4 ms·

An article about Milwaukee! Woah. As a former sever of 7 (?) years throughout high-school and college it seems these articles are missing the elephant in the ro

An article about Milwaukee! Woah. As a former sever of 7 (?) years throughout high-school and college it seems these articles are missing the elephant in the room: Restaurant life is hard, thankless and can very much a toxic lifestyle. I worked at 5 restaurants in the city and all of them had their unique workplace culture than ranged from fairly nice to down right exploitation and abuse [1]. Drug use, alcoholism, and often times undercutting your peers so you are scheduled shifts during prime hours just drives morale down. There is high turnover because of these things. Now that you have trouble hiring is more indicative of not wanting to be treated like crap than "restaurant staff won't come back because lazy". It's baffling to me how out of touch these restaurant owners can be when it comes to the question of not being able to retain staff. This comment comes across as resentful; but it's important to highlight the less understood aspects of restaurant culture. Generally, it was fulfilling and left me with valuable skills. But, I'd never dare to go back to that lifestyle. [1]: https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/2017/07/14/water-street-brewery-agrees-settle-class-action-lawsuit-filed-servers-over-wages/480379001/ https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/2017/07/14/wat...

ruffrey 5y ago
Spot on. I worked 5 years in the restaurant business during college. Still have occasional nightmares of getting 4 tables sat at once.
falcolas 5y ago
Every business owner that I’ve talked to in the last few months, who employ low skill labor, are leaning hard on the lazy angle. They're quite happy the unemployment benefits are shutting down soon. I postulate that is correlated to people being forced into these shit jobs so employers can keep their wages low.
- prepend 5y ago
  > I postulate that is correlated to people being forced into these shit jobs so employers can keep their wages low. Of course this is true. Many jobs suck and no one would work them unless they must. If I have the choice of working for a jerk bussing tables for $11/hour for variable 30-40/hours per week to getting $16/hour for 40 hours through unemployment, I will choose not working for more money. That’s rational. Of course I’d also choose not working over $11/hour with the world’s best boss. It’s not revelatory that many work in jobs they don’t like just to make a living, pay for kids, etc etc. Sure not being a jerk is a good move to retain employees but I don’t think it matters in the “work for less money < not work for more money” equation.
schwartzworld 5y ago
I've thought every day this pandemic about exactly how fucked I would be if I were still waiting tables. I didn't leave the industry because of the money or the hours, both of which I liked, but because of the bosses. I've had bosses make fun of my (assumed) religion and hairline during staff meetings in front of the whole team. I've had bosses who were happy to punitively decide who was and wasn't going to make money that day. Managers who hire young women just to sleep with them. One guy wore a gun and flashed it around at work. It's worse if you're a woman. How about not acknowledging your request for an important day off until the night before, then saying no because they forgot to schedule someone else? Every manager I ever had pulled that one. Sorry mom, we'll do your birthday party another day. My longest stint was two years at Legal Seafoods, where every week the schedule came out the day before it was effective, and it changed every week. It's not fun not knowing on Thursday if you have to work Friday morning. I say this as someone who used to love food service until I tired of the abuse: nobody should have to work in that environment.

ruffrey 5y ago

Spot on. I worked 5 years in the restaurant business during college. Still have occasional nightmares of getting 4 tables sat at once.

falcolas 5y ago

Every business owner that I’ve talked to in the last few months, who employ low skill labor, are leaning hard on the lazy angle. They're quite happy the unemployment benefits are shutting down soon. I postulate that is correlated to people being forced into these shit jobs so employers can keep their wages low.

prepend 5y ago
> I postulate that is correlated to people being forced into these shit jobs so employers can keep their wages low. Of course this is true. Many jobs suck and no one would work them unless they must. If I have the choice of working for a jerk bussing tables for $11/hour for variable 30-40/hours per week to getting $16/hour for 40 hours through unemployment, I will choose not working for more money. That’s rational. Of course I’d also choose not working over $11/hour with the world’s best boss. It’s not revelatory that many work in jobs they don’t like just to make a living, pay for kids, etc etc. Sure not being a jerk is a good move to retain employees but I don’t think it matters in the “work for less money < not work for more money” equation.

schwartzworld 5y ago

I've thought every day this pandemic about exactly how fucked I would be if I were still waiting tables. I didn't leave the industry because of the money or the hours, both of which I liked, but because of the bosses. I've had bosses make fun of my (assumed) religion and hairline during staff meetings in front of the whole team. I've had bosses who were happy to punitively decide who was and wasn't going to make money that day. Managers who hire young women just to sleep with them. One guy wore a gun and flashed it around at work. It's worse if you're a woman. How about not acknowledging your request for an important day off until the night before, then saying no because they forgot to schedule someone else? Every manager I ever had pulled that one. Sorry mom, we'll do your birthday party another day. My longest stint was two years at Legal Seafoods, where every week the schedule came out the day before it was effective, and it changed every week. It's not fun not knowing on Thursday if you have to work Friday morning. I say this as someone who used to love food service until I tired of the abuse: nobody should have to work in that environment.