Last Friday local Kansas City jazz club Jardines closed it's doors and really got a lot of publicity from Fox News. They are running the story on every segment during the day's news broadcasts mostly featuring an interview from local Jazz celebrity Dave Stephens on the circumstances surrounding the closing of Jardine's in Kansas City. I suppose you could say that curiosity is the driving force behind the news coverage, as there is definitely an unsolved mystery afoot here. The sudden closing of the doors, the sudden firing of ALL of the employees, the cancellation of Dave Stephens show on Saturday, and then the note on the door that as of Monday morning read "Closed for repairs". The fact that Beena Johnson (Jardine's Owner) has not returned Fox News' phone calls probably feeds this media fire.
We do have an update today on the Jardine's situation:
A new sign has been hand written and placed on the door saying that they are hiring new staff and will reopen on December 14th. Rumors have surfaced that many of the former staff members have not received their pay and that they were owed back pay before they were let go. Former employees have now come forward and reported that they had been threatened, physically and mentally abused, and were repeatedly paid late, slowly, or not at all for their services. Currently, Jardine's is only taking information via email and according to the note on the door they are asking that new applicants go to the website to apply for a position. It's safe to say that they are currently screening their calls!
Rumors are also floating around that the owner is claiming that she fired the entire staff for theft. Well of course this is hard to swallow - how could all 15 employees who were fired be stealing? I don't think so. It would take a brave and desperate soul to apply for a job with Jardine's under it's current management, if the last week's events aren't warning enough. Jardine's will apparently open it's doors on December 14th and hope for the best. If you are one of the Kansas City jazz bands that is scheduled to perform there, we would suggest getting your money up front!
