NEWS & VIEWS

Robert Stempkowski’s newly weekly dining column Chowhound generated a lot of buzz (“What it’s like to try to find restaurant workers now”) .

Why has no one made the connection yet? WEED… Does no one realize what happened? Legalized in 2018… stores opening in 2019… grow facilities opening all over the state…COVID 2020… workers shut out of Restaurants... workers still need jobs… WEED is an essential [industry] and stores kept open so workers went to weed stores and processors and made more money than in Restaurants… Restaurants reopen… workers say screw that we are making more money and in more enjoyable jobs… 35,000 jobs to be clear… Jobs that did not exist in 2018… —Douglas Bidigare, email People reassessed what was important to them during the pandemic. Workers want to be treated and compensated fairly. Paying servers less than $3 an hour with no benefits or sick time isn’t going to attract people anymore. Not to mention dealing with the general public which has devolved into treating service workers in an almost sub-human capacity. If the industry wants to rebound it needs to do a better job taking care of their #1 asset… their people.

—Christina DeMartin Barrett, Facebook

Read the room, dumbass. The “work ethic” is a scam to exploit people. You included. Your job will never thank or appreciate you for putting in extra hours. —Rob Myers, email

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