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This was not in Canada, it was in the United States at a restaurant that provides table service.
by Grakel 5y ago
This was not in Canada, it was in the United States at a restaurant that provides table service.
- klyrs 5y agoThe business model is spreading, I've encountered it in a few American cities. One reason for its popularity is that it takes a lot less skill and training. You're seeing unskilled servers as a problem, and it sounds like the restaurant didn't capture your full order. That's friction that will eventually drive a change, and business owners will take note of alternative approaches in their industry. The alternative appears to be paying staff a living wage so they'll stick around long enough to gain the skill you find lacking. My money is on cheaper, lower skilled, commodity jobs.
- Grakel 5y agoWe have cafeteria style restaurants like this. It's not going to spread to most American restaurants because we do like being waited on. Even crappy mid level restaurants like Applebee's and Chili's pretend to be classy. But it sure seems like the bottom has fallen out of the labor pool for these jobs, which have always had terrible pay.
- klyrs 5y agoI think one reason we're seeing this change isn't necessarily even about the money°. Teens and young adults are far less interested in acting nice and chipper when they're not feeling it, even for the money. That attitude was visibly increasing in the 90s, and today's kids are being raised by increasingly disaffected parents. Add the ubiquitous distraction of smartphones, and folks (even the waitresses who've been around since non-smokers were relegated to a section) just don't seem have the capacity for attentiveness that they used to. You might like getting waited on, but as supply drops, you might find yourself paying steep premiums and still be disappointed. ° though, income for these jobs seriously lags inflation which is why tips have gone from 10% pre-tax to 25% post-tax in my lifetime