So. Where do we even start. The last week has felt like an out-of-body experience. Heartbreaking. Day after day just news that makes you reel. Restaurants coming to a screeching halt. Cooks and service staff loosing their jobs left and right. First we heard the rumbling and then a day later it was your mentor. The next day your friend.. 3 hours later your own sister. We, like many others are sad, tired and absolutely anxious.
Most of us live paycheck to paycheck yet we as an industry make up roughly $863Billion in sales that equates close to 5% of the whole economy. We all know why. But how did we let this happen. Yes, there has been progress (albeit small ) in our industry the push for mental health and finally a wider acknowledgment of women in the fine dining experiences specifically. But, this? No one wants to acknowledge it. We knew all along this couldn’t go on forever the week to week cash flow for service personnel. The lack of health insurance and push back for a minimum wage. Any way that you want to cut this pie, it comes down to one fundamental thing. We are fucked. All of us. In a huge pressure cooker of shit. The lack of humanity let this happen and now we have to ‘come together’ and fix it. Why? No one ever fixed our issues and if we tried we would always be an inconvenience to the agenda. Childcare, figure it out yourself. Employers stealing wages, on your own. Unpaid overtime, ha! Lists and lists of issues that have always just been smoothed over. You know why? Because if we fought back too hard we know we’d be out of a job and 1 paycheck left till next Friday. Well. We are out of a job people.
It’s high time we reevaluate what we are doing. Service industry. We are here to serve, not be your servant. I hope the public will get that through their thick sculls once this is over. I hope we can go back to serving you, cooking for you and making you phenomenal drinks. But I will not stand one more day being treated without respect and dignity in this industry. Absolutely never. I see people and companies rallying together and it gives me hope. Yet, I’m not surprised - we work in service we know how to handle ourselves in extreme shitty working conditions and pressured scenarios daily. Us coming together now is like the service staff coming to the POS station to talk crap about one rude customer. We do this naturally, we know how to survive - it’s ingrained in many of us. This virus however will ruin many of us. Financially is only the start. This will have a domino effect on other industries like suppliers, farmers, accountants, the wine and liquor reps. All of us.
If mental awareness, a hot talking point that only came around recently, will be tested beyond its capabilities. You have heard the stories. We have lived the stories. Some are in them now. This mass closure will break these people. For some it was a last resort, at least a last place to be able to find a job and a penny in an already turbulent and expensive economy. Now it’s gone. The anxiety that comes from that is profound.
Yet, part of me believes once this is all over, we will go back to the same old way. So I call on each and everyone of you jobless, homeless and scared. Don’t! Do not go back till we find the correct solutions to the major issues that are in our industries. Use this time to reflect and strategize. Find a mental space that’s healthy for you. Help other in this time of stress and need, if you can. But, I urge you to find what you want when you go back to this field of work. Prioritize what you need, what others will need. Push for healthcare, equality, fair labor laws and pro employees governance. Hours, overtime and minimum wages. Push!
Talks of McDonalds to Airlines getting a bailout but your little neighborhood restaurant can eat it. What kind of earth do you want to live on. What sort of boss do you want to work for. Which kind of customer do you want to serve. Which food do enjoy cooking. What drink do you fancy? You have a voice. We combined have a voice of close to 15million workers in the US alone. Let them hear us roar!
Remember, you are valued. Even on the worst of days. You are of service, not a servant.
Thank you.
