Every restaurant I go into seems to have a 30+ minute wait, and it just wasn't like this a couple of years ago.
I always ask why is it so long, and they say “we're super short staffed. We only have 2 waiters here.”
But then when I apply to these places, even though I'm very clean cut with an open schedule, I never even get an interview.
It makes me think the owner is okay with having a skeleton crew having 1 person doing the job of 3. And I also think that customers are now just used to a shittier experience post covid.
What I'm trying to say is: I don't think there is a true labor shortage. Instead there seems to be a hiring shortage even though a lot of places need it.
I've also notice this with a local grocery store. The place now close at 8 pm instead of 10 pm like it used to. They say it's the lack of employees, but I can guarantee they probably have a 100 plus resumes to choose from. I know this because I can name several people that I know off of the top of my head that applied their for a summer job with no call back.
Today at Rite-Aid, there was a line of 10 people with just one cashier. I told her she has it rough, and she said “boss just never wants to hire more people is all. Just throw it alllll on me.''