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Restaurant workers quit at record rate

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Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#341

Post by dfxm12 »

ericbarrett wrote: post #73

Wages/insurance/tips are an ongoing concern of food service work, but I want to set that aside and talk about the other half of the article. Customer entitlement is out of control and anybody who works with the general public will tell you it’s gotten even worse since the pandemic—and it wasn’t trending in the right direction before. Flight attendants, park rangers, government clerks, the anecdotes are everywhere, in…

I don't know why, but I've seen people becoming more anti-social lately in the past 5 years or so. I've always thought of myself as anti-social, but I wouldn't anymore. As I make an effort these days to be friendly to people I haven't met yet, they don't always reciprocate in kind. So these days, I feel less anti-social, but only because the bar seems to have lowered.

I'm not certain why, but when I was younger, I feel like the tenor of stuff on our screens, message boards, TV, etc. was more positive than it is now. People celebrated stuff they liked more. That definitely still exists today, but more and more people are excited to celebrate a shared hate in something: sports stars (I can't watch shows like First Take on ESPN), reality tv (which seems to mostly revolve around petty conflict), politicians, I even used to use Facebook to find people to go to shows with, but I've since deactivated my account because it's not very social anymore, etc. When the people we look up are famous for being argumentative or being jerks, it makes us think that is what leads to success, or something along those lines.

After realizing this, I've definitely tried to base my relationships on stuff that I like (OK, I allow myself some bashing of the Dallas Cowboys :D ).

A good friend of mine is a doctor ... I’m trying to get him to retire before he gets shot by somebody who was told they’d have to wait 3 days for an appointment.

I'll be honest, the receptionists at my PCP have very poor, whatever the equivalent of bedside manner is for them. When I try to make an appointment, or get a referral, I get thrown around a lot of technical terms that I don't quite understand and they don't seem to have the patience to explain to me what such and such a number is, and who I have to give it to and when. Healthcare in the US is very confusing, and when you're sick or your kid is sick, it's not always easy to deal with all that red tape. I mean, I wish I only had to wait 3 days for an appointment, but it's like, I need to make an appointment weeks in advance, give someone a number, but not too far ahead of my appointment's date, then no one can tell what any of this is going to cost, etc. It is very stressful.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#342

Post by jimmaswell »

ipaddr wrote: post #331
stevejb wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guilt trip? I have never felt this ever. I pay a tip proportional to the service. 10% bad, 15% average, 20-25% for very good. As an American living in Australia, I really do miss tipping. I think that on average the restaurant service here is a lot lower. At most restaurants at the medium level (e.g. $25 hamburgers) you pay in advance, and then a waiter will bring the food to you when its ready. Do you need more wate…

25 dollar hamburgers? That sounds so strange.

Could be AUD but that's still $18. Australia has a high COL.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#343

Post by edmundhuber »

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #157
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 pandemic has had me appreciating home cooking more. I still eat out occasionally, but for health reasons, I prefer the home cooked meal. Pandemic lasted long enough to shift my preferences long-term.

Often tastes better too, tbh. Lots of restaurants overuse salt to make up for lack of flavor.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#344

Post by Arainach »

ac29 wrote: post #316
kop316 wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, should have been more specific! More correctly, they are debating if it's just time to retire now and be grandparents full time rather than risk losing a lot money in the restaurant due to increased prices, then being forced to retire. I assume "closing down the restaurant and retiring" means they will sell the restaurant (or at least the property), but I am not sure to be honest?

Would raising prices 5 or 10% be so catastrophic to revenue that they couldnt even give it a few weeks? Or are they looking at a 50%+ price increase? If they want to retire anyways, then good for them. But a lot of businesses have had to raise prices this year, including grocers, which are arguably restaurants only competition. I think folks would understand.

If raising the prices drives away customers, you have now lost a notable value if you try to sell. Brand perception is (almost) everything. Unless you offer something truly unique or exceptional, you're replaceable in just about every market.

There was a local beer taproom/bottle shop that I frequented a lot for years. Even as craft beer became more prominent and there were more local options, I liked it enough to keep going, but fundamentally there came a point where they raised their prices enough that I started going elsewhere, and once I broke that habit there was never a big reason to go back unless I was meeting someone else there once in a while.

In this case, "enough" was in the 20% range, but given what's happened to food prices lately I don't think 5-10% is a realistic number for a restaraunt either.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#345

Post by acomjean »

dsr_ wrote: post #277
Gortal278 wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not slavery, that's a ridiculously naive and dumb statement. It's a shitty job, but it's not slavery.

There's no inherent reason why it has to be a terrible job, either.

Our cafeteria at work is union. There is something about getting a decent wage which seems to inspire them. The food is really good (the best cafeteria of the 4 I've had at work) and they're quite pleasant.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#346

Post by yesenadam »

stevejb wrote: post #319
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.

Guilt trip? I have never felt this ever. I pay a tip proportional to the service. 10% bad, 15% average, 20-25% for very good. As an American living in Australia, I really do miss tipping. I think that on average the restaurant service here is a lot lower. At most restaurants at the medium level (e.g. $25 hamburgers) you pay in advance, and then a waiter will bring the food to you when its ready. Do you need more wate…

The waiters "don't care" about what?! Things you expect from another country's customs? That is a strange way of thinking. And complaining about a country because you have to ask for sauce if you want it sounds so.. entitled.

Although I'd never pay $25 for a burger. (Sydney here)

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#347

Post by [deleted] »

ericbarrett wrote: post #73

Wages/insurance/tips are an ongoing concern of food service work, but I want to set that aside and talk about the other half of the article. Customer entitlement is out of control and anybody who works with the general public will tell you it’s gotten even worse since the pandemic—and it wasn’t trending in the right direction before. Flight attendants, park rangers, government clerks, the anecdotes are everywhere, in…

[deleted]

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#348

Post by throwmamatrain »

rocgf wrote: post #62
wyager wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, job stress has little to do with being extremely busy in the moment and a lot to do with thinking about far-flung high-leverage consequences of mistakes (will this system crash in the middle of the night 2 weeks from now, costing tons of money and causing someone to call me in a panic?). With something like being a cook, failure feedback is usually pretty immediate, which IMO is nice for stress levels.

Have you ever worked in a kitchen or are you just assuming? I personally haven't worked in a restaurant, but I see how the staff and chefs are always running around, doing 20 things at once. Stimulants use like cocaine and amphetamine is endemic in the industry as well, probably for that reason. As a restaurant worker, the pay is usually terrible as well. So while some super rich corporation won't lose millions off o…

Ex-deli/pizza shop worker here, you can leave it all at the store when you leave. Your slicer will not send you a message at 2am that everything is burning.

For some people, server jobs are a between what they're doing. Especially for artists/filmmakers it's money between the gigs that don't pay. I met tons of people as a barista doing exactly that.

Worked through college, and yes conditions need to be better overall. A concern would be if it's now a FT 40h something or other, it squeezes out people who take 6 months making coffee to get to their next acting gig. Also, barista jobs are a dime a dozen once you make some friends. Very easy to get rehired, people talk.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#349

Post by gruez »

amcoastal wrote: post #113
k33n wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hilarious that this perfectly rational and fact based remark is downvoted. This place has gone full blue anon.

Its hilarious that you don't read the article to realize the comment is wrong. Surprise, confirmation bias strikes again.

>Its hilarious that you don't read the article to realize the comment is wrong

Sure, if you take the article at face value. The key argument seems to be "more than half of hospitality workers who've quit said no amount of pay would get them to return". On the surface that might suggest that people are getting out for non-monetary reasons (ie. not related to pandemic relief), I'm skeptical whether that's actually the case. It's easy to tell yourself and the pollster that "no amount of pay" would make you go back when the government has been paying you unemployment for the last 16 months. When unemployment ends and the bills pile up, I suspect a good chunk of them would eventually go back.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#350

Post by dsr_ »

acomjean wrote: post #345
dsr_ wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no inherent reason why it has to be a terrible job, either.

Our cafeteria at work is union. There is something about getting a decent wage which seems to inspire them. The food is really good (the best cafeteria of the 4 I've had at work) and they're quite pleasant.

If you see the same people every day, it can become natural to treat them as coworkers rather than staff.

Treating people well starts with paying them well, but has to continue with respecting them.

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