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Comment by Bradlinc | Hacker News Reader

I own two restaurants and several years ago ate out at upscale restaurants four times a week. One thing the article doesn't touch on is that the labor shortage has decreased the quality of service, which makes it less desirable to eat out. I have gone to several restaurants where the employees are on AirPods (one employee was even listening as they served me.) Many of the best servers and bartenders I know left the profession during the pandemic and have not come back. One may wonder if this due to the lack of pay keeping up with inflation but the team I have makes $35 to $42 an hour, which is up substantially from before the pandemic.

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Two things:

* Having AirPods in doesn't mean not listening. I just wear mine and have them on transparent. For particularly loud settings I use live listen.

* I would love if my server was allowed creature comforts like being able to listen to music or podcasts. Working in a restaurant that has the same 20 terrible songs on repeat is miserable. Service jobs are miserable, people suck, the less "masking" the employees do the better.

If the cost of labor is too high just get rid of the labor. It will be a hit with young people. The last thing I want is having someone waiting on me, if people weren't already used to it we wouldn't invented it again because it's weird. The best restaurant experiences I've had are seat yourself, get your own drinks, order on the website from the QR code at the table, and pick up your food from the window.

It's why "food halls" are doing so well.

It's about the impression they make. To earn good tips, servers should be 100% focused and attentive to their customers. AirPods, even if not in use, imply that they are not paying full attention.

I would rather go the opposite route and adopt the model in Japan and other countries so we can finally be rid of tips. Restaurants all over the world exist without tips. The US is not a special case

I don't care about the staff asking me how my day is. I don't care how their day is going. I don't care about how "attentive" the staff is. I don't care if the staff has AirPods in. Replace the check ins with a call button. Familiarity with the menu for questions is all the interaction needed. Wait staff can be reduced, since they are just hanging out in the back unless called or serving food.

We can get rid of pretending the restaurant under paying the wait staff is the diners problem to be made up for with tips, because they need to employ people to talk to you while you're eating.

Extremely high end Michelin star places don't really have check ins, they just monitor you and do their explainers while they serve you. That is nice service, but most restaurants aren't at that level at all, and the prices at a Michelin place are so high that there is no need for a tip for the service.

Absolutely, there is a balance between attentiveness and just being annoying. Good servers know the difference, and seem to be there when you need them and don't bother you when you don't.

Look, this is true from the server side because people suck and use eating out as an excuse to decide whether someone deserves to make minimum wage based on their "performance" but on the tipper side I could not give two shits. As long as I get the food you get 25%. Same with Uber. I think it's gross to make someone dance for their supper. If I want to pay someone to give me attention and make me feel good I'll buy a different service.

I don't think it's about the money.

Working during the restrictions was traumatic.

At least in the UK, a stressful and busy but ultimately friendly job was converted into playing restriction police. I'm not surprised that a ton of people just decided to sack the job off after that.

I completely agree. I would have to had I been able to.

Well, that and the constant threat of your pay going away due to another lockdown, semi lockdown, or the furlough scheme ending.

I've definitely noticed worse service at many restaurants, but less commented-on seems to be worse food quality (lower quality ingredients and less consistent preparation) and a worse atmosphere (piles of takeout supplies in the dining room, ramshackle outdoor seating areas that were hastily built 3 years ago and never upgraded to something more permanent, etc.) both of which I am also seeing at many places I used to frequent.

I noticed a few incidents of weird service as things reopened but not so much the unprofessionalism you describe as somehow failing to sell things to paying customers (eg arriving slightly early and asking for a drink and being told no because of some silly reason). But my memory of those things is failing so perhaps it’s happening less.

$35-$42 an hour means absolutely nothing when median home prices are pushing past a million bucks in areas and you have no benefits like healthcare, retirement accounts, etc.

Good point. Brand new homes within 10 minutes of my places of business 485K. Single family homes from the early 2000s start around 425K. You can buy from fixer uppers for around 300K. Townhomes start around 250K and go to around 350K.

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