# Restaurant staff shortage causes **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 13, 2021, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923 "2021-04-13T20:06:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/61 "2021-04-15T23:21:35Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > I thought self-employed people were currently eligible for unemployment. Am I mistaken? I know some self-employed people. Apparently it wasn’t/isn’t as simple a process as it sounds. A few have gotten unemployment, most I know have not. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/62 "2021-04-16T20:09:01Z")
UI in Arizona is very low (240 week max) and the federal add-ons went away for a while, so I doubt that UI is the reason waitstaff aren’t flocking back to their jobs. I know several ex-waitstaff who did say that when the 600 per week payments were coming through, they didn’t want to go back to work because of the money. When they extra payments went away, they couldn’t live on just the UI and found other jobs. One is making 14 per hour at a McDonalds down the way and loves having a regular schedule. She says she makes about the same and doesn’t have to kiss ass for tips. Another is now a government worker. He is making less, but has great insurance and likes having a regular schedule and paid holidays. Neither of them plan to to back to being waitstaff unless they have to. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/63 "2021-04-16T20:18:16Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I know some self-employed people. Apparently it wasn’t/isn’t as simple a process as it sounds. My sister is self-employed, as a massage therapist. She’d been collecting UI, as it wasn’t possible for her to see clients – my understanding is that she would not have normally been able to, but that the rules were changed due to COVID. (She’s in Wisconsin, FWIW.) ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/64 "2021-04-16T20:20:46Z")
“If you want to make more money, you should stop flipping burgers and go out and better yourself!” (later) “Oh wait, we didn’t actually mean you should do that. Please come back to this shitty low paid job” ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/65 "2021-04-16T23:55:24Z")
Perfect! If they have a harder time getting those employees ( or getting them back ) I’m guessing they’ll not be too keen on the supply & demand theory dictating better compensation or conditions. Oh, they may “know” it in the most abstract academic sense, but deep down it’ll be an angst-ty indignant “_No way in hell should a $%#@& burger flipper get fifteen dollars an hour!_” ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/66 "2021-04-17T00:49:27Z")
In some minds, “supply and demand” only exists as an excuse to jack up prices on needed pharmaceuticals, or on staples during a crisis. It does not apply to labor costs. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/67 "2021-04-17T01:18:54Z")
That too, and to them, supply & demand seems to apply only to labor costs in a more loose labor market. In tighter labor markets, they lobby to change the rules. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/68 "2021-04-17T01:36:14Z")
One of my friinds worked at a snack bar at a large medical complex and found herself out of a job when pandemic hit and they closed the food places and gift shops. Literally a year later to the day she was laid off whatever company owned the snack bar asked her if she wanted to come back to work in the near future, and she turned them down because both there still wasn’t a firm date for coming back and also by this point with her SO already working from home it was cheaper for her to stay home than commute, eat out, get babysitting, etc. than work for $10 an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/69 "2021-04-17T02:00:21Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Well, it is obvious that you really don’t understand at all. Nothing in your post was even close enough to how things work that I have any desire to even start digging into everything that you got wrong in your uninformed assertions and assumptions. > > Anyway, if you don’t want small businesses, that’s fine. They will be replaced with large multinational corporations that can better weather such events. I said nothing about not wanting small businesses. I ran one myself, I technically run one now (although it is largely non-operative), and I’m happy for small businesses to succeed. > [@Ruken](#): > > You wrote about _business structure_ . I responded pointing out that _business structure_ choice involves far more than just “tax avoidance”, which you have not even shown is happening, and your objection is that sole proprietorship businesses aren’t “companies”, a word that neither of us had used until now. Thus your objection is irrelevant and invalid. You’re right. I misremembered your comment and misspoke. I should have read it more closely before I responded. I’m sorry for that. Yes, business structure involves a lot more than tax avoidance. People structure businesses to be able to raise capital, provide liquidity, and minimize liability among other reasons. But, in my experience, the driving factor in business structure decisions is usually minimizing taxes. I’m dropping this tangent because it’s not particularly relevant to the thread. > [@Broomstick](#): > > I know some self-employed people. Apparently it wasn’t/isn’t as simple a process as it sounds. A few have gotten unemployment, most I know have not. I get that impression but I just don’t understand why not. ---
**Author:** ![Yogeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yogeekgirl/32/4129_2.png) [@Yogeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yogeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2021, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/70 "2021-04-17T22:43:46Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > Prior to covid, restaurants would: > > 1. Only work you 39 hours per week so you didn’t get benefits. > 2. Change the schedule weekly or biweekly so you couldn’t get a second job. > 3. Spread the 39 hours over 7 days so shifts were 4-6 hours > 4. Schedule split shifts so you work the lunch and the evening but have to go home without pay for a few hours in the afternoon. > 5. Pay under minimum wage if you get tips > 6. Require you to bring your own bank > 7. Shortages come out of your bank > > The only thing that made it bearable was tips and and you don’t get good tips at 50% capacity or with curbside pickup. If an industry has never guaranteed a decent schedule (in it’s history, not just covid), why would someone potentially screw up unemployment for that? Yes, this. I’ve been intermittently working maybe once a week, and it’s been a year. All this plus think of how many of those laid off employees have a family to look out for(kids= school and daycare they can’t telecommute for) and if there’s no safe way to travel to work, then it doesn’t just become about unemployment benefits, it’s a health hazard. If you live in a place where people are under curfew and it’s not deemed safe due to unrest(for example, Mpls right now)things may be open but you can see how it may be impossible to get anyone to work regularly while that’s happening. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2021, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/71 "2021-04-18T23:59:55Z")
Wow! An NBC reporter in Albuquerque tweeted this about a Sonic who posted signs about no one wanting to work anymore. > ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2021, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/72 "2021-04-19T00:13:23Z")
If only there was some clue as to why nobody wants to work at Sonic… > ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2021, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/73 "2021-04-19T02:10:43Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > The reopening(s) are hell on employees and the unemployment bureaucracy. Laid off for a month. Now can you work two shifts of drive up? Now we’re reopening up half capacity. Now we’re shut down. That part has been underappreciated, as well. Absent some sort of certainty that you go back to a regular full-time income, what’s your motivation to just show up on demand if/when/as needed on an unpredictable basis? > [@Yogeekgirl](#): > > > [@sitchensis](#): > > > > you don’t get good tips at 50% capacity or with curbside pickup. If an industry has never guaranteed a decent schedule (in it’s history, not just covid), why would someone potentially screw up unemployment for that? > > Yes, this. I’ve been intermittently working maybe once a week, and it’s been a year. > > All this plus think of how many of those laid off employees have a family to look out for(kids= school and daycare they can’t telecommute for) and if there’s no safe way to travel to work, then it doesn’t just become about unemployment benefits, it’s a health hazard. If you live in a place where people are under curfew and it’s not deemed safe due to unrest(for example, Mpls right now)things may be open but you can see how it may be impossible to get anyone to work regularly while that’s happening. And intermittent work, that results in on/off unemployment situations, means then that unemployment compensation is itself delayed every time it has to be stopped and restarted, and you end up with more gaps where you’re just not getting paid. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2021, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/74 "2021-04-19T02:22:55Z")
Or, employers could pay more. I know, it’s a really novel concept. Instead of bitching and moaning how folks are not begging for crappy minimum wage jobs with no benefits, maybe change the incentive structure. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2021, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/75 "2021-04-19T02:33:25Z")
Change the incentive structure? It seems that what we’re going to do is gut unemployment to the approval of too many . . . I guess that _is_ a kind of incentive structure change. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2021, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/76 "2021-04-19T08:11:48Z")
Last Friday’s [indicator podcast](https://www.npr.org/2021/04/16/988122645/a-beige-revolution-shaking-up-the-beige-book) mentioned that for many workers there are a lot of problems with inconsistent scheduling, child care, and transportation. All of those were problems pre-COVID, but at least there was more of an option to ask your neighbors to watch your kid for a couple of hours when your boss calls you in for a last minute shift two bus rides away. Now, there’s no bus and your neighbors are quarantining so that’s just not going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2021, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/77 "2021-04-19T17:16:36Z")
Grandparents as well. My wife and I both have professional jobs and resources. The amount of times we would have normally utilized a grandparent over the past year is crazy. We were able to plan for daycare issues and move schedules around, we haven’t had the same “weekend” in a year. It’s the little 1-2 hour things that come up that have been complicated and stressful. Grandparents used to handle a lot for us. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2021, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/78 "2021-04-19T20:43:18Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Wow! An NBC reporter in Albuquerque tweeted this about a Sonic who posted signs about no one wanting to work anymore. It’s also Eighth and Bridge. That’s a crappy part of town when it comes to poverty and, in my experience the one time I ate there, a terrible Sonic. There’s some great food in the area too and probably better owners than a Sonic franchisee. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2021, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/79 "2021-04-19T20:47:20Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > It’s also Eighth and Bridge. That’s a crappy part of town when it comes to poverty and, in my experience the one time I ate there, a terrible Sonic. Isn’t that the area where Combo got shot by that kid on a bike and hookers deliver burgers to the dealers? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2021, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923/80 "2021-04-19T20:51:42Z")
Having actually never watched Breaking Bad I can’t say, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that was the area used for filming. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurant-staff-shortage-causes/939923.md?page=3)