Staying Staffed

 So I met up with my Dad and StepMom for lunch today at our favorite Mexican Restaurant over in HomeTown. 

And while we were there the...boss? Owner? Manager? Combination of the three? came over to chat when my Dad noticed her as he used to work there with her when he was younger. Like highschool-college age. (before she ran the place)

And it was interesting....because I'm pretty sure Daddoo instigated a conversation with her because I'd just told him that the Sister restaurant to our Hometown one had closed down suddenly last month.

Like I'm not sure how much warning everyone got, but I only saw the news when it was like "Last day open!!" on a newspage. 

And we were all curious as to why the place closed down.

Because like....both restaurants -each run by two brothers who both have passed on now- are quite popular in the area.

Though I've never been to the sister place. It's in a locaiton that I believe makes it popular.

I mean both places have been open since before I was born so there's decades and decades of history there.

So to have the place close down....was rather surprising.

And while the two families of the brothers don't really....interact anymore due to....differences in how they wanted to run the place.

The boss did know enough to know that basically the place shutting down was due to the children of the Brother squabbling over what to do with /how to run the place.

And apparently they decided to accept an offer to just shut down and sell the place so that the people buying the land could build condos on it.

*exhales*

Which is a bit depressing on multiple fronts.

Like it seems like everything is getting torn down to build more high density housing and while housing is definitely important....it's really only useful if people can afford it.

But the second front it's depressing on is the fact that the siblings just like....tossed decades of history to the wayside in favor of money.

Like I can get it....if the family business wasn't doing well. If there were issues with upkeep. But like....I feel like the place overall would be in the black and not in the red. 

Like I can also understand family contention. If no one can agree on things don't keep it around. 

Still....it's crazy that they just sold the sister place off to be developed. *shakes head*

In any case.

The conversation turned a bit to how the Hometown Restuarant was doing.

And it's.....it's crazy how much this manager/boss/owner is doing to keep the place up and running and running smoothly at that.

Because like a lot of food places....finding good reliable staff is difficult. The pandemic made it really difficult but from all the 'help wanted' signs I see in various food related places....I know it's probably going to be a long recovery rate to try and get everything 'full staffed' again. Especially when people are expecting sooo much from their jobs now. 

And this boss recognizes it. And is doing everything in her power to keep her staff fully staffed. Like she's personally working longer hours, helping out everywhere in the restuarant to make sure her workers feel supported and not overwhelmed.

But she's also offering them free lunches. And to help give them a motive to work the weekends or nights or holidays she also does other things as well. Like allowing them to bring a friend in to eat free so that they can still 'be with their friends.' but she's also doing her best to hand out bonuses to everyone as often as she can as well. 

Like it's crazy the amount of work she's putting in to make sure her workers are happy and willing to stay.

And my heart goes out to her for doing so much. Because even with all that....I know it's not always enough. There's still nights she struggles to have everything running smoothly.

And I wish there were more places like that. More places trying to go above and beyond to care about the WORKER and not the customer.

Because I'm pretty sure the food business in general is suffering because no one wants to work a minimum wage job and get yelled at all the time for 'food being wrong' for long.

People get mean when it comes to their food and it being made correctly.

I don't work food, but I do work retail and I can tell you, customers became really monstorous during the pandemic, and a lot of them have kept the 'my way or i scream and yell at you and make scene until you cry way' since then because they realize if they make a scene chances are they'll get what they want anyways. 

And with the pandemic.....essential workers are tired. Sooo tired of the sassy rude obnoxious customers they have to deal with.

It's probably a lot worse with food. So much worse with the food industry. 

So I'm not surprised that people don't want to tolerate it anymore. That they'd prefer to find jobs where they're unlikely to get yelled at.

My heart goes out to the good managers out there though. The ones like this lady in the hometown restaurant who are going beyond the extra mile to try and look out for her people and keep them happy. I hope she's able to get her own rest soon. Because she seemed so tired while talking about trying to keep her place staffed up. They're doing okay...for now. But I hope she and other good manager/bosses can find the relief and the good staff that they need to take the stress off their backs.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi