# How do you feel when you go to restaurants that are "short staffed"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 6, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553 "2025-07-06T02:18:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/21 "2025-07-07T11:18:42Z")
True. But I also don’t see a lot of awareness on the part of the price-and-only-price shoppers that they understand what they’re giving up. They too grumble about bad carts, insufficient checkers, etc. It’s a conundrum for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/22 "2025-07-07T11:31:23Z")
Sometimes it’s truly a case of you-get-what-you-pay-for. Other times [the vampires got their fangs in](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_private_equity_owned_companies_that_have_filed_for_bankruptcy) ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/23 "2025-07-07T11:36:58Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The self-serve stands at my brand of grocery store are all designed for just one hand basket of groceries to be scanned leading to two or three bags tops Most likely the same brand of store I shop at. I tend to go several times a week, and I bring one reusable shopping bag. I collect my stuff in the bag while shopping. I take items out one at a time as I scan them, and put them in the collection area. Once my bag is empty, I pay and re-bag the groceries. My pain point is that they have three sets of plastic bags/holders taking up most of the space, so there is not much room for my groceries to sit before I finish. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/24 "2025-07-07T11:42:15Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > I’d never go to Popeye’s in a hurry or bad mood. But I do crave Popeye’s so I wait till I have 90 minutes to kill, grit my teeth, and hope at least the food is good this time. Exactly my experience with Popeye’s. It’s always a roll of the dice there how long it will take and whether you’ll get Good Popeyes or Meh Popeyes. I took my daughters there a year ago for the first time. We ordered online and got a pickup time about 45 minutes later. When we got there, we still had to wait another half hour and my daughters were like “why isn’t our food ready? We ordered online and got a pickup time” and I had to explain “welcome to Popeye’s—at least in this neighborhood.” Turned out to be a Good Popeyes day as far as the food was concerned, so nobody really minded in the end. But that’s just how that chain is around me. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/25 "2025-07-07T12:57:42Z")
Good bet. Publix is everywhere down here and their only competition, Winn-Dixie, is being steadily killed off now that Aldi bought it. I can hardy wait to see what happens to Publix prices when they have a total monopoly on grocery sales in FL. At least Publix now has self-check. It was not very long ago that they did not. At least not at the several stores near me. For your use case I’d use their plastic rectangular basket to collect my goods, then I can bag directly from there into my re-usable bag as each item is scanned. No double-handling. Of course if you’re fussy about the order things go into your bag(s) or basket(s), you sort of need to lay them all out on the too-small shelf so stuff that starts out on the bottom ends up on the bottom. With the exception of eggs, I’ve never cared in the slightest what order things go into my cart, nor what gets bagged with what. It’s all a big undifferentiated pile until it gets put away at home. And somehow I don’t routinely end up with smashed [whatevers]. Yet another thing about me that my ex-wife found far beyond intolerable. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/26 "2025-07-07T14:23:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Of course if you’re fussy about the order things go into your bag(s) or basket(s), you sort of need to lay them all out on the too-small shelf so stuff that starts out on the bottom ends up on the bottom. With the exception of eggs, I’ve never cared in the slightest what order things go into my cart, nor what gets bagged with what. You have an apartment / condo. I have a house, with three floors. The ‘store’ (pantry) us in the basement, along with the full-sized freezer. One (or two) bags gets ALL the cold stuff/perishables that gets unpacked first, while I pack other bags based on where they will be stored in the house. Most ‘middle aisle’ stuff goes into the basement but any immediate replacement or certain other things get stored in the kitchen, while personnel hygiene items go upstairs. Delicate/squishable items (bread) go on top of the bag going to the kitchen. If I’m doing a full shopping, I lay stuff out on the conveyor belt in the order I want them at the other end to pack, this includes heavier things (cans/jars) right after the cold stuff so they go on the bottom of their bag. _Hopefully_ the cashier scans what’s closest to them but sometimes…Grrrr! ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/27 "2025-07-07T18:30:26Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > What I think when I see a restaurant understaffed is management has failed somehow. Maybe they’ve created an unfriendly work environment, maybe they don’t pay enough, maybe they forgot to schedule enough people. I don’t really know what it might be, but odds are good management screwed something up. That’s pretty much how I feel about it too. I often get the impression from the way the employees act, that management is being stubborn about raising wages because they aren’t willing to pay more and would rather wring more out of the people they have left. That’s 100% of what grocery stores are facing; they’re unwilling to pay what people want to run a checkout, so they’re trying to find ways to get by without them. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > We collectively don’t get the customer service we collectively want; we collectively get the customer service we collectively demand. And 1% Karens with 99% sheep isn’t going to work; both approaches are failures. I remember in business school that a variant of the Pareto principle was in play; usually 80% of customer service issues are from 20% of the customers, and it’s the _same_ customers. And furthermore, it actually behooves you to actively drive those customers to your competition to plague them with the customer service issues instead of you. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/28 "2025-07-07T18:40:03Z")
I went to a bar & grill. Most of the staff hadn’t shown up. And, I noticed cleaning issues. And then, I noticed the Ants. I’ll never go back. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/29 "2025-07-07T18:43:26Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > But I also don’t see a lot of awareness on the part of the price-and-only-price shoppers that they understand what they’re giving up. They too grumble about bad carts, insufficient checkers, etc. I’m not talking about discount places. I’m talking about reasonably higher to middle of the road places which have gotten cheapened into being not much better than cheap places. This has happened all over - think airlines. Think Macy’s which used to be if not top tier at least above Penneys and Target but went downhill. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Exactly my experience with Popeye’s. Mine too. I like Popeye’s (though they have eliminated some of my favorites) but the place near me is such a mess I seldom go. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > For your use case I’d use their plastic rectangular basket to collect my goods, then I can bag directly from there into my re-usable bag as each item is scanned. In my store they measure the weight of what is on the place where you put scanned items, and if I put my bags on there it will beep at me. If you take stuff off too soon it will beep at me. For more than a few groceries my wife monitors them and pays, and I bag. I much prefer to do it myself. In grad school I worked on a problem that was equivalent to the bin packing problem, so I’m an expert. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/30 "2025-07-07T19:05:33Z")
> [@bump](#): > > That’s pretty much how I feel about it too. I often get the impression from the way the employees act, that management is being stubborn about raising wages because they aren’t willing to pay more and would rather wring more out of the people they have left. “Nobody wants to work anymore!” is the battle cry of the small business owner who doesn’t want to pay their employees a decent wage. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Exactly my experience with Popeye’s. It’s always a roll of the dice there how long it will take and whether you’ll get Good Popeyes or Meh Popeyes. The entire purpose of a fast food restaurant is that you’ll get the same experience no matter which location you choose, so it’s amazing how different they can actually be. Here in the greater Little Rock area, the Popeye’s by my house and the one downtown are great. But if you went to the one on University or in North Little Rock, the experience is very, very different. Again, I blame management. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/31 "2025-07-07T19:10:02Z")
I’ve found that even the same fast food location will vary wildly. Yeah, I know it _shouldn’t_, but it does. There was a time when one of my kids were in preschool and I would drop her off and then my wife at work, and 3 days out of the week we’d stop by the McDonald’s to get some coffee and a Sausage McMuffin off the value menu. I began rating them to amuse myself every day, and they’d range from 4/10 to 10/10 to how I like them. There’s a lot more variability if you get food-geeky like me and pay close attention instead of just shoving calories down your gob. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/32 "2025-07-07T19:12:18Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > > [@jnglmassiv](#): > > > > I’d never go to Popeye’s in a hurry or bad mood. But I do crave Popeye’s so I wait till I have 90 minutes to kill, grit my teeth, and hope at least the food is good this time. > > We ordered online and got a pickup time about 45 minutes later. When we got there, we still had to wait another half hour and my daughters were like “why isn’t our food ready? Seriously? I have Popeye’s _maybe_ once a year, probably not that often but aren’t they supposed to be **fast** food? WTH is taking so long to get food there; do they have just _one_ person working all of the roles (cashier, drive-thru, cook, packaging & cleaning/restocking)? I’ve never had an issue in the handful of times I’ve been to one. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/33 "2025-07-07T19:50:19Z")
Speaking to restaurants only, I’ve seen the issue at both ends of the chain. The first was a high end place, where I’d scheduled an expensive dinner/date night with the wife - and of course, it turns out that night was the night the staff was doing a partial shut-out due to arguments with the management. So it ended up slow, with various management and other non-server staff pressed into service, and a few half-hearted apologies (mostly shade being thrown at servers) with the food being served very late, and in some cases, nearly cold. We needless to say, did not go back, and yes, they closed for good a few months later. No way to know in advance. If it happens at a fast casual or lower expense option, I just walk away. There’s very little at that scale I can’t find something else equivalent, and it’s not worth my time or money for a huge delay. And in most cases, if it happens a second time, well, I’m not going back there - it’s a sign that whether due to costs or mismanagement, they’re not likely to recover to a level I’m willing to tolerate. I will give kudos though to some restaurants that will voluntarily stop taking DoorDash/etc. orders when they don’t have the staff to handle them. They’ll just finish the ones they have rather than further delay or backlog orders they can’t handle. Of course the flip side of that, is I know a few that have gone nearly entirely that route, shrinking or closing their dining experience, and it almost always results in a noticeable drop in quality without the feedback of in-house diners. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/34 "2025-07-07T20:11:15Z")
I don’t eat out too much. I don’t fuss, just roll with it. I’m happy to not be cooking, serving or cleaning up after. For grocery stores, I use the self checkout. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/35 "2025-07-07T20:29:48Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > It’s irritating enough when it’s McD’s drive-thru. It’s worse if it’s a nice place that I really look forward to. What I find odd is that most fast food places do a really good job with customer service. Other than already mentioned Popeye’s and Burger King, which are hit and miss, I’ve never had a problem with other fast food. Whether it’s McDonald’s, KFC, Domino’s, Whataburger, Little Caesar’s, etc., the customer service at fast food places is almost always good. It’s the middle to high end sit down restaurants where I’ve most noticed staff shortages. > [@Tzigone](#): > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > We collectively don’t get the customer service we collectively want; we collectively get the customer service we collectively demand. And 1% Karens with 99% sheep isn’t going to work; both approaches are failures. > > You can absolutely demand it - but you have to be willing to pay more. That’s what it comes down to. It’s not that people are “sheep” - it’s that some choose price point above all else. It is unreasonable to expect the same price for great buggies and all aisles with cashiers as for crap buggies and 1/0 cashiers and a bunch of self-checkouts. You get either more service or lower prices. People overwhelmingly choose lower prices. > > I don’t like (and rarely choose) self-checkouts myself, but I don’t act like I’m “doing their work for them” when I have also seen the general (and expected) trend that places with more service have higher prices. Every customer gets to choose the business with segment/style that best meets their priorities. With supermarkets I find it mostly depends on the chain rather than the location. The two most frequently found here in Texas are H-E-B and Walmart. H-E-Bs all provide a good shopping experience, whether in the rich neighborhoods or poor neighborhoods of a big city or in a small town. Walmarts are the opposite. It doesn’t matter where they are located, or what time or day of the week one goes, there is only one or two open lanes in the whole store and the self checkout has no one available to help should a problem arise. I can only assume that how much they pay their workers is the difference. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/36 "2025-07-07T21:36:29Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > The two most frequently found here in Texas are H-E-B and Walmart. H-E-Bs all provide a good shopping experience, whether in the rich neighborhoods or poor neighborhoods of a big city or in a small town. Yeah. I don’t live in Texas so I only get to shop at HEB if I’m visiting my sister. But man, they are just about the best supermarkets I’ve even shopped in. Really good service, huge stock, low-ish prices, and they have a lot of very good quality HEB brand “generic” stuff. Plus, they seem to actually help out the communities they’re in. Like, if there is a big weather event or something people look for help more from their local HEB than from the government. I sure wish we had something like that up here San Franseeesco. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553/37 "2025-07-07T23:16:14Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Seriously? … WTH is taking so long to get food there; Yes. You’ll have plenty of time to wonder about that and more after you place your order. Best to anticipate and manage the expectations. Bring a book or Gameboy and mouthguard for the teethgrit. With that said, my last visit to Popeye’s in May was without service issues and the Ghost pepper wings were A+ so it’s possible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-when-you-go-to-restaurants-that-are-short-staffed/1020553.md?page=1)