Restaurant owners are complaining that their workers won’t return to the industry now that restrictions imposed to deal with the coronavirus pandemic are loosening because of generous unemployment benefits.

But reporters are seldom talking to workers about their side of the story.

Over the weekend I spoke to people who have left or are leaving the industry in the wake of the pandemic. Here’s what they said.

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“The pandemic kind of stripped away the illusion of fairness/equity in the industry”

The restaurant industry is a hard business. Staff are expected to make the most of their shifts, whether the place is slammed or dead. And with hours likely to be cut at a moment’s notice and low pay, the insecurity in the work can be stressful and exhausting.

Sarah, a restaurant professional who is leaving the business, once enjoyed the fast pace and camaraderie that service can inspire in staff. Covid was a wakeup call.

“I think like with everything else in society, the pandemic kind of stripped away the illusion of fairness/equity in the industry, or that it operated differently than other industries,” she said.

The return of in-person dining has brought with it the nastier side of the customer experience, she said.

“Serving during a pandemic was truly awful, and during my bouts of unemployment this year I applied to grad school,” said Sarah.

Jennifer, another industry professional who has returned to work, told me that at first after reopening, people were friendly and understanding—but around the holiday season, things got bad.

“People started getting really angry and nasty,” Jennifer said. “They hate the lines and the waiting and that we are often out of something.”

Unrealistic demands are being made on workers to sanitize and ensure public safety, said Jennifer. And this is all happening while management demands a level of service and customer attention at or beyond pre-covid levels.

"A lot of folks I know in the fine dining world are struggling because many places closed during the pandemic and some are re-opening but instead of hiring back their old staff they are trying to hire new staff for less money or less front-of-house staff,” said Sean, a 10-year industry vet who organizes with the Restaurant Organizing Project. “Which means more front-of-house will do more work for the same or less money.”

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“I’ve got a wide variety of reasons why I don’t want to come back”

Jeremy, a former Applebee’s host, said he’s not returning to the floor for a host of reasons.

“I worked as a host at Applebee’s and I’ve got a wide variety of reasons why I don’t want to come back,” said Jeremy.

Chief among them, he told me, were the “brutal” shifts, the poor pay, and his fear that he could kill himself or the elders in his family if he went back.

Expanded government benefits helped make the decision to change careers an easy one, Jeremy said.

“It’s enabled me to protect myself and pursue creative projects,” Jeremy told me. “It’s the perfect example of what happens when you don’t have to work a brutal grind in some job that doesn’t need to exist because you actually have a cushion of some kind, you can actually live.”

Alan, a former dishwasher, said he’s finished with the business—and that pandemic unemployment insurance is a big part of the reason.

“I was a dishwasher until we had to shut down because of restrictions,” he told me. “The stimulus and unemployment benefits have definitely helped me be more picky about what jobs I'll take since I don't have to take anything I can get in order to cover rent and groceries.”

I asked Alan if he’d go back to the industry. He said no, citing the security provided by the government aid.

“I have a degree in forestry and since I'm currently relatively financially secure I can take more time to find a job in the field that I actually want to work in,” Alan said.

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“I made more money on unemployment than I did working at the bar”

Many service industry workers came out of pandemic lockdowns with a clear view of just how underpaid they really are after making far more from boosted unemployment insurance than they had made at their jobs.

Mark was laid off at the beginning of the pandemic. Once he went on unemployment, he said, things changed—for the better.

“I made more money on unemployment than I did working at the bar because they only gave me lunch shifts and I was part time,” Mark told me. “They also over-staffed so there were fewer tips per person, I went from making $250-ish a week to a solid $600 a week from unemployment.”

Lucas, a former Uber Eats driver, had a similar story.

“On a good week I could make about $200-$250 a week,” Lucas told me. “When the CARES Act passed, I got 600 dollars a week unemployment.”

He returned to work briefly after the unemployment extension expired, but it wasn’t worth it between poor pay, bad tips, and wear on his car. Plus, he already has respiratory issues.

Now he makes $450 a week on unemployment, still double an average week pre-covid.

“Because of the stimulus checks and the unemployment, we've been able to stash away some money for the first time in a while,” Lucas said.

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“Having some time off to think and plan helped focus my desire to be paid better and treated better”

The people I talked to who aren’t returning to the industry said the help from the government was a major motivator in getting time and space to make those decisions.

The break in work that the pandemic forced on Owen, a former line cook in Philly, allowed for a reassessment of his life.

“I left because having some time off to think and plan helped focus my desire to be paid better and treated better,” Owen explained, ticking off a number of familiar complaints about wages, hours, and a lack of respect from management.

Owen wasn’t able to rely on unemployment, but support from friends and his partner, plus the stimulus, allowed him to focus on finishing school and getting a job where he’s treated better. The search is on.

“I expect to make at least double and finally have nights and weekends off,” Owen told me. “Hopefully I'll be treated with a little more dignity but I know that's not always the case. Nowhere to go but up.”

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Thanks for reading. More to come on this topic from retail workers later in the week. As I said above, your support makes these stories possible, so if you’d like to make a monetary subscription to help fund my reporting, please become a paying subscriber and sign up for a monthly or annual donation.

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