Monsters: Those "Nobody Wants to Work" Signs [View all]

[douglas9]

Chances are you’ve seen that sign in the window of some restaurant or coffee shop in your local downtown. Maybe it was written even more nicely:

But the gist is always the same. A local coffee shop or restaurant or fast-food joint can’t be open to serve you, the loyal customer, because people are just too lazy to work.

These businesses are the worst. They could say Now closed on Mondays or New hours: closing at 4 p.m.—that’s cute, almost European. Instead, they blame supposedly lazy workers for not working hours that were probably unsustainable even before the pandemic. They’re putting up a giant advertisement that they are simply crap bosses. It’s not that nobody wants to work. Nobody wants to work for you.

The pandemic has caused Americans of all professions to reevaluate their priorities and how they want to work. Some have learned new skills in quarantine that have led to higher-paying work; others—many who couldn’t have imagined it in February 2020—now find themselves serving as unpaid primary caregivers or homeschool teachers.

The service and hospitality industry is supposedly one of those struggling hardest to find workers—and the likeliest to flaunt one of those dastardly signs. It’s also an industry notorious for its bullying bosses, unstable hours, lack of benefits, and, above all, awful pay. Restaurants are allowed to pay tipped workers (i.e., servers) far below the minimum wage in most states. Over the summer, when I was unemployed, I applied to a handful of restaurants. All had put out desperate hiring pleas, and yet were only offering the tipped minimum: in Maryland, that’s $3.83 an hour. The state minimum wage is $11.75. The same restaurants wanted at least 30 hours of availability a week. No benefits, no health insurance, no 401(k).

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/12/monsters-those-nobody-wants-to-work-signs/