[music]

Brian: Brian Lehrer on WNYC and we'll end today with a call in for people in the restaurant business. We had that restauranteur call in with the mayor just a few minutes ago on the dire longer term situation in the industry, potentially, if the rules changed back in September, the way that question went. We're going to ask about a different aspect of it. A new problem seems to be emerging, that restaurants are looking for workers, now that there's more reopening, and some are having trouble finding them. This is according to the news organization The City.

In the restaurant industry employment remains 140,000 jobs below the early 2020 record, a decline of 45%. Now we'll open up the phones for restaurant owners or workers or former workers. What's going on in your industry? If you're an owner or a manager, are you having trouble finding staff, any positions in particular that are harder to fill? Where did your staff go this past year? Did they leave the city entirely? If this is you as the member of that staff call and talk about yourself. 646-435-7280. Are you a former restaurant worker who hasn't gone back to work at your old restaurant job? Why not?

Did you start a new job or go back to school? Did time away from the industry make you think or rethink your place within it? The pandemic emergency, unemployment compensation program did extend benefits for some until September of this coming summer. Are you happy to collect unemployment for a little while longer? Give us a call now at 646-435-7280. For people who work or have worked in the restaurant industry, with the whole thing practically having collapsed over the past year, how did you rethink your life? Did you decide to move on and do something else, or are you going back or are you considering going back? Are you not sure?

What about going back to work in a restaurant after everything with the pandemic? 646-435-7280. For those of you who are back on the job, and there are obviously many of you, are you and your colleagues feeling safe with capacity limits and safety procedures that your restaurant has set up? Take calls from restaurant workers, restaurant owners, right after this at 646-435-7280

[music]

Brian: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Restaurant workers, the phones are yours. Are you going back? Are you hesitant to go as more restaurants open up and more hours are available to work? They just lifted the curfew starting Monday. If you haven't heard this one yet, for bars and restaurants, it'll be extended another hour in New York state until midnight. How's your life a year after the pandemic started and crashed the restaurant industry and maybe with it, your job? Half the jobs went away. Lexie in crown Heights. You're on WNYC. Hi Lexie. Thank you for calling in.

Lexie: Hi, Brian. I'm calling because I worked in a restaurant for three years, that I love, and I love my coworkers and I love my chefs and I love the regulars. This time last year when we were talking to the owner and begging to be able to wear gloves on the floor, asking for basic protection, we were told it would make the guests nervous if we protected ourselves. We were told instead to give all of our customers are free glass of sparkling wine. No comfort was offered to us, and the way that we were treated as staff in that moment was so disrespectful that I had no interest.

Brian: In returning to the whole industry?

Lexie: Yes. This boss is somebody who gets interviewed in the press a lot and talked a lot about our staff as a family and the safety of our workers is of the utmost priority, but nobody who works for him has ever been interviewed to verify that fact.

Brian: Very disillusioning Lexie. Thank you very much. Ryan in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi Ryan.

Ryan: Hi Brian. I'm a long time listener and I'm a line cook in Brooklyn. I just wanted to say that I'm going back to school. I'm choosing to leave the restaurant industry. I think a lot of my coworkers also have chosen to take different paths and leave the restaurant industry. My restaurant's hiring right now, and it's been really difficult to find new employees. I think it's just because the pressures of the job are just so difficult. The COVID scares, the skeleton staff, the less hours, the protection, so it piles on. After a year of this, it's just been exhausting.

Brian: Do you think that's true of a lot of other people you know and maybe work with in the restaurant industry?

Ryan: Absolutely. I think that so many people that I know are just exhausted. They're tired and being a line cook is a difficult job in and of itself. To do it during COVID is just some of the work. It's just so hard. I love my job, but it's so hard, and I think a lot of people are doing different things now. There aren't enough protections. There's not enough job security. It's just too much.

Brian: Ryan, good luck with your career change. Thank you for checking in with us. Monya in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi Monya

Monya: Hi. I own a diner on the corner of Seventh Avenue and 35th street in Manhattan. We've been there for 38 years, and right now we're doing about 25.

Brian: Whoops. Your line just got cut.

Monya: We can't get workers. Hello?

Brian: Start over. Your diner is at 35th and seventh, and then your line dropped out. Pick it up from there 38 years.

Monya: We've been there 38 years. We're doing about 25% of what we did in 2019, at this time. The local hotels are filled with homeless people, so we can't get visitors in there and what workers we do need, we can't get. We put ads that go unanswered. When we call the agency, I had one agency actually say, "I can get you all the work because you want, if you're willing to pay cash." The unemployment. You tell me how that works.

Brian: Why do you think your help wanted ads are going unanswered?

Monya: One of the employment agencies we called said to us, "I can get you all the workers you want if you're willing to pay cash. Nobody wants to give up the unemployment."

Brian: Monya, thank you very much. I will say about the hotels that it may well be the other way around. It's not that tourists can't come to the hotels because homeless people are living there for now. I think homeless people are living there for now because no tourists are coming to the hotels. Daniel in the Bronx, you're on WNYC. Hi Daniel.

Daniel: Hey. Thanks Brian, for having me on. I'm part GM of the Last Style Bar and Grill in 242nd and Broadway in the Bronx. We've been there since before the pandemic. We were lucky to partner up with Sarah and Selma of the Friendly Fridges of New York. I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but pretty much, they set up a community fridge in front of the businesses and anybody could take what they can and leave what they can for people in need. Throughout the pandemic, we were able to stay in business, but also reach out to our community, which was, honestly, it was right in line with who we are as a brand, as a business.

It just made the community comes together as a whole. The pandemic has been somewhat positive in that way. Our business has grown community reach, which that's our MO. Obviously we have our little ups and downs, but I'm thankful for them and for everyone in our community who's helped us out. We look forward to continuing to serve our community in Kingsbridge, Riverdale and Fieldston.

Brian: That's cool. I don't know how many people you employ. Maybe that's a really small place, but have you had any trouble finding workers?

Daniel: The only problem we're having is, for some reason, it's hard to find the chefs. We're Indian fusion bar, and we're trying to open up a brunch, and it's been really hard. If anyone is interested in applying where we're definitely looking for chefs. Someone who is open to learning new recipes and someone who's willing to be very community-based, community activists and wanting to help out the community. We're definitely looking for employees. If anyone's interested, they could definitely apply. I'm not sure if you want me to leave a number or anything.

Brian: Well I think you probably don't want your number on the radio, unless you really do, but it's the Last Stop Bar and Grill in the Bronx, right?

Daniel: Yes. The address is 5977 Broadway, Bronx, New York 104701. It's on 242nd and Broadway off the one train, the last stop of the one train. I say that because there's another last stop and we're not that one. There's another one in Baychester. We're the one on the West Bronx by Cambridge.

Brian: It's the last stop on the number one line one to 242nd street, for anybody who's ridden the one line that's where it goes, 242nd Street and Riverdale in the Bronx. That's the last stop that you're referring to. Somebody commented to me in writing, as the last caller who owns the diner in Midtown was finishing up. "Maybe if you paid more than unemployment, you would get people to come off unemployment and go back to work." What do you think about that comment and wages in general, if it's hard to get workers?

Daniel: For us, some of our employees are receiving unemployment right now off the books. They're still working that way, but it hasn't really been a deciding factor for us. Our workers, they're young and youthful and they use what they're doing as not so much their main source of income, but as a side thing that they're doing, and it only helps the things that we're doing. We have some teachers that work for us. A lot of people that we employ have different goals, and we allow them to grow their brand when they work for us. We host events and if they have any ideas, well then let's do it.

That's been our thing, and I think that's what people like working for us. I haven't had too many issues with unemployment stuff, we're open to hearing people out and see how we can help them, that's what we've been doing.

Brian: Daniel, thank you so much. I appreciate your call. Good luck up there. Annie in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Annie.

Annie: Hi, Brian. Big fan. So happy to talk about this subject. I have been a bartender for about eight years at a bunch of really great establishments. I think after a year of not working, I've realized a few things. One is that I've also worked with a lot of artists or gig workers or people doing stuff on the side, and I think we're all now realizing maybe we want to focus more on that since we've had this pause. The other thing I think about is that there's a lot of almost a class issue. Everyone who has the luxury of working from home can go out and eat but you're risking yourself and exposure by working in a restaurant. It doesn't feel like, I don't know, like equality or something in that sense.

The last thing is that I feel like if you're just making tips, it's not really worth the risk to go back and do that. Those are my three understandings of it.

Brian: It's something that we've tried to do on the show, I hope we've succeeded here at least, talking about the indoor dining policy decisions, not just in terms of the risks to the diners, which is how I think it's usually presented, but the risks to the workers. I brought up the example of when Mayor Bloomberg was in office and first banned smoking in restaurants. People were all talking about, those who opposed were saying, "That's my right as an individual to smoke when I go into a place." That was not to protect the diners. That was a workplace safety measure.

People like you have to be there for your eight-hour shifts, or whatever it is, and breathe in everybody smoke, or breathe in everybody's COVID, or whatever it is over and over and over again over the shift. This is so much a worker safety issue, and I hear what you're reflecting. Is it doable?

Annie: If you're vaccinated, I think it's much more doable, but it's still a risk. Also, is it worth the time and energy when also in the fall indoor dining will be more. You can't really eat outdoors, so it could also be dangerous again. Just opening and closing, I think it's just a little uncertain now whether it's worth to go back into hospitality as much, unless they made it more lucrative.

Brian: Good luck. Call us again. Joanna in Astoria, you're on WNYC. Hi, Joanna.

Joanna: Hey, Brian. I actually want to piggyback on what Annie just said. I'm 17-year hospitality vet, been a bartender for a very long time and a whole bunch of different places. Obviously stopped all that when COVID hit. I'm also an artist. I think what Annie was talking about the class issue and the sense of entitlement that comes with being able to go out and spend income on a dining experience. I think part of the reason why a lot of people don't necessarily want to stay in our industry anymore is because we're so constantly dehumanized as part of the experience, especially in the tipping scenario. It's so racist, and it's so classist and we have to put up with a lot of stuff in order to make a living.

I think what the pandemic has shown a lot of us in the industry is that we have to start taking care of ourselves, we have to start saying no to people who are going to be awful to us, whether that's an employer or that's a guest. What we do at the Save NYC Bars campaign is to talk to the public about what it's really like to try and survive in the restaurant industry right now as an operator, as an employee. It's just so much harder than people understand, and it's hard to feel human in the midst of all that and to also logistically stay safe.

Brian: Are there conditions, behavior standards, that would make you feel not only safe but respected and with your dignity intact, and are they different than before the pandemic?

Joanna: Yes, for sure. It's all pretty simple. Even if you're vaccinated, putting up your mask when your server approaches your table, it's a sign of respect, it's a sign of understanding that like, "I don't know where you've been, you don't know I've been." We still are dealing with this issue. People are refusing to wear masks now because they're vaccinated. Understanding spatial relations, so if you've been sitting at a table for four hours and not spending money, that's actually to the restaurant's detriment, because they've got to turn that table, they've got to make that money because everybody's operating on razor-thin margins. The average bar can't afford for like a bottle of wine to be dropped and broken.

Then just tipping well. If we're going to live in this world, where we are beholden to our guests for our rent money effectively, and our health insurance money for those few of us who do have it, understanding that most restaurant workers took a 75% pay hit when this all happened, and we have not recouped, and it's double the work. Those three core things are really helpful.

Brian: I'm glad you got so granular there, we're able to put some specifics like that out there. Maybe a lot of diners, listening to this show anyway, will take a lot of those things to heart. Joanna, good luck, and thank you. Julio in the East Village, you're on WNYC. Hi, Julio.

Julio: Good morning, sir. How are you?

Brian: Good. How are you?

Julio: It's been really rough right now trying to find people that do want to work, let's say in the front of the house. You are back of the house, normally you're going to get immigrants. We have wonderful agencies that we use. Since we've reopened, we've only had to replace a couple of people that unfortunately had to go back to the countries because of family members that were ill because of COVID or other situations. With that angle, we're blessed, but in the front of the house, we've tried interviewing people, even before last year.

I think it was around July, August, I remember sitting down with a gentleman very well experience, can highly recommend it. Same thing, "Can I get paid off the books because right now I'm making money on unemployment? Plus, I'm getting Medicaid. I didn't have health insurance before." I understand, we all have these needs, these concerns, but as a business owner, it's becoming harder and harder. It's probably going to be like this until the unemployment benefits go down to a certain extent or go away.

Brian: Which could be in September, I guess. We have 10 seconds left in the show, do you want to say the name of your place in case people want to apply? You don't have to.

Julio: Sure. Posto Accanto, we're located at 190 East Seventh Street. We've been there since 1995. We love your show. We love the work that you've been doing and helping us throughout this entire period.

Brian: Thank you so much for that Julio, and thanks to all of you in the restaurant business who called. Brian Lehrer on WNYC.

Copyright © 2021 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.