The Pandemic fallout is a LONG way from over.

Plandemic.

 

This situation really sucks. I hear the same stories over and over, coming from all over. It is not going to change soon. I don't know how, if ever it will get better with the current people in charge...

 

I worked two days for my friend (2 Fridays) He threw in the towel and closed it up. It got down to Him being a server, his wife being hostess and server and me in the kitchen one day a week, when I was not there he was server and cook. Business was not the problem, had no problem filling the dining room up. 1-2 people simply can't wait on 40 tables and one cook no matter how good and fast can run a kitchen to put the orders together. No one wants to go out to eat and have to wait a hour or more for a table and then another hour or more to get their food. Normal staff was Cook, 2 assistant cooks, host/hostess and 4-6 servers. What we could serve efficiently was 12-13 tables and he closed the dining room down to 12 tables but then couldn't meet the general overhead. We were drinking coffee after the last day I worked and he said "I have to just close it down, if I keep trying to run I am going to go bankrupt and if I close it down I am going to go bankrupt, at least closing it down I will have some control over the bankruptcy and not keep adding to the losses." Damn shame is what it is, before this mess he was covering overhead, wages, mortgage on the building and bringing in $60,000ish per year for himself. After a year and half of Covid and no one willing to work for a decent wage, he is dead in the water and done.

 

Crap my plant is hiring regular hourly guys starting around $25/hr and having a hard time filling the jobs.

 

It is beyond pathetic at this point. Since the shut downs and lock downs here in IL the State has LOST 39% of it Restaurant and Hospitality businesses. Most of the ones that survived to this point are running at half capacity or less, cut their hours of operation and reduced their days open. Love them or Hate them our closest Red Lobster has a big sign in the lobby offering a pretty damn good pay package and hours with incentives. Also running at 1/3 capacity because they can't get staff to run at a higher capacity. Don't know about other areas but the servers there knock out great tips friend has worked as a server there for a lot of years and tells me he knocks out 1600-1800 on a good friday and saturday night........ And they can't find servers.

 

We are short one person at the drinking water treatment plant I work at. Have had no applicants, and it is a pretty gravy job overall.

DW

 

Here's an off the wall angle on lack of interest in a job as long as unemployment remains. You suppose maybe the thinking is to recover some of the taxes previously paid?

 

That's a pretty decent thought,, but ,,, I believe its just plain damn lazy.
I'd like to just sit at home to ,, but , to me ,, it just doesn't seem right. I work for myself so I wouldn't get anything anyway.

 

Nobody gets out of bed for less than $25/hr anymore. Time to adjust for (hyper) inflation.

 

At my age ,, I don't work as fast as I used to ,, so when you work on a contracted price ,, the faster you work,, the more you make. So these days ,, I may make less than 25 an hour many times ,, but bringing home some money is better than no money.

 

" A poor man works by the hour, a wealthy man works by the job "
-Ralph Moody

 

Before I retired I would tell the customers they weren't paying for speed, they were paying for knowledge and skill. Good, fast,or cheap...pick two.