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Restaurant workers quit at record rate

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Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#121

Post by danaris »

darth_avocado wrote: post #108
ashtonkem wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps the industry is not sustainable then.

It used to be. When ordering food in a restaurant was a special thing for special occasions. It was expensive to eat out and the workers were compensated for it. Then we got to a place where food was supposed fast, cheap and accessible to everyone at any time. And suddenly you couldn't charge a lot for your food and worker wages stagnated. Sure more people work in the restaurant industry than they ever did before, bu…

I mean...to what extent does this correlate with the nationwide stagnation of real wages?

If your average American working a full-time job can't afford to eat out at high enough prices to keep restaurants afloat while paying decent wages, that sounds like a systemic problem—and we already know that one of those exists here.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#122

Post by refurb »

yepthatsreality wrote: post #4

The restaurant industry has known the solution for a long time but everyone wants to pretend it would be too difficult. Stop the tipping guilt trip placed on the public, raise your prices 20%, and pay your employees a livable wage. The public will still show up to eat in your restaurant.

The folks I’ve talked who were wait staff preferred tips. They made $10/hr ($80 per shift) but could pocket $200 in tips on a good night.

Doubling their rate to $20/hr would be a pay cut.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#123

Post by yurishimo »

Ajay-p wrote: post #70
k33n wrote: post #53

Great servers at high end restaurants are making 100K a year because of tips. Why would they want to make $20 an hour?

I don't agree that "great servers" are making 100K because of tips, but instead it is because of the generalized percentage gratuity. Just because the food was $150 doesn't mean the service was great, and just because the tip was large, doesn't mean the service was good. In my experience only half of the population tips based on percentage, and it's generally those who eat at high end places, or seem to be more afflu…

I know for me personally, I tend to tip a percentage, regardless of the cost of the meal. If I go to a fancy steakhouse and the service is crap, chances are the server is still gonna get $20 out of me.

I came from a food service background though and realize people have bad days, but it does put me in a bit of a conundrum on how to handle truly terrible service. Fortunately for my wallet, I don't frequent those upscale establishments so it's not a problem I think about often.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#124

Post by verall »

mrob wrote: post #47
maerF0x0 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or automate 99% of the business and free these poor souls from a mundane existence. Also, I think we should support them w/ safety net (see basically andrew yang's platform). I don't see anyone screaming about ditch digging jobs or dishwashers saying we should "save those jobs!" . Backhoes and automatic dishwashers have freed people from meaningless work. We should do the same for everything we can. There's a stereot…

There is already an enormous oversupply of art. The struggling artists' real product is something rarer: authenticity. If they did not struggle then they would not be able to produce it.

This is an interesting take, but most of my favorite artists grew up comfortably middle class, because it gave them the time and space to develop their art, compared to people who had to get jobs as teens or watch their little siblings.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#125

Post by hackyhacky »

mrob wrote: post #47
maerF0x0 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or automate 99% of the business and free these poor souls from a mundane existence. Also, I think we should support them w/ safety net (see basically andrew yang's platform). I don't see anyone screaming about ditch digging jobs or dishwashers saying we should "save those jobs!" . Backhoes and automatic dishwashers have freed people from meaningless work. We should do the same for everything we can. There's a stereot…

There is already an enormous oversupply of art. The struggling artists' real product is something rarer: authenticity. If they did not struggle then they would not be able to produce it.

Is suffering the only source of authenticity?

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#127

Post by handrous »

pphysch wrote: post #102
wutbrodo wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what sense did the "American Dream" take a shock in 2020? Iirc, by far the greatest %-age net worth growth in 2020 was among the bottom 50%: greater than the growth in the top 10% or top 1%.

That wealth increase came from acute government intervention and was mostly ephemeral (look at inflation in car/house prices). Outside the West, 2020 represented the decisive death of neoliberalism. No one is looking to America for the future anymore.

> Outside the West, 2020 represented the decisive death of neoliberalism. No one is looking to America for the future anymore.

Interestingly, even America had its only explicitly-anti-neoliberal (in rhetoric, at the very least) President in the last 3+ decades in office at the time. Think what you will of him—I certainly have some thoughts—he was notable for that highly unusual, for a national-level US politician with the backing of a major party, policy stance.

That aspect of that particular phenomenon hasn't received a ton of attention (to be fair, there was a lot of stuff to focus on) so I'm not sure whether it represents any kind of trend, but neoliberal policies are actually fairly unpopular among voters across the board, though very popular among leadership in the two major US political parties for quite some time.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#128

Post by moate »

abaracadab wrote: post #109
daenz wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I knew someone who was mad at their partner because their partner was a software engineer and "didn't work as hard as they do" at a lower skill job, and yet made a lot more money. I'm not sure where this idea comes from that hard work is as valuable/more valuable than skilled work. But it seems to be a pervasive idea.

I have spent thousands of hours honing my software craft outside of work/school hours. I guarantee you most folks working those minimum wage jobs are not doing the same in their field. If they were passionate about it (whether front of house or in the kitchen) they would also hone their craft and work their way out of minimum wage. The problem is that the turnover rate in restaurants is ALREADY very high. Most employ…

Hi there. I went to a 2 year college, spent hours outside of work reading and working on my craft and was still the highest paid line cook at a multi-million dollar restaurant at a WHOPPING 15 dollars an hour in 2016 in New Jersey.

The industry is terrible. If you didn't work in it, your solutions sound a whole hell of a lot like "bootstraps". I think "there should not be such thing as poverty wages" or "if you can't afford to pay people you can't afford to run your business" are better

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#129

Post by shoemakersteve »

mrob wrote: post #47
maerF0x0 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

or automate 99% of the business and free these poor souls from a mundane existence. Also, I think we should support them w/ safety net (see basically andrew yang's platform). I don't see anyone screaming about ditch digging jobs or dishwashers saying we should "save those jobs!" . Backhoes and automatic dishwashers have freed people from meaningless work. We should do the same for everything we can. There's a stereot…

There is already an enormous oversupply of art. The struggling artists' real product is something rarer: authenticity. If they did not struggle then they would not be able to produce it.

Pretty weird take. I guess every classical composer didn't make anything authentic because they were all nobles from rich families.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#130

Post by chomp »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #104
chomp wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people did decide that benefits are better than working yes, but the reality is more complicated than that - https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-restaurant-... I personally know 3 people who left the restaurant industry (1 RNA certification, 1 barbering, and one realtor) last year. I know of one person who spent their time during shutdown working on IT certifications who is currently planning an exi…

This is why furlough schemes (done for ages in Germany, and much of Western Europe during the pandemic) are a good idea.

I don't know about that. I do think it's way way better than helicopter money and PPP loans, but I don't think it'd help this particular issue. Flushing people out of a local maximum (in terms of effort to compensation) will just have them searching for a new local maximum. A lot might find that their old local maximum was one of the least optimal. Furloughing people gives them time to better optimize. Which in my opinion is good for the workers, but I think you'd still see some people hunting around- they just wouldn't have a fire lit under them.
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