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Restaurant workers quit at record rate

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Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#351

Post by heavyset_go »

ac29 wrote: post #326
conductr wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The employers aren’t raising their wages either They are. It takes time but they are. I work in a business that is having a hard time hiring entry level healthcare workers because Walmart and Amazon warehoueses is now paying $15-20/hr when it was only $12 pre-covid. Walmart and Amazon would only raise wages if they truly had a labor supply issue, which they do, we all do.

I'm curious where in the US are healthcare workers getting less than $15/hr and what kind of work it is. Even the sort of jobs that require no certification, no degree, and no experience seem to pay quite a bit more than that.

EMTs make a pittance. Last time I looked it was something like $12-15/hr.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#352

Post by [deleted] »

rollcat wrote: post #296
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.

Where's the line, if a "shitty" job is about the only one you could get, and you can't even afford to stay without one for say, one month?

[deleted]

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#353

Post by pingpongchef »

zipiridu wrote: post #233
WalterBright wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Customer entitlement is out of control It's not just customer entitlement. It's been a steadily rising thing throughout society for my whole life. People are less and less willing to accept responsibility for their choices, and more and more it's always someone else's fault. For example, a person who chose to go $300,000 into debt to go to Columbia film school, where the starting salary upon graduating is $30,000,…

I've changed my mind on this a few times, but I think schools or creditors should have some duty to not give out loans of this magnitude to 17-year olds with little to no financial literacy. The same way that a bank would not give you a huge loan with bad credit. Schools should also be extremely upfront about this type of financial information.

Bankruptcy should help with this but student loans are currently a special case

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#354

Post by watwut »

throwawayboise wrote: post #253
lashloch wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's something amusing to me about the idea of an industry that "used to be" sustainable. Guess it wasn't sustainable after all.

McDonald's and similar jobs used to be an entry level job for teens and college students. When I was 16 I was happy to work there for minimum wage ($3.35/hr at the time). Nobody other than the mangers did it to support a family. It was never understood to be that kind of job. I don't know how we got to the point where a no-skills-required job that anyone with a pulse can learn to do in a few hours suddenly became req…

It used to be that most jobs were easy to learn.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#355

Post by ianbicking »

monkeydust wrote: post #250

Maybe this will lead to adoption of automation in kitchen and front of house? There are a number of startups and concepts in this space and this might be the catalyst for meaningful adoption. Not sure I find it appealing as a guest.

I feel like a company like Sodexo could create some vertically integrated restaurant or delivery service that radically changes the margins and process.

While the result would feel a bit dystopian I suspect I'd still go along as a consumer.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#356

Post by jandrewrogers »

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.

This has been tried many times, you are ignoring the reasons it did not work. The employees hate it because they make less money, forcing the restaurant to go back to tipping. It was effectively a pay cut for employees. It is not wage/revenue neutral because it changes customer behavior.

Generally speaking, Americans are more generous when the money goes to directly to a service person than to a faceless business that sets itself up as a middleman in that relationship.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#357

Post by ozim »

jokoon wrote: post #287
cortesoft wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Except it's hard work, and there will always be a culture of "I pay, I decide, you work". Isn’t that every job, though? In return for money, you do something you wouldn’t do if you weren’t paid?

Sure, except restauration is one of the most obvious form of exploitation, where one works directly for the pleasure and luxury of one other person's desire. Most people know how to prepare food for themselves. I'm not against it, I'm just saying it's an expensive luxury which requires hard work.

Well it is not one other person's desire.

There is bunch of restaurants/joints offering me to buy a burger or buy some food with them. Yes it is more expensive than cooking myself. But no one is making them to offer those. I am not going around making people to bring me food.

Making food for one or two people is not that hard work as I mostly do it for myself or my GF or she is cooking.

Making food for hundreds of people is hard work and it has load of regulations to meet safety - that is why it is expensive. Almost everyone can make food, almost everyone can be a waiter that is why pay is not that great, if someone wants to make more money he can do something that is more complex, like making super good food like celebrity chefs.

If I would like to be nasty (as I am not and I agree it is hard work) I would go with explanation that there is bunch of lazy people who are not willing to learn anything more complex than making food and want to charge extra for that.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#358

Post by anonAndOn »

foobarian wrote: post #154
lamontcg wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

everything about that analysis of the situation is backwards. the problem is the restaurants are seeing fewer customers due to the pandemic so they can't raise wages, while the upper 1/4 or so of the population hasn't been financially impacted by the pandemic and housing and rents have continued to climb. restaurants can't raise prices in this situation and they can't raise wage, which squeezes the workers who are no…

With the SV housing prices what they are, seems like a hourly worker can't possibly afford a reasonable place to raise a family. Maybe they will end up paying restaurant workers a "hazard" wage and treat it like working on an oil rig. Do a tour of duty for a month at a time, go back to family in a not-insane location.

This was already happening with gig workers. I've met several drivers who were sharing a hotel room with a bunch of friends in SF for a week or two to try to earn as much as possible before returning home.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#359

Post by watwut »

bluGill wrote: post #334
yupper32 wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> McDonald's and similar jobs used to be an entry level job for teens and college students. When I was 16 I was happy to work there for minimum wage And who worked the day shift?

Spouses who needed to get out of the house while their other half was at work. They loved going to work with the same friends every day, chatting while cleaning up after the lunch shift... There was enough work to not be bored. There are a lot of people who like having a job, but don't really need the money. Those that need the money move up to management if they can.

Many of those spouses in fact needed money.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#360

Post by 908B64B197 »

daenz wrote: post #92
colinmhayes wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Restaurant work sucks, it's not tipping's fault. I don't work nearly as hard as a software developer compared to when I was a waiter or cook. Software development is lower stress most of the time too.

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 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.

Wait until they learn about passive income and proper usage of leverage!

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