I really didn’t guess what this article would contain before I read it. I work on the edges of the restaurant industry, so have had a front-row seat to all of the changes our local establishments have undergone over the last four months. But even for me, this was a big wake-up call:
“What it’s Like to Work in a Reopened Restaurant Amid Coronavirus Risks”
www.seattletimes.com/…
This is only a small selection of what some of the servers had to say:
We’re doing everything in our power to minimize the risk of spreading [COVID-19] inside the restaurant. But I just don’t know how much we actually can control. I’m less concerned about myself [healthwise] than I am about some of the patrons who’re older, or anyone that I could come in contact with . . . if one person comes in one day and has it . . . even if the young serving staff aren’t at superrisk themselves to obtain it or have symptoms, we’re still risking another bloom of people just from going in the restaurant. It feels like putting short-term pleasure ahead of long-term health.
(My emphasis) The workers feel like they are being asked to risk their own health and lives, and for minimal compensation:
It feels very much like prioritizing capitalism over just actually ending the pandemic. And it’s sad to me that there are going to be so many unnecessary deaths because of this oversight — the narrative of just wanting to reopen the economy, long before it actually was healthy to do so.
“[The pay now] — it’s abysmal. On top of it being much slower, the capacity is just lower. Even if it picks up, I think with the diminished capacity, it just isn’t sustainable for servers to pay their rent.
“It really, I think, is showing how expendable working-class people are. Me and a lot of my co-workers feel really expendable … It just feels like it’s putting profit over people.”
(My emphasis) I originally had thought that many—or at least a few!--restaurant servers would be glad to be able to go back to work. Yet nearly all of the servers interviewed for this article think that restaurants should return to being open for take-out only—despite it being against their own financial interests.
I feel like all of the science tells us that we shouldn’t be doing it. But everyone’s kind of forced to, otherwise they lose all their [unemployment] benefits altogether and then they just have no income. So it’s really stressful. And the staff are pretty — they just get put in a really, really difficult position.
This worker pleaded with authorities to put stringent rules in place, and not leave it up to the workers to enforce guidelines, which puts them in a strange position—especially as, as one pointed out—people that go to restaurants are used to ordering others around—not the other way round:
Unless there are logical and strong guidelines for containing the pandemic, the workers are going to have to make them up, and we’ll do our damnedest, but it’s not a job we’re really prepared for. Nor is it a job we’ve sought.
They’re being asked to police others—who aren’t used to being treated that way when they go out—to risk their health and their lives. For me, the takeaway from this article was: DON’T GO OUT. Get takeout. Have picnics. But wait just a little longer before choosing this form of entertainment.