Server Reveals Their Restaurant Won't Hire New People On Purpose Then Complains About Being Short-Staffed, Excusing Bad Service

Do you know how the recent Apple presentation was fundamentally different from similar events from other technology giants? Well, of course, except for the presentation of Vision Pro… That’s right, neither Tim Cook nor his colleagues said almost anything about the hottest topic on the contemporary agenda – AI.

And rightly so, because good staff is still a game changer in almost any business and there are industries in which AI is unlikely to replace people for the foreseeable future. Like restaurants. However, many owners in this business behave as if they are ready to replace their servers with ChatGPT tomorrow. So please read this story from the user u/softestaura soon!

The author of the post works at a restaurant and recently they helped the manager to sift through half a hundred job applications

Image credits: Magnet.me (not the actual image)

Despite many applicants being in fact qualified and experienced servers, nobody was hired, and that confused the author

Image credits: u/softestaura

The author simply suspects that restaurant owners are not willing to hire as ‘being short-staffed’ sounds like a perfect cop-out for bad service

Image credits: Ketut Subiyanto (not the actual image)

Image credits: u/softestaura

Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual image)

Image credits: u/softestaura

Bosses like to repeat the phrase ‘nobody wants to work’, yet it isn’t true, according to the author

So, the Original Poster (OP) works at one fine dining restaurant, and recently helped the manager deal with several dozen applications that came in over the past week. In the author’s own words, most of the candidates were indeed highly qualified, and the restaurant definitely needed staff. And yet, most of the applicants didn’t even make it to the interview stage.

The original poster asks why this is happening and can’t come to any conclusion other than that the restaurant owners are simply skimping on staff. And also because ‘we’re short-staffed’ is actually a great excuse to justify any bad service. Indeed, what can we do when there is a lot of work, and we’re short-staffed, so our people simply do not have enough time to do everything? Just agree, because you, too, perhaps have heard that explanation!

According to the author, $3 is the minimum wage for servers in the state they work in, but the bulk of the income comes in the form of tips. And this, according to the OP, is really frustrating, because, for example, their restaurant, according to some estimates, is averaging over $20K a day in sales. Now multiply that number by 365 days a year and you get a glaring picture of bosses not being willing to fork out on additional staff to help stressed employees.

And besides, according to the author, the thesis ‘nobody wants to work’ is still popular. No, people want to work, but they just need to be given this chance. Otherwise, we will face staffing problems long before AI gets to restaurants and cafes. You may be afraid that artificial intelligence will create serious problems for all of us, but people are already creating enough on their own…

Image credits: On Shot (not the actual image)

In fact, like many other professions, a server job involves extensive training and certification. Suffice it to recall at least the risks of food allergies among customers, which means that the server must be able to respond correctly in such a situation, as well as in many other, often non-standard ones.

According to Zippia career portal experts, it usually takes 2 years of professional experience to become a server, in particular, to master all variety of guest service skills, high volume, customer service, communication and POS systems. “The Certified Professional – Food Safety (CP-FS) certification is most common among servers. This certification is awarded by the National Environmental Health Association,” Zippia states.

“This certification is great to have as it shows an improvement in your competency to perform your role. You can earn this certification at the beginning of your career, as it often doesn’t require a minimum education level and work experience. To become a certified server with Certified Professional – Food Safety (CP-FS), you need to pass the exam. Lucky you – certification doesn’t require more than two years of work experience. Renew certification every 2 years,” experts advise.

In other words, finding a truly experienced, qualified and certified server is really not that easy. However, if the original poster really saw that the credentials of many applicants qualified them to work in their restaurant, but in the end no one was hired – this looks at least a bit weird. Most of the commenters, by the way, agreed with the author of the post, noting that they had happened to visit almost empty restaurants more than once – but still had to wait almost an hour because of no staff.

“In short, they want illegal immigrants… but since they don’t want illegal immigrants here, now they want kids because they’ll be easier to control,” someone in the comments wrote. As you can see, the picture in many ways goes beyond the usual everyday problem, growing into an extensive social issue. So what do you, dear readers, think about all this? Please feel free to share your opinion in the comments below.

People in the comments mostly sided with the author, and even tried to develop the theme into a real big social issue

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