Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm not sure how any private enterprise can compete with that. By paying more, of course.
Private enterprise don't have access to a money printing press.
I don’t see why they’d need to.
Restaurant workers quit at record rate
541–550 of 961 posts
Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate
#542Wages/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…
This and other dysfunction like it are just ordinary run-of-the-mill, well-documented societal effects of the rise of the kind of socio-political order proliferating lately.
It hides - and so persists - deep beneath people's therefore ever-increasing unwillingness to face the reality of the consequences of what they've consented to.
Such self-absorbed puffery is the hallmark of any similar regime, and those "toeing the line", which at the moment - is a large number - are of course puffed-up along with the "upper brass" they've aligned themselves with and dutifully follow, and so reap the benefits reserved for and bestowed upon only those who conform, do what they're told, and further dispense those orders to others they themselves see as subordinate.
It's pathetic to watch, will come crashing down eventually, and as the dust settles, those who were ostracised and persecuted for questioning it, will lead us back. As always.
Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate
#543Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Walmart and Amazon raising wages allows them to exercise their huge scale to further crush their competitors. Sounds like they're in a no win situation. If they don't raise wages: "boo they're paying their workers slave wages!" If they do raise wages: "boo they're using their huge scale to further crush their competitors!"
Amazon/Walmart are capable of raising wages to add more/retain employees. Other smaller business aren't able to adjust as quickly, thus the big box stores take on way more workers. If everyone raised wages at the same time (a la minimum wage increase or otherwise), then Amazon nor Walmart would look like that much of a better place to work, eliminating the "boo they're using their huge scale to further crush their co…
But what would prevent Amazon/Walmart to raise wages even more? That is what they are doing now, right?
Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate
#544Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate
#545Earlier quoted context omitted.
Restaurants by and large are not high revenue businesses. Most small grocers generate more revenue in 1 to 2 months than a restaurant will generate in a year. It seems like restaurant owners in the US turn over often, varying from every few months to 3 years on the outside. Seems like a really stressful industry that can have good margins, but maintaining profitability is hard and consumers are quite fickle.
How is this a justification for paying workers less than a livable wage?
This is not a justification for paying low wages and treating employees like garbage (eg: no notice when the business permanently closes, reshuffling schedules with no notice, poor treatment when on and off shift, etc).
The current restaurant industry is a failing business model that usually harms those involved. The employees, vendors and business owners often end up destitute and with damaged bodies, hence why this industry burnt through people even pre-pandemic.
Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate
#546Earlier quoted context omitted.
Once you learn to cook you won't eat at anything less than the most expensive. It is really hard to enjoy a meal when you are thinking "I could have done this better myself at less cost". Chains and fast food just don't provide the quality I demand for the most part, and even the independents are hit and miss.
> Once you learn to cook you won't eat at anything less than the most expensive. This isn't really true. Restaurants exist to fill a bunch of different needs; experience, novelty, convenience etc. And expense isn't a particularly good predictor of quality. I do agree that once you can cook well you're much less likely to be happy at an overpriced generic version of something... which is right where fast casual and bi…
There's a bunch of foods that are a pain to make, or will make your kitchen smell ...
Plus having different plates for everyone is also super convenient
Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate
#547Would a Costco style membership work for food? Attract better behaved customers, match fixed vs variable expenses better, attract more regular customers. Though you run into restaurants being a terrible industry with too much competition.
you know thats really not a bad idea, although you'd have to get around people not wanting to visit the same place every day. I think it could work for a market-style place (think nice food court) for variety, but you'd still have to solve for having a place that people will want to go to at least twice a week to justify the membership cost.
Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate
#548It's interesting that when labor costs shoot up (and let's be honest, that's what this is, you can get people to take those jobs if you pay enough) it's a 'shortage,' but we don't really call skyrocketing medical costs a 'medicine shortage' or skyrocketing rents and home prices a 'housing shortage.'
Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate
#549Earlier 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…
1) The idea that McDonald’s used to be primarily staffed with students doesn’t carry water. How would the store run during school hours? Students can’t run a store when they need to be in class, someone else has to do that.
2) Have you actually looked back and compared that salary to the cost of living back then? I think you might be surprised how many people could, and were, supporting a family on a job that “anyone with a pulse” could do.
Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate
#550I think some businesses are going out of businesses because they stubbornly refuse to raise their wages. In the vacation community where I live, there are two grocery/delis about a mile apart from each other. One is at a marina, the other is at a beach. They have almost the same business offering. Traditionally, both are fully mobbed during the sunny seasons. Two weeks ago, I visited the one I usually go to -- at the…
> I think some businesses are going out of businesses because they stubbornly refuse to raise their wages I'm skeptical that a business would choose to go out of business rather that give raises. Have you considered that margins are tighter than you think? I know small businesses like that.
It doesn't take much to open a small business. There's a reason many small businesses fail, and often times it is the result of rather foolish decisions and ideals.