"Whaaa! Nobody wants to work any more!"

Something a lot a businesses have been doing as we hit a labor shortage mid pandemic as businesses try to reopen, only to find that no one wants to work in unsafe, oppressive conditions, is they start passive aggressively posting papers on their doors telling people to be patient because "nobody wants to work any more." 

Oh boo hoo...deal with it.

Most of these places seem to be restaurants or low level retail stores with minimum wage. The restaurants above likely aren't required to pay people minimum wage even, and can pay people as little as $2.13 and expect people to make that up with tips. Our system is disgusting. 

Now, I'm going to be honest, the stress our system is under would exceed anything my UBI would cause. Here's why. First of all, we have a pandemic going on and it's literally unsafe for many workers to work at these restaurants. The fact they're trying to open up this early when we're still months away from reaching herd immunity is problematic and the workers should be free to refuse those jobs.

Second of all, Biden's stimulus in action...they kind of have a point. I don't oppose giving people money. I support a UBI. But Biden is giving people an extra $300 a week on top of unemployment...linked to unemployment. Meaning it's means tested, introduces a welfare cliff, and if you work, you lose it. So people working for $2.13 in a restaurant means these people would be far worse off if they worked than id they did not work. This is a perverse incentive UBI is intended to fix. In my system people would be free to work and still get UBI, they would just pay back 20% of their income to fund the UBI. That said it's not the idea of giving people money that's bad, it's attaching strings to that money, which happens when you believe in "conditional aid."

But say this happened with my UBI. Well...GOOD. People should not be forced to work these crap jobs just to make Outback or Denny's or a Dollar General money. These people should have a sustainable business model that attracts people to them. Again, if you wanna take out the rug from under people to force people to work for a measly $2.13 or even $7.25, that's de facto slavery. These businesses, and I hate to use the word, are "entitled." They just demand a cheap complaint supply of labor to benefit their bottom lines.

No, these businesses need to adapt. They need to offer a decent wage, and better working conditions. And perhaps, during this pandemic when Biden's conditional aid is still in effect, maybe these businesses should not open at all.

Eating at a restaurant is a luxury. It's not an essential business. These people are performing not just physical, but emotional labor serving others. I don't eat out all the time. Mostly when I go on vacation. It's too expensive and again, it's a luxury. Most of the time I get take out or delivery or make food at home. You don't need to go to a fancy sit down restaurant. It's not essential. So these guys can sink or swim.

Heck I would go so far to say if I saw a sign up that said this, I would likely walk out, because I hate these greedy business owners deciding to virtue signal about work ethic when they're not an essential business and when they are criminally underpaying and mistreating employees in the first place. Screw them, let them burn. And lets be honest, has anyone ever liked Denny's? I swear I haven't had a good meal or prompt service from them in almost 20 years and I'm surprised they're still in business.