Peonage in NYC?

While goofing off today [er, researching current events for my classes] I found this little nugget over at The New Yorker. I'm not familiar with the business names or the addresses, but evidently the employees of a rather tony clothing store (Paul Stuart) all like to eat lunch at a particular cafeteria (Dishes) located next door. Er, make that USED to like to eat lunch next door.

See a couple of cashier positions opened up at Paul Stuart and some of the employees recommended a couple of Dishes cashiers for the jobs. Ere long, Avalon and Salma had moved next door:

“It was a smooth transition for both of them, seeing that they already knew everybody. I didn’t even need to give them a tour.” Avalon and Salma turned out to be as good at ringing up paisley socks as they’d been at selling tuna wraps to secretaries.

Now I can see why Dishes wasn't just tickled pink at losing two apparently good employees. Further, I can see how Paul Stuart and Dishes would have different perspectives on Avalon and Salma's career changes. What I can't see, though, is Dishes' vitriolic reaction:

To Moshe Mallul, the co-owner of Dishes, Paul Stuart’s behavior seemed less that of a friendly neighbor than that of an entitled big brother, or even a hostile act of industrial espionage. He suspected poaching. ... Mallul let it be known that his restaurant was not a farm team for the benefit of Paul Stuart recruiters, and the relationship quickly cooled. Lunch hour ceased to be so pleasant.

Okay I might can see how Mr. Mallul might have gotten his feelings hurt, but it gets better. Calm was restored after the president of Paul Stuart promised he'd look "beyond Forty-fifth Street for his future staffing needs" and Mr. Mallul relented and let Paul Stuart employees eat at Dishes again. [Truthfully, though, it's not clear they were ever banned from Dishes, but it does seem they were made to feel unwelcome.]

Again, I can see how Mr. Mallul might have had some ill will toward Paul Stuart, but his attitude toward his employees seems very Middle Ages to me. Were Avalon and Salma his personal property? Why did they leave Dishes and move to Paul Stuart? I'm guessing it's because they felt Paul Stuart was a better job opportunity. Yet Mr. Massul implicitly condemns Paul Stuart for giving his employees a better work opportunity. I didn't realize we were back to the days of feudal lords and serfs.

Maybe I'm reading too much into the spat, but I'm reminded of when I left my last job to come to this one. It really did put my old school in a short-term bind and some big schedule changes had to be made quickly -- one class was just canceled. Not one single person, though, expressed any kind of disapproval to me. To a person, they all congratulated me on landing a more secure and better paying opportunity. Now I know I'm talking about higher ed and not the business world, but I thought that was good of them and I'd have been sorely disappointed in them if they'd acted like the folks at Dishes.

Oh, I almost forgot, but I once served as an "expert witness" in a case similar to this one. My case, though, was even sillier. Nobody actually left the old company to go the new one, but the owner of the old company claimed that just by making job offers to some employees, the owner of the new company had damaged morale and hence productivity at his company. Did I mention that the industry was industrial supply and the timing was during the manufacturing recession of 2001-2002? I didn't have to work real hard for that money.