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I'm tired of hearing about the bad job market...

P

Piper

New member
… because I can’t find a decent employee to save my life right now. I have positions paying upward of $10.00 per hour and I can’t find reliable people to fill them. They come dressed ridiculously for interviews, are late on their first day, can’t follow simple instructions, and everything in their life comes before their job. They want to give you 2 days notice that they can’t work a Saturday night that they’re already scheduled for, and when you tell them they can’t have it off they just quit!

I understood back in 2007 when the unemployment rate was down to 3%, but it’s supposed to be hard to find a job these days.

I’m at the end of my rope here. This generation of 16 to 25 year-olds is hopelessly lost, I’m afraid.

Just ranting, sorry.
 
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Oh…it’s all good. They will sue you and then get 2-3 years of unemployment! Wait… if you caused emotional stress by not allowing them to take Sat off… well now they are disabled!!1 WTF WORLD!!! :x
 
I lost it the otherday when I saw the gov ad for this:

2 women sitting on a park bench… 3rd women walks by with 3 kids… two women say how good so-so is looking these days…even her kids look “healthy”… one asks hows she’s doing it…the other one says… she’s on foodstamps now!!!"

I am 100% for helping those in need. Be it healthcare, food, money, or whatever… but I agree that if I needed a job I could walk out tomorrow morning and have one by noon! Oh…and it is a Saturday! At the very least I could be making pizza for Piper! 😉 I would need a little bump in pay to cover the distance to work! 😛 Now I am sounding like a delivery driver! :lol:
 
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Freddy_Krugerrand:
They don’t need your crappy job they’ve got EBT.

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While I don’t discount that effect in the U.S. (and elsewhere of course) it definitely isn’t an issue in my store’s area. In fact, we probably have the exact opposite problem - entitled kids with upper middle class parents that taught them for years how “special” they are.

I have some great staff, including some of the aforementioned “wealthy kids”, but the good ones are really hard to find. Luckily, they are easy to hold onto once we get them because we have a pretty good work environment and pretty good pay… but it seems I need to hire 10 people to find that one good one these days. And that means I have to interview 20. And that means I have to go through 100 applications.

I will say this about the situation - I think part of the reason the job market isn’t recovering is because business owners and managers have learned that we can do without the bottom of the rung employees. Back in the day I would have hired just about any warm body and tried to teach him to make a pizza. These days I’m more of the belief that I’m better off running one person short than having a warm body that will do more damage than good.

As for delivery drivers, that has been the one spot where I have recently found stellar employees, and that’s the opposite of how it was a few years ago. I have the best delivery staff I’ve ever had right now.
 
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We just this week brought two guys in to interview as a dishwasher. One was a semi-bright eyed, just graduated High School young man, trying to get into the Navy but must have messed up his first test b/c he has to “wait 6 months” and reapply.

The second, showed up 20 minutes late (he lives 4 blocks from the Pub btw!), but interviewed really well…until I asked him to explain why he seemed to have a work history of 6-9 months per employer then he has a lag, then another 6-9 months of being employed.

His literal explanation. “You gotta’ work for a dude for 6 months before you can get on unemployment”! No bull.

BTW…he proudly listed his welders certificates on his resume, there are two factories looking for welders, paying very good small town money. I asked why he hadn’t applied there…“too hard”.

We hired the Navy-kid.
 
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Deacon that is as bad as back in the day when I would interview… offer a job… and then be handed their Workforce Developement Center official… “I am looking for a job sign-off sheet” that the state requires people on state assisted unemployment benefits to “ACTIVELY SEEK EMPLOYMENT” at least once a week. So the lazy SOB’s sit on their a$$es and make one interview appt a week and they try not to get hired just the signature! I refused to sign everytime and would then call the WDC office…and inform them… and I know it did zero good each and everytime I called. I was even told once to stop wasting their time by some mgr at the local office. Again…WTF people!!! I was wasting their time but the lazy SOB’s can retire on my tax dollars!!! I would like to take this opportunity to say how sorry I am to have WASTED their time! I should have known better than to offer a job to someone that came in for an interview for THE JOB!!! My Bad!!! :roll:
 
Sadly this is the new norm and will continue for at least the next 10+ years or until everything completely falls apart. I have been consistently short 10-15 employees across my three locations. Drivers, pizza makers, managers and servers. I have been in business nearly 16 years and in the past year I have gone through more employees than the previous 16. My pizza makers can work up to $12 per hour, servers make in excess of $20 per hour, and managers can make 40K plus. We have paid vacation, AFLAC, Health Reimbursement Accounts funded 100% by me, and flexible scheduling. I can give anyone who walks in off the street today 40+ hours instantly. No one wants it. My biggest competitor for employees is the welfare department. Anytime I try and make someone work a day that they want off, correct them, discipline them or even look at the cross-eyed and they walk right off the job and straight down to the welfare department and walk out with a FREE cell phone, food stamps, full medical & dental, cash and to top it off … NO REQUIREMENT to look for a job!

I am so tired of talking about it and complaining about it. I have talked with our Governor’s office twice, our local welfare department, county commissioners, state senators, federal senators and of course they pretend to care and listen and empathize, but they are so far out of touch and clueless.

So… I have taken steps to permanently reduce my staff by outsourcing as much as possible like pre-sliced veggies. I have simplified my menu so I need less staff to prep, I have made my servers take larger sections so I need less servers, I have reduced my hours to lessen the need for managers, shrunk my delivery area so I need less drivers, etc…

Ultimately, I will be selling or closing all three locations in the next 4-6 years. I am tired of working 80+ hours a week as a glorified babysitter who ultimately does nothing but generate tax revenue for the powers that be so they can fund welfare programs. I would be able to make just about the same amount of take home money and a whole lot less stress with only one tiny little shop that was only open 5 days a week from 4-9pm, closes a week at Christmas and closes a month in the summer for vacation.

Going Gault.
 
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Back in the day I would have hired just about any warm body and tried to teach him to make a pizza. These days I’m more of the belief that I’m better off running one person short than having a warm body that will do more damage than good.
+1
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The root cause of all of this is that we now live with an “Entitlement Culture”. People do not get themselves properly educated because they don’t need to… the government will take care of them. As a result, they are too stupid to realize what this is doing to society and the economy and continue the trend.

They are to stupid to understand the shackles they are putting on their own wrists. Well until the system fails them… then they are really screwed. The real problem is that when there are enough of them, they take the rest of us down with them.
 
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Piper:
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Freddy_Krugerrand:
They don’t need your crappy job they’ve got EBT.

Click to expand...
While I don’t discount that effect in the U.S. (and elsewhere of course) it definitely isn’t an issue in my store’s area. In fact, we probably have the exact opposite problem - entitled kids with upper middle class parents that taught them for years how “special” they are.

I have some great staff, including some of the aforementioned “wealthy kids”, but the good ones are really hard to find. Luckily, they are easy to hold onto once we get them because we have a pretty good work environment and pretty good pay… but it seems I need to hire 10 people to find that one good one these days. And that means I have to interview 20. And that means I have to go through 100 applications.

I will say this about the situation - I think part of the reason the job market isn’t recovering is because business owners and managers have learned that we can do without the bottom of the rung employees. Back in the day I would have hired just about any warm body and tried to teach him to make a pizza. These days I’m more of the belief that I’m better off running one person short than having a warm body that will do more damage than good.

As for delivery drivers, that has been the one spot where I have recently found stellar employees, and that’s the opposite of how it was a few years ago. I have the best delivery staff I’ve ever had right now.
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If it makes you feel any better, I’m having the exact same experience as you are. If I can find the good ones, they don’t leave. Problem is, as you said, finding the good ones. All my applications recently are from people who want full time, no nights, no weekends. :roll:
 
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Of course, every place is different, so the fact that virtually every employee I hire (on the rare occasions that someone leaves) turns out to be totally stellar, and long term too, might mean nothing - BUT: Given two applicants, one bright eyed, bushy tailed, looks you in the eye with a firm handshake and a big smile VS applicant number two: who can’t hardly talk to you, stares at the floor, and sweats a lot. Who do you hire? Let me rephrase that: who can get a job anywhere, and knows it, and who really needs a job, and will work his azz off? Do you want to hire a personality, or a worker? (I’ll add that the terrified ones just need a place to bloom, and they love you for the chance to grow)
 
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smeagol8:
Of course, every place is different, so the fact that virtually every employee I hire (on the rare occasions that someone leaves) turns out to be totally stellar, and long term too, might mean nothing - BUT: Given two applicants, one bright eyed, bushy tailed, looks you in the eye with a firm handshake and a big smile VS applicant number two: who can’t hardly talk to you, stares at the floor, and sweats a lot. Who do you hire? Let me rephrase that: who can get a job anywhere, and knows it, and who really needs a job, and will work his azz off? Do you want to hire a personality, or a worker? (I’ll add that the terrified ones just need a place to bloom, and they love you for the chance to grow)
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I agree. My most socially awkward staff have been my best staff. One young girl could not put three words together to ask for her pay check but when it came to doing the job she was always a step ahead of the other staff. She is leaving me after 5 years and moving to complete her degree.
 
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fishinc:
And when you finally hire someone they can’t quit texting or posting on facebook!
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I call it “smartphoning.” It’s become a new habit for people. Even while they’re supposed to be having a conversation with you, they’re swiping their iPhone constantly. Who knows what they’re in such a panic to constantly monitor? I hate that.

I don’t hate smartphones. Google map is a godsend for delivery now. The old days of bulky books or maps are gone. Good riddance!
 
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I have named my wifes phone BABY! She is always holding it tight. Talking to it. Never leaves it alone or in the car. Etc…Etc… I HATE BABY!!! One day I even made a little diaper out of a napkin and put it on BABY! I am trying to find a crying baby ringtone that I can install. I know it is out there… just need to look! I even have her employees asking about how BABY is doing. Everyone gets a laugh but her. I am 100% feed up with her and that phone. I have told her I will turn her smartphone into a dumb one if she does not put it down around me and our daughter! I can only imagine the crap you the owners or managers go through with employees these days!
 
qcfmike:
…One day I even made a little diaper out of a napkin and put it on BABY!..
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Hahah, now that’s funny 🙂

The problem, however is not. I’m at the point where I am about to just BAN all cell phones during working hours.
 
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You should ban them. 100%. Unless on break…no cell phone calls or texts. If they are slow…they are paid to work not stand around and wait for the next order…or play on the phone. You know that no matter how busy you are…if that phone rings or vibrates and they have a voicemail or text… they will stop and check it. If there is a real emergency that requires someone to contact them then they call the stores phone. Otherwise… phones stay in car or purses and out of sight and turned on silent or off!

Decidion I also got my 5 year old to ask her one day “Mommy… do you love me as much as your new baby?” Oh that got my a$$ into trouble!!! :roll:
 
Ban them…BAN then all! We did 45 days ago and have fired one server for ignoring our ban. The message was loud and very very clear.

Our kitchen has never been cleaner, the prep-work never been completed more timely, and our customers never been more properly attended to.

Ban them now!
 
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