We’ve all seen the sign in the front door or window. HELP WANTED. Nothing unusual, right? Didn’t used to be anyway. What makes it unusual these days is that it hangs in most business’ windows. From retail to restaurant, from associate to janitorial positions, almost every business is looking for help in this, do I dare say, post-pandemic world. I have been in the restaurant industry for my entire working life, 31 years, and I have never encountered ongoing and constant need for capable help for this stretch of time, now over two years. 

The shutdown of 2020 gave people time to rethink their career choices. They evaluated their skill set and took it to another sector of the workforce. The government then subsidized most peoples’ income to where some, especially those of us in the Food and Beverage (F&B) industry were making more money on unemployment than on payroll and said enough of this. Some were just scared off because the pandemic made them feel unsafe in the socialness of the F&B world.  

In the pre-pandemic days, if you worked in a popular restaurant there was a constant stream of applicants coming and going, as well as a tall stack of resumes to consider for most positions. If someone was always late, Fired! If someone was constantly calling in and missing shifts for some amazing reason or another, Fired! If someone simply couldn’t execute the job duties up to standard, Fired!  

Not today though. In today’s restaurant world, the powers that be are holding on to subpar employees simply because there is no one else available. In any case, this is causing restaurants to struggle to keep up the standards that built their reputation or to cut operating hours and limit offerings to avoid the risk of getting a bad rep for serving low-grade dog food and/or providing slow and inadequate service. 

This latest pandemic showed just how fragile the F&B is. Rising food costs, inability to receive consistent product, and slower business is keeping the best employees where they are or has turned them off to this industry completely. My restaurant is currently struggling to find dishwashers. Not a glory job by any means, but most certainly one of the most important. When we are busy and a prep cook or line cook has to jump into the dishpit, food in the service window slows. When a server has to spend extra time trying to help out the kitchen, their tables think they are being ignored.  

So next time when you are out at your favorite feeding trough or watering hole, and your food or drinks are taking longer than you’d like, you don’t need to complain to your server or the manager. They are definitely already aware. Be patient and polite. Wear a smile. And please, please, please, tip your servers generously. 

A mathematical equation has two sides, the problem and the solution. If you are not on one side then you most certainly are on the other.