ManJack Creamery resumes operations after Labour controversy
Owner Hezekiah Maddox was captured yesterday, Thursday, August 20 reinstalling a banner advertising his business
While remaining tight-lipped about the controversy surrounding his parlour’s sudden closure early last week, Hezekiah Maddox, owner of Manjack Creamery, is back in business.
On Monday, August 10, Maddox closed down claiming the Labour Department wanted to force them to hire staff outside of its choosing — a non-local.
When questioned about developments since that claim, Maddox told BVI News on Thursday, August 20: “All I am willing to say right now is we have reopened.”
However, he confirmed the business has now hired a local woman and things are going well so far.
“Day-one was fine, we only did a small Facebook post to let everybody know that we are opened and that’s it. No fanfare, no hoopla, no nothing,” he stated.
Patrons helped
In the meantime, Maddox explained that persons such as government consultant Claude Skelton Cline played a part in the company’s reopening.
He said Skelton Cline gave strong encouragement and support since the controversy began unfolding.
“He has been a loyal customer and he knows the value of our product. He enjoys the ice-cream and he has just been encouraging us at first not to close,” Maddox said.
“We have also gotten a lot of encouragement from our customers. They wanted to know when we are going to be reopening. So, thus far, they have shown their appreciation by coming in and by commenting on Facebook and so forth. So we are glad we still have their support,” he added.
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They were probably going to reopen anyway without the help of the patrons.
Listen locals need to boycott this man’s business. He fought to keep us out his business, insulted locals as a whole not just the apparently bad employees logout sent him. I’m sorry but me, as a hard working local would not step foot in any of this man’s businesses.
I wish he’d stayed closed and stuck to his convictions. The government is just bullying him to make a point.
@ Boycott. Yes, we need to send a message to those business owners who believe that Virgin Islands are not suitable for their businesses.
WHAT A JOKE ? ITS A CUSTOM FOR LOCAL TO ONLY STAY AT A MINIMUM WAGE JOB FOR TWO WEEK. MANJACK WILL BE CHANGING EMPLOYEE LIKE NEWSPAPER.
Did he get plannig permission to put a flag banner up which obscures traffics view from the Town & Country planning department, this needs to be moved now.
All local Belongers stay away. Don’t ruin the place for the expats. We would like it to remain clean, friendly and pleasant. Locals destroy everything.
Experience over status you uneducated individual
I still gon support maddox. Instead of trying to target an honest business man recognize the real problem and target that. There is an issue with the work ethic of alot of local persons. I didnt say all or most, alot. Enough so that many business owners can agree and prefer to hire foreigners.
We need to spend the energy trying to understand why that is and address it.
SMH
Notice to all business owners, local an expats alike, do take notice:
You must not expect to denigrate, disrespect, mis-treat the local with disdain and pay him/her next to nothing, emasculate him and her in media and expect the rest of us to support your business.
We, the Belonger are more sophiscated than that. We will quietly boycott your businesses.
Afterall, we are no more, lazy, discourteous untrained, disloyal and other than any other group of people around the globe. shopped i the USA lately?
Hence,the narratives that have been ciculating in media about the Belonger lately about the Belonger by business people have been atrocious and have no place in civilized society, especially in a society where business depend said people to support their business.
Therefore, please stop the hypocrisy or close shop and leave.Let decent rasonable minded non prejudice minded folk come in and ope shop.
To the Arabs and others, you folks need to start spending among the local community and not just among yourselves. For, it is wrong to invest and collect in our community, but spend only among yourselves what you don’t send out of the country.
For a business relationship history that went bad lesson, review the end results between the Indian business community and Idi Amin of Uganda.
Yes, exploitation of people can and do lead to bad results any and every where. Take note.
Please stay out of the US. We have more than enough useless, racist, uneducated blacks. Stay in the BVI, shop in the BVI, spawn your offspring in the BVI, attempt to educate yourself in the BVI, receive your medical attention in the BVI. The superior Belonger has no need for anything or anyone other than themselves so please, please stay out of the US.
Did he hire a local or did his work permit tantrum work?
You mentioned “You must not expect to denigrate, disrespect, mis-treat the local with disdain and pay him/her next to nothing, emasculate him and her in media and expect the rest of us to support your business,” but you did not mention the critical and most important element, EMPLOYMENT.
Many to most of them state emphatically that they refuse to employ a Belonger.The audicity of some of them to set up business in another man’s country and state in public that they will not hire a local. Government must be either in their pocket or asleep.
Well, when any local population become severly disenfranchised enough it usually fights back. And, the backlash is usually not a slap on the wrist.
What is bieng laid down here must be taken very seriously, confronted and resolved, or it will lead to very serious confrontation and war into the future.
The majority of Belongers are not living. But the few thatare here should notbee taken for granted or for fools. Their ancestors built this baby from scratch and we will do so again if need be.
Do not come into our home, try to take what we have built, claim it for your own, turn us into second or third class citizens, reduce us to chattel status and think we will stand idlely by and accept.
So the Belonger has no responsibility to perform properly? The legal minimum wage is $6, is there a special minimum wage for a Belonger worker? If you ever owned or managed a business you would know that you are talking pure F**K. If you think you are too good for a low paying job, then find a higher paying one or start your own business. You cannot force a business to pay you more because you are a Belonger.
You Belongers built nothing. The Brits built it all and then gave you a means (financial sector) to support your lazy, uneducated a**es. The fact is that if expats weren’t employed in the financial sector it would have been gone many many years ago. The only thing that the Belonger has built since the time he became a squatter on this British land was a bench under a tree where he could sit all day long. Take your high and mighty bulls**t and sell it elsewhere. Everyone in and outside the Territory knows the real truth.
Sometimes things that hurts you most, teach you the greatest things in life.
Ha haaa hee heeeee. If only donkey could talk and fool couldn’t know.
Have the day you deserve.
Meanwhile, the educated, knowledgable and knowing Belonger knows better. And there is nothing you can do to change that or take away from his knowledge.
Poor chap.
the person who wrote,”you Belongers built nothing….” be hereto informed of the Belonger authentic, factual and truthful history.
We are direct descendants of the greatest and proudest race who ever peopled the earth; and it is because of the fear of our return to power, in a civiization of our own, that may outshine others, why we are hated and kept down by a jealous and prejudice contemporary race of people who refer itself as white, but who has stolen every thing it has in it possession today, land, minerals, metals, stones, jewelery and other from the original people it met when it first came out of hibernation and found a Black triving and advanced civilization.
Hence, the initial contribution the UK made to the finanial sector in terms of man power is miniscule to what the Black race has contributed to the entire development of the UK, EU, US, AUS, and the list goes on and on.
Therefore, the little feeble minded attempt at discreditting “History, The Greatest Teacher” has failed miserably in the minds of the knowing and knowledgable.
Authentic history, when written by genuine scholars, teaches us all the true facts and truths, not personal prejudices.
Disappointing im still smelling the dirty laundry
What people need to do is treat local workers right and stop looking to hire a modern day indentured servant on work permit who you can treat any way and they wont leave the job.
When you mistreat locals on the job they go home. No flight to catch no upturned life.
That is why they dont like to hire locals because they dont want to treat workers with proper respect some people look at workers and see this $$$ that’s all. Boss translates to master & slayery is done yet some people try their hardest to play the part. They want someone who is afraid of them.
& who ever talking about stay out of the USVI realize its a special relationship for a reason we’ve been linked from donkey days when actions spoke louder than words. Family here family there. And you want to break that up for what now?
Why would the Arabs pay local rip off prices when they can buy for less. An Arab run plaza extra would bring prices down in the BVI.
The other day the minister for Labour gave out some statistics, he said that 60% of the Labour force are on work permits the other 40% are Belongers and work permit exempt workers. Why then are the locals the only ones coming under fire for bad work ethics. It would seem to me that the caliber of workers the BVI imports needs to be looked at. It’s senseless to blame the minority on the one. Stop importing bottom of the barrel Labour so you can pay them what you want, and treat them how you want, and then you can stop harping about how customer service in the VI sucks.
Absolutely correct your stateements are. Indeed the truths to your statements are always over looked in favor of other reasons including the vilifying of the local.
Yes everyone should definitely make it their business not to buy from this man. Absolutely shamefull. The have come back cap in hand asking us for our money. We know of their philosophy. No shame.
Why can’t a local business owner hire whoever, they wish to hire? Why should government dictate who is hired? Did government build the business, make the ice cream and pay the rent? I went to the same shop for ice cream just before this drama and I was told by the person behind the counter, we are not selling ice cream yet. Huh? This person sitting down, and ice cream and plenty of it in plain site . . .
Labour Department always send no-hopers, those who can’t get or keep a job because they don’t like working, go sick all the time (women go sick 2 days a month and you have to pay them). They send people who have a criminal past when they have to handle cash, all the people no one wants. That is because there are a lot, the huge majority of BVIslanders who are really great but they have jobs or will find them by themselves from ads and not from sitting for hours or days in Labour waiting for them to turn down a work permit application for a better-qualified applicant with a good work record.
You notice Labour NEVER turn down work permits from Lawyers and Trust Companies, or K-M*** or B*l*’s they can import who they want MUCH to the detriment of locals. They only attack the small businessman and make them take the no-hoper locals who have been threw a lot of jobs, walk out on them, don’t care about skills, are forever going sick (women 2 days a month every month sometimes and you have to pay), have criminal records sometimes. The good BVIslanders (the majority) have jobs and when they want to change them, they find the jobs and apply for them themselves. But there are lawyers, accountants and nurses here out of work because the English and Jamaicans have taken them.
I was in the S****n store when three local young men bought things and when they left it was Blacks this, gays that (I didn’t think they were gay but so what, they spending money), so when I left they probably cussed me too. They have no respect or involvement in the local community.They just here to skim the cream off the milk.
Brits ain’t built shyte! Take tht crap and dump it back into your ball prjudice head.
So, you can claim that “Belongers built nothing. The Brits built it all and then gave you a means (financial” Those who. know the real history know you talking piis.
@@History. Racist Brit, American and South AFrican. We know it is one of you from your cell of espionage, economic refugee and other who b spouting the racist filth on here.
But do be historicall remided: we, (the Black man and woman) built this racist ass continent of US, UK and SA for free by force, not to mention the millionaires and billionaires we generated/created for the devils from slavery, stolen patents, stolen land, stole resources and on and on and on and on. arenot ashamed of being a white person and comeing on here and spouting hateful racist grabbage?