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Pay people fair for the overtime and I see no big problem with this? All depends on how you define fair though.

by zulln 8y ago

onion2k 8y ago
Sure, but only if you run your business in a way that means people are able to say no. People will often agree to work unhealthy hours because they fear they'll be let go, or passed over for promotion, if they refuse. Exploiting that fear is very wrong in my opinion. The way the article frames the question doesn't make it clear either way, but personally I'd be very concerned if someone said they could do a job if I paid enough without adding a caveat that they'd also need to consult their staff.
- kaybe 8y ago
  There must be some sort of machine out there than you can rent in sufficient numbers and load the day before.. and maybe make the guests get it themselves (the breakfast will most probably be a buffet anyway since any other setup would be insane).
dsr_ 8y ago
Convention hotels typically have staff 24 hours a day. They pay shift differentials. They can arrange for extra staff for big events. The correct thing to do is for the hotel convention manager to say "I will get you a price for that by tomorrow," and go talk to the banquet manager, who will check: - current price of oranges, and estimated yield and wastage - number of juicing machines needed - number of extra staff needed and come back with a price that reflects the costs, the hotel's desire to make a profit, and their desire to land this particular meeting. Quick estimate: 2 oz of juice per orange, 14 oz glasses, so seven oranges per glass, 700 glasses, that's 4900 oranges. Three oranges to the pound, 1617 pounds. Allow for 10% wastage, 1800 pounds. $1.32 a pound, $2400 for the oranges. A person with a juicer and a knife can process two oranges a minute, that's 2450 person-minutes, we have 120 minutes to do it, so we need 21 extra people. We pay for a full shift minimum, so $15/hour for 8 hours for 21 people is $2520. We have pitchers and glassware already. At no profit the cost is $4920 for your 700 glasses of no-more-than-two-hours old hand-squeezed orange juice, and now the convention manager will look at the total price for your meeting and decide what to price it at -- but $10/glass is entirely plausible.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
  I wonder what the orange juice test response to "No, I can't scrounge up enough staff to fill that order" is. Are logistical impediments acceptable, or should they just increase the price to something astronomical (top pay for onboarding and training new staff) to compensate?
  - jandrese 8y ago
    It's a catering company, they are going to drive down to 7/11 and pick up enough random people milling around out front. If they're lucky they will get minimum wage, but at least it will all be cash.
    - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
      Yeah, I know in this scenario there are ways around - though I'm pretty sure hiring random people on the street is how Project Mayhem succeeded. I was trying to use that as an example for the logistics - if you come to me and ask me "I want a AAA video game" I'm not going go to be able to do that for you as I don't have the resources available.
      - derefr 8y ago
        With an astronomical-enough price, you can afford to hire 10,000 random people, put them all through a college game-development program, and then train the 1% of them that turn out to be good at that particular job into competent game developers. Or maybe use the money as capital to acquire a game studio.
wycy 8y ago
Catering companies aren't exactly known for their good compensation and overtime pay packages.

Pay people fair for the overtime and I see no big problem with this? All depends on how you define fair though.

by zulln 8y ago

Pay people fair for the overtime and I see no big problem with this? All depends on how you define fair though.

Sure, but only if you run your business in a way that means people are able to say no. People will often agree to work unhealthy hours because they fear they'll be let go, or passed over for promotion, if they refuse. Exploiting that fear is very wrong in my opinion. The way the article frames the question doesn't make it clear either way, but personally I'd be very concerned if someone said they could do a job if I paid enough without adding a caveat that they'd also need to consult their staff.

kaybe 8y ago
There must be some sort of machine out there than you can rent in sufficient numbers and load the day before.. and maybe make the guests get it themselves (the breakfast will most probably be a buffet anyway since any other setup would be insane).

dsr_ 8y ago

Convention hotels typically have staff 24 hours a day. They pay shift differentials. They can arrange for extra staff for big events. The correct thing to do is for the hotel convention manager to say "I will get you a price for that by tomorrow," and go talk to the banquet manager, who will check: - current price of oranges, and estimated yield and wastage - number of juicing machines needed - number of extra staff needed and come back with a price that reflects the costs, the hotel's desire to make a profit, and their desire to land this particular meeting. Quick estimate: 2 oz of juice per orange, 14 oz glasses, so seven oranges per glass, 700 glasses, that's 4900 oranges. Three oranges to the pound, 1617 pounds. Allow for 10% wastage, 1800 pounds. $1.32 a pound, $2400 for the oranges. A person with a juicer and a knife can process two oranges a minute, that's 2450 person-minutes, we have 120 minutes to do it, so we need 21 extra people. We pay for a full shift minimum, so $15/hour for 8 hours for 21 people is $2520. We have pitchers and glassware already. At no profit the cost is $4920 for your 700 glasses of no-more-than-two-hours old hand-squeezed orange juice, and now the convention manager will look at the total price for your meeting and decide what to price it at -- but $10/glass is entirely plausible.

SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
I wonder what the orange juice test response to "No, I can't scrounge up enough staff to fill that order" is. Are logistical impediments acceptable, or should they just increase the price to something astronomical (top pay for onboarding and training new staff) to compensate?
- jandrese 8y ago
  It's a catering company, they are going to drive down to 7/11 and pick up enough random people milling around out front. If they're lucky they will get minimum wage, but at least it will all be cash.
  - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
    Yeah, I know in this scenario there are ways around - though I'm pretty sure hiring random people on the street is how Project Mayhem succeeded. I was trying to use that as an example for the logistics - if you come to me and ask me "I want a AAA video game" I'm not going go to be able to do that for you as I don't have the resources available.
    - derefr 8y ago
      With an astronomical-enough price, you can afford to hire 10,000 random people, put them all through a college game-development program, and then train the 1% of them that turn out to be good at that particular job into competent game developers. Or maybe use the money as capital to acquire a game studio.

wycy 8y ago

Catering companies aren't exactly known for their good compensation and overtime pay packages.