[westopher]

You understand, because you have an obvious empathy to restaurant owners, cooks, and the operations, but the general public doesn't understand. We still have people coming to the restaurant and getting mad because they cant sit inside.
I can say though, in 15 years, no situation has ever been like this, and staffing has never been harder, and for good reason. People are sick of being talented and hard working, and being treated like shit, emotionally and financially. The whole industry is at a tipping point. its a forest fire and they are pouring gas on the flames.
I'm very proud of how fuckin hard I work to make sure that my staff doesn't feel like that, but there are still parameters of profitability that limit what we can afford to pay. That's on clientele expectation for money spent. I've mentioned before, too much of the competition is built around operating at a loss. Developers and real estate moguls love losing money in restaurants for the tax savings and for the vanity of getting to entertain people.
I hope at least one thing that comes of it is people appreciate how much fun, and how many of their best social outings happen at restaurants and are willing to pay for it, and really consider where they spend their money, and the people that really give their all in the industry will be rewarded appropriately, and those that don't, find something else they are better at.