ANDERSON — After receiving backlash on social media over a job posting, Good's Candy Shop has taken down their Facebook page. In an email to WRTV on Friday, owner Randy Good confirmed he has plans to sell his shop. The family-run business will more than likely be sold to someone outside of his family because Good says he doesn't have any family to which he'd be able to sell it.
After the collective outrage of thousands of people was directed at him over his job posting, he says he's gotten some perspective on the situation.
"Perhaps those who said it's time to go are right. Maybe I am out of touch with today's workers," Good said. "I am from a different era. Those who get what we are about and what we do become marvelous employees and go on to be fantastic citizens." He went on to say "maybe the next person will have a better handle on the needs of those I can't seem to reach."
ORIGINAL STORY: Posted Tuesday, May 25, 2021.
Good's Candy Shop, an Anderson staple, is facing backlash for a job posting that the owners shared on the store's Facebook page.
The post has been shared and commented on thousands of times since it was posted on May 20. The vast majority of those commenting believe it to be sexist, unprofessional, and weird.
The post dove extensively into the experience the owner said he has had while employing teenage girls.
For instance, Good wrote he has seen girls do something called "splitting," which he described as a "behavior of girls, young mostly but not always. Usually taught by their mothers."
The post goes on to say "this is the person who talks about others in an attempt to split people apart and feel better about themselves" and that it is "such a common thing among girls. This is where toxicity and drama find their roots."
Randy Good, the owner, says he stands by his post and declined to comment for this story.
"This is an adult man. He's a business owner and he's going on and on like this about teen girls, young girls," Sonya Cooke, founder of Girl Talk Inc., said.
Cooke and Rima Shahid, Women4Change Executive Director, are two women who work for groups that empower and uplift young girls. They say the job posting is reflective of the challenges many teenage girls face when they're trying to get their first job.
"It was narcissistic and sexist and almost coming from an I hate woman point of view," Cooke said.
"I think it's unfortunate, being an adult trying to target minors to perpetuate stereotypes for your own monetary benefit," Shahid said.
Thousands of people on social media agree with them. A vast majority of the comments on the post by Goods Candy Shop were against the owner's generalizations. Many commenters vowed to never spend money there again, calling the post "unprofessional" and saying they wouldn't want their daughters there to work there.
"I think parents have to be very mindful and truly cognizant of who their children are working for," Cooke said.
As teens look for summer jobs, Cooke and Shahid believe parents should help their kids do some research on their potential employer, so they know if it's going to be a good work environment.
"Some of us have had to face this in the past and what we want is to make sure that the next generation is not told to develop a thick skin, the next generation is not stereotyped, not told to be complicit, rather take your talent and hard work somewhere else," Shahid said.
