A peculiar survival story

It's hard to know whether they should be awarded medals for stupidity or paraded in front of a nation as examples of "can do" and "never say die," but we must admit we are amazed and moved by the odd saga of a quartet of Seattle Quiznos workers who refused to abandon their jobs even though the owners disappeared and their last paychecks bounced.

Things started going south in November, store manager Dawna Lentz said, when the owners of the month-old store went AWOL. She wouldn't be more specific. So Lentz, 25, rallied the three other employees who didn't quit when the paychecks stopped coming. Food supplies were bought with cash from the register, as was the special Quiznos bread, which she got from other local franchises.

Wages were also paid with what cash was available, with Lentz carefully tallying each worker's hours and how much he'd been paid (or not) on the back of his worthless last paycheck. "I like working here," said employee James Zambrano, 26, even though he was still owed about $450.
"Everybody gets along like family."

Apparently none of the employees knew how to contact the sandwich chain, but a member of the public did, and Quiznos sent a team in to provide new owners, back wages, and relief help and supplies. The four who wouldn't quit are still employed.

It's sort of a modern Horatio Alger success story except that it displays a shocking lack of understanding of business economics, and considering the economic education of most Americans today it's totally believable. Yet it's happy ending makes up for its logical shortcomings, and you can bet that the four employees just got a cram course in Business Economics 1001 no college prof could duplicate.

Can a movie treatment be far behind?