Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Restaurant workers quit at record rate

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 961 posts

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#241

Post by himinlomax »

moate wrote: post #115

Good. Here's my story from the industry I was a part of for a better part of a decade: One time while I was a line cook, I was cleaning a meat slicer and sliced 3/4ths of the way through the tip of my thumb (just the meaty part at the end, not bone or anything). I realized I had 2 options: Leave work, go to the ER, miss my shift/pay, and incur a bunch of medical debt I could barely afford OR; leave work, go to the CV…

This is the most incredible thing about the US. Employers should be responsible for workplace safety and pay for it.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#242

Post by huehehue »

Andrex wrote: post #188
jlarocco wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then maybe restaurants aren't a viable business? I know it sounds crazy because we've had them for so long, but maybe it's not sustainable to have so many of them? In any case, this seems like a great area to let the market figure it out. If restaurants go out of business the owners and employees will find something else to do.

> In any case, this seems like a great area to let the market figure it out. If restaurants go out of business the owners and employees will find something else to do. I'm not sure more corporate concentration would be a better situation.

Your tone is quasi-facetious, but you do not realize that Taco Bell was the only restaurant to survive the Franchise Wars, so...now all restaurants are Taco Bell.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#243

Post by i_love_music »

oramit wrote: post #135
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 think there has been a general rise in selfish behavior now that pandemic restrictions are being lifted. You have people who never took the pandemic seriously and now that things are back open, but are not the same, they are lashing out. That's one part of this. I also think you have another camp, which I'll admit to being a member of. I did everything I was supposed to do. I stayed at home, used masks everywhere,…

I really appreciate the honesty in your comment. I can relate to it closely and have had the same thought.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#244

Post by throwaway5752 »

Why wouldn't they?

Customers have lost their minds. The notion that "the customer is always right" has combined with what can only be described as a mass-psychosis among a population of patrons. The level of behavior among these customers is borderline criminal in terms of attacking staff and restaurant property. Why deal with that for minimum wage?

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#245

Post by RyJones »

WalterBright wrote: post #178
sethammons wrote: post #11

> rude customers, whose abuses restaurant staff are often forced to tolerate Service workers in general, I'd love it if more managers and companies would support front line workers in refusing service. The customer is not always right. People should not have to put up with literal abuse. The Alamo Drafthouse theater is famously known for kicking someone out who was using their cell phone and other customers appreciat…

On the other hand, for those who go out of their way to be nice to service workers, it's fun.

Yup. It's nice being able to get a table when there aren't any open; be nice, and people are nice.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#246

Post by agentwiggles »

ceejayoz wrote: post #151
janitor61 wrote: post #142

Why not bring back the Automat to take the increasingly-rude public out of the equation?

Isn't that basically what online restaurant pickup ordering is? If I order from Chipotle via the app, I don't have to interact with a human at all unless there's an issue with the food. There's a bag on the rack for me to grab.

You don't even necessarily have to interact with a human if there _is_ an issue. The Chipotle app which I use to order has a support chat (which I'm pretty sure is automated). If I'm missing an item or have pretty much any issue, they issue a refund for that item, no questions asked. Pretty crazy. (Also very convenient, and shockingly pro-consumer).

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#247

Post by gnicholas »

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.

> Stop the tipping guilt trip placed on the public, raise your prices 20%, and pay your employees a livable wage.

FYI, one of the reasons restaurants don't do this is the tax impacts. When someone tips 20%, there is no sales tax assessed on the tip — the full 20% goes to the worker. If you increase prices by 20%, that is subject to a sales tax (roughly 10% where I live), which amounts to a 1%-2% increase in the total price.

On top of that, moving tips to wages results in more income and payroll taxes being taken out (most workers do not fully report all of their tips, which saves them both income and payroll taxes).

It might not seem like a lot — just a couple percent here and there — but restaurants have pretty thin margins.

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#248

Post by brutal_chaos_ »

gruez wrote: post #217
andechs wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walmart and Amazon raising wages allows them to exercise their huge scale to further crush their competitors. With their huge efficiencies of scale and deep cash reserves, they are better able to offer higher wages than competitors. During the pandemic, both Walmart and Amazon have seen huge growth. They can continue this growth post-pandemic by squeezing their competitors on wages, and eventually emerging with less…

> 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 competitors."

Re: Restaurant workers quit at record rate

#249

Post by qubidt »

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.

Except the measurement of "skill" that accounts for the income disparity is not so much "lower skill" vs "higher skill" but more "expensive skill" vs "cheap skill". I could spend the same amount of time and effort training in culinary arts and not approach the income I make writing software. That difference isn't "amount of work" or "amount of skill" but just the market price of said skills.
Post reply on HN