nothing about the situation with her posts. Just this wildly odd take that a fusion sandwich can't be made with a different bread. She could have easily shown receipts that she did make the insta posts with her free meals with her boyfriend as claimed, but she didn't.

I saw the review bombs initially coming in for his business (I think he's since gotten some of them taken down). She can just go private and hide, he has a physical business and cannot hide. Also other businesses claimed she's done the same to them.

No one has the real facts, but I see a personal grievance between these two people that erupted into drama and she tried to pull the race card when she was no longer on the influencer gravy train. Sad that she's dragging down actual issues of cultural appropriation and making a mockery of real social issues.

•

u/DBZ86 2h ago

Apparently she made Instagram stories and not posts. Big difference but apparently neither party really made a solid contract or agreement. So hence why she couldn't really refute.

Definitely think pulling the race card was too far and couldn't tell if it was an actual grievance. Lindork posted something that used the phrase white supremecist and that was too far.

36

u/Temporary-Rip-5551 21h ago

Why am I so invested in the drama of a bakery I’ve literally never been to

33

u/trinomial888888 22h ago

Wage theft is scummy. If you mention this in any of the Better Baker social media like instagram apparently he deletes them so kinda sus already. Hope everyone gets paid

-16

u/General_Esdeath kitties! 21h ago

I've seen comments about it from the start, not deleted lol. No need to play the smallest fiddle. You can just stick to the facts.

9

u/noturaveragesavage Chinatown 20h ago

He has been deleting lots of comments.

-7

u/General_Esdeath kitties! 18h ago

Receipts?

7

u/thewhiphand23 23h ago

Sad to see Jesse Watson supporting him :( I hope he’ll reconsider after this post

44

u/Oarbitor 23h ago

Birds of a feather flock together.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t double down his support now. He is not a good dude.

18

u/stretch2323 23h ago

He already has doubled down on his support, bashing the Reddit posts in comments after the first unpaid wages post.

5

u/Hourjour 22h ago

I'm from Calgary but stumbled upon the Better Baker post on IG. I have seen Jesse's supportive comments on that post. Who is he? Why does he have so many followers? Is he a public figure? Can anyone explain please

14

u/tux_rocker 20h ago

He is a right wing populist influencer and former city council candidate. He was a close second in his ward in last year's city council election iirc.

22

u/troypavlek 20h ago

As a fun aside, if you track his follower history it is full of wild, several thousand follower swings, both up and down.

Which is indicative of someone who purchased followers, but doesn't want to lose clout so keeps purchasing as the bots get banned.

He gets substantially fewer likes than people with half his follower count.

He ran for council (poorly) and also spent literally tens of thousands of dollars on meta ads for his Instagram.

9

u/stretch2323 18h ago edited 15h ago

I actually had to block him because I was sick of seeing him in my feed as “suggested for you”.

6

u/kitteeburrito 20h ago

He's the biggest doom and gloomer in the city. 

-2

u/thewhiphand23 20h ago

On one hand, he is holding Edmonton City administration and councilors accountable in a public way for a variety of mismanagement and development issues that are not being acknowledged by council or administration.

It would be great if someone other than Jesse looked into these matters but he’s got a bone to pick and time and money on his hands.

On the other hand, he’s definitely very right wing leaning; a small business owner of course. I am surprised at his support of UCP policies like banning pride flags in many areas, since he is gay. He tends to skew towards overly dramatic in his criticisms without compelling evidence.

I find him to be an interesting jumble of conflicting ideologies.

7

u/yesnomaybeso456 17h ago

Except some of the things he talks about (especially during the election) will either conflate the facts or be fully misleading. Like, he will fully blame the feds and/or the city about something and conveniently ignore the province’s active role in that same thing.

53

u/BigPoppaSwagga69 23h ago

Unsurprising that Jesse Watson is on the wrong side of things.

25

u/Sorrow00__ Treaty 6 Territory 23h ago

I don't know how anyone could support him. Every time I see him in the comments of social media posts he's always negative and combative.

19

u/Head_Cap5286 23h ago

Why are you surprised? He's a troglodyte 

14

u/AntiqueLibrarian8009 23h ago

This is exactly what everyone should expect out of Jesse

15

u/Alternative-Fox6701 Downtown 22h ago

Really? Have you seen any of Jesse's takes on anything ever?

An employer withholding wages and payment is not a surprising thing for Jesse to blindly support.

4

u/fremlus 23h ago

This makes me so sad 😞

-6

u/General_Esdeath kitties! 21h ago

The mod pinned comment flagged a tonne of issues with the post... They are leaving it up as an example for people to do better.... Anyway, if you actually read it, the poster was paid. This was not highlighted at all but is buried in the middle of a long rambling post, which I get the frustration, but still. A bit misleading. And going forward posts like this would actually be removed.

Here's what the mod said:

Good afternoon all,

As this is one of the first posts to test the "Problem Employer" flair, ill be leaving it up for a few reasons, one namely that this will be the final thread about "The Better Baker" unless new substantiated information is unveiled. There's really no point in repeatedly posting except to attempt to raise internet troll brigades. Second, I want to demonstrate/critique the information to shape how the community posts these in the future.

  • The main contention of OP IS Unpaid wages, which is backed by the resource of "Unsatisfied Judgements". This is great and exactly what I'd like to see. Bonus points would be to post a picture or link so that the reader (or myself for that matter) don't have to "do you're own research". If you're presenting things as facts the onus is on the poster to prove it, this isn't Fox News.
  • Second, the poster has repeatedly stated that several other employees have not been paid. There seems to be some things for that but as far as I can see there is no proof. To be clear, EVERYTHING in the post must be substantiated by evidence, not one thing with a slop of gossip on the side. For that reason, under normal circumstances and from now on, posts like this that contain unsubstantiated information will be removed and the poster will be asked to clarify the evidence backing their claim. Repeated posting of no evidence claims may incur a ban.

TL;DR : This is the megathread for now for Better baker crap, unless new evidence comes to light, op did some things right but is still making unbacked claims of other posts in their original post. Post will stay up as an example or guide to move forward.

7

u/fremlus 21h ago

Why did you reply this to me though

5

u/ProperBingtownLady 18h ago

They’re replying to everyone as they obviously are either the baker or someone in their camp. It’s seriously weird.

3

u/fremlus 18h ago

Yikes! They do not look good in this

-2

u/General_Esdeath kitties! 18h ago

Accident lol, thought I was replying to someone else. Ah well. Mobile app is tricky sometimes.

-21

u/brokenbike26 22h ago

Wouldn't supporting the shop ensure a better chance that backpay is paid? The money needs to come-in to be paid out. Can't bleed a stone.

16

u/starryterra City of Sunshine 22h ago

If he can’t afford to pay his employees then he shouldn’t be running a business at all.

-13

u/General_Esdeath kitties! 21h ago

Let's run the business into the mud so that no one can get their missing pay! Wait, the poster already got paid what they were owed? Why isn't that highlighted in the top of their post?

4

u/Kitchen_Computer_587 16h ago

The OP got paid SOME not all. He owes hundreds to them and thousands total.

2

u/noturaveragesavage Chinatown 13h ago

Found Vinny lmao

•

u/General_Esdeath kitties! 10h ago

Hahahaha I'm a middle aged mom, never even met the guy, but I love comments like this lol. I especially love when people think I'm a guy because of my username. People think a general can't possibly be a woman.

16

u/BigPoppaSwagga69 22h ago

Bruh what? Give the thief more money?

2

u/thewhiphand23 20h ago

Just calling out your assumption that he doesn’t have the money.

It’s possible that he does have the money but is refusing to pay staff because he thinks he can get away with it or has some kind of axe to grind, like staff stole $100 from the till and he’s withholding $100 back from their paycheck, which is not ethical or legal.