Restaurant workers quit at record rate • Hacker News Board

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#161

Post by moate » Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 6:51 PM UTC

dragontamer wrote: post #152

moate wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP was pointing this out: https://www.advisory.com/en/daily-briefing/2021/02/10/covid-... (IDK about you, but 3 seconds of googling is easier for me than conducting my own personal polling of people I see out and about)

> (IDK about you, but 3 seconds of googling is easier for me than conducting my own personal polling of people I see out and about) Information gathered from the Internet doesn't always match my personal spot-checked polls. I was able to call the BTC peak when I noticed that randoms I'd poll were talking about BTC for example, while the internet was damn sure that BTC would keep going up. When my Bank-teller is able…

What does this have to do with the number of dead cooks?

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#162

Post by devwastaken » Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 6:53 PM UTC

k33n wrote: post #48

devwastaken wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whom are they paying to sit at home?

Currently, tens of millions of people. Or were you looking for a list of names?

Okay, whom? What common factor do they share? Is it a government service?

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#163

Post by gruez » Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 6:54 PM UTC

amcoastal wrote: post #72

didgeoridoo wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm just ran this for my area (Essex County, MA) and it spat out that NO job pays enough on average to have 3 kids (required 130k, max job average 121k for “management”). This seems a bit pessimistic, as I know plenty of people with 3 kids and pretty typical jobs…

Yeah they probably have two income that get pretty close to 130k, or they get government subsidies and credits to make up the difference. Raising kids is extremely expensive but also subsidized heavily, and those are probably not accounted for in the "required salary" from this tool.

>Yeah they probably have two income that get pretty close to 130k

yeah if you check the hourly earning chart, the hourly wage required for a dual earner household with 2 adults and 3 kids is only $32.29/hr.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#164

Post by lashloch » Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 6:54 PM UTC

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…

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

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#165

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg » Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 6:54 PM UTC

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.

Seems like an oversimplification to me. If the owners could simply raise prices by 20% and suffer no economic consequences, I have little doubt they would. Thus, I can only surmise that it is not as simple as that.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#166

Post by lrdswrk00 » Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 6:55 PM UTC

Covid has made me question eating out at all.

It’s trivial to cook something that’s better tasting and healthier than fast food, most cafes. With all the practice in the last year, it’s not hard to come close to my favorite upscale restaurants for 1/4 of the price.

I don’t need to find a recipe, I can “just cook” now.

Eating out seems like an antiquated division of labor given how streamlined procurement (grocery delivery from anywhere), and no commute have made my life.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#167

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 6:55 PM UTC

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.

[deleted]

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#168

Post by gruez » Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 6:55 PM UTC

handrous wrote: post #117

didgeoridoo wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm just ran this for my area (Essex County, MA) and it spat out that NO job pays enough on average to have 3 kids (required 130k, max job average 121k for “management”). This seems a bit pessimistic, as I know plenty of people with 3 kids and pretty typical jobs…

> This seems a bit pessimistic, as I know plenty of people with 3 kids and pretty typical jobs… "Living wage" may include having enough margin to save such that one may retire at something resembling a typical retirement age. If so, it's very easy to under-cut it and still be apparently doing fine, until age 70 when you have to keep working, through illness and pain, as a Wal-Mart greeter. This also means responsible…

>"Living wage" may include having enough margin to save such that one may retire .

Doesn't seem to be.

>[The living wage model] does not provide a financial means for planning for the future through savings and investment or for the purchase of capital assets (e.g., provisions for retirement or home purchases).

https://livingwage.mit.edu/resources/Living-Wage-Users-Guide...

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#169

Post by dragontamer » Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 6:56 PM UTC

moate wrote: post #161

dragontamer wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (IDK about you, but 3 seconds of googling is easier for me than conducting my own personal polling of people I see out and about) Information gathered from the Internet doesn't always match my personal spot-checked polls. I was able to call the BTC peak when I noticed that randoms I'd poll were talking about BTC for example, while the internet was damn sure that BTC would keep going up. When my Bank-teller is able…

What does this have to do with the number of dead cooks?

Well, I guess I haven't really asked around how many cooks have died. Long story short. That's just not a statistic I've personally gathered (and such a statistic would be socially awkward to discuss).

A lot of what I was talking about in the top comments were just the anecdotes that I could personally verify with these spot-checks.

Waiters / Barbers / etc. etc. _ARE_ afraid of dying. Not necessarily the ones serving you, but their former coworkers aren't coming back because of the fear. Maybe dead-cooks have something to do with it. But I can say for sure that front-line workers are willing to talk about their fears (or their viewpoint on the fears of their former coworkers).

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#170

Post by nunez » Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 6:57 PM UTC

WhompingWindows wrote: post #93

I go to a breakfast shop a lot, they lost around 1/2 of their staff permanently due to COVID, It majorly jostled the restaurant sector around here. I asked the owner, "Well, why'd they leave?". He claims "They're getting more on unemployment than if they worked." Well, why is that the case? Don't you provide them with enough to live on? If they're getting $500 a week from unemployment, that would mean you're paying p…

just remember that _you_, presumably a tech worker making great money, would easily pay $10 instead of $5. Many others are extremely price-elastic and will literally give up years of patronage for Denny's or something with a move like this.

One could argue that they could market to a higher-earning clientele, but that might not exist where you are, and they'd still have to pay to (maybe) earn that market.

it's a huge catch 22.

i feel like i should add that I usually tip 50-100% (since COVID started) regardless of service and want to see restaurant workers paid much better across the board. tips are not commissions.