save2600

Yeah, the "dead" restaurant scenario is a tricky one. Here in The Dells where tourism makes up a majority of revenue and only during prime months, I'm told it's hard to keep good people. Thing is, a restaurant isn't going to pay someone to stand around and not sell food. Some of them even close during off months. So those people know going into it, that it's a part time or seasonal gig at best. Exactly all people seem to want to work anymore anyway (proven when they're calling in "sick" once or twice a week) - so you'd think it *should* be a win-win. Stay at home with family and take care of your home during the harsh winter months or find another part time/seasonal job and "diversify" if you want. PLENTY of jobs around here. More jobs than there are people willing to work in fact. 

And Sears *are* to blame for their company's image for sure. Again, they switched their workforce from well dressed suited competent-professional to incompetent-contemporary donned in khakis, short sleeve polos and lanyard name badges. I was there in the early 2000's when our GM said we "needed" to compete with Walmart. Said that was Sears' main competitor. Pffft. We all knew that was so far off and not so coincidentally, that's exactly when they decided to sell lower-end gear and slashed commissions and spiffs to reflect the poor margins of said shit gear. The smarter salespeople left to seek work elsewhere and what was left, you couldn't distinguish from the brainless zombies at Walmart. Got exactly what they wanted; the inevitable race to the bottom. 

Pizza Hut will be next since they believe and are convinced their competition is Little Caesar's. All but the thin crust dough comes frozen now, pre-made. Took chicken out of the white pasta and leaf lettuce from the buffet. Stores are shrinking and 500+ are being converted to carry-out only - trying to do what they can to stay afloat.

I was watching some videos the other week from an American who travels a lot. He put up things like what to expect when you visit Wales (yeah, it does rain A LOT), or things to expect when you visit the US. One of the things he said was that visitors' minds are often blown away by the fact that servers can't do enough for you. It's because they want that tip at the end.

But, something else I discovered was that restaurant prices aren't what you pay. You have the tip (service charge) + any sales tax on top when you get your bill. That would irritate the hell out of me. I like to have some idea of how much I'm paying for something. It reminds me of when I bought my first ST by mail order - the ad made it look like a good deal but I was young and stoopid. It said "+VAT". I thought that meant it included VAT. Nope. Ended up costing me just £3 less than if I'd walked into a local store.