Summer Help
 

My wife and I had lunch at Giuseppe’s yesterday and our server was a very nice young woman from Romania. I was very impressed with her attentiveness, her outgoing personality and her fluency in English. She’s here for her second summer during her college break which resumes on October. I started to think that we are very lucky to have young people like her come here during the summer as staff in our restaurants and hotels. We’d be lost without them.

Many local restaurants hire eastern europeans . American students want to leave in early august too soon for most businesses

Unfortunately not that they want to leave, they need to leave as many college dorm move in days are mid August and many schools also begin classes before Labor Day


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We had a server at the Weathervane either last year or the year before who was from China. She said she was here to learn English. Her service was ok but had a lot more to learn.

Pictographs, Maybe?
 

Last season, we also had a waitress from China, but to order, we had to point to the choice on the menu! :eek2:

She then wrote it down in...um...um...Chinese cursive...

字
小
雪

.

Summer businesses
 

Yes most of the seasonal businesses in the area hire foreign students. They are workaholics and very friendly to tourists. This year you notice every business is short on help and some open late and close early due to lack of employees.

Recently business owners had a round table discussion with state and national politicians regarding employment. The biggest problem is lack of a workforce for the demand. Why unemployment is low in NH.

Biggest reason is lack of housing for students and blue collar workers. Need to be addressed as low and middle income housing is seriously lacking. Developers and builders pay a premium for lots. They can only make money if they build expensive homes. Today because of changing demographics, the demand for higher end homes have dropped. I know of one student who wants to work in the Lakes Region and could not find housing. To commute from Bethlehem NH, will cost him more than he would make!

Second reason is green card availability. The current administration drastically cut the visas this year, so it is difficult for the seasonal businesses to staff for the season. With low unemployment, the cut came at the wrong time!

You will notice room, meals and grocery prices have increase, mainly because wages have gone up to attract help. Establishment has also notice a decline in business because of increase prices. There have to be a balance between attracting employees and attracting business.

When the city of Seattle increase the minimum wage to $15 in the city, many hospitality businesses have either went belly up or move out. People just can't justify spending that kind of money!

The young woman from Romania who waited on us said she and her cousin were renting from the Giuseppes's owner. I asked if she had any help from the state in finding a job and she said she did it on her own. Seems that the state should be actively involved to make sure we have enough summer help for visitors to NH to have a great experience and keep coming back.

We went to El Jimador at the Weirs the other day and needed a translator. It took much longer to order and then the manager had to come over to make sure the server took our orders correctly. I think he came to the table three times. Wasn't a good dining experience.

Why must we continue with the same old things? The lakes region has seen a tremendous growth in the retirement population, me included. Should not the local businesses change their business model to support this growth. Yes, many restaurants are saying they can’t get help, but have you tried to find a table on a Friday or Saturday evening.


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What would you have them do?

It's a matter of availability.

Perhaps retirees could reenter the work force to help fill the gaps?

That's the point--many restaurants are hard to get into not because they're full but because they don't have enough help to fill to capacity. I know every time I eat at The Bob House, Canoe, etc. they aren't full but tell people they can't take reservations.

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I agree. We went to Canoe with a party of 6 monday and the place was filled except for the porch downstairs which was closed. I asked my server and she said the servers would not be able to handle the additional tables.

My service was very efficient and BTW had one of my best meals I have ever had there. Additional tables with the same help definitely would have been an issue

Many students start early here in the states. Our Granddaughter going back this weekend as she is working during orientation. When we lived on Cape Cod many of the summer help were from Ireland. Really great kids happy to be here and learn first hand about our great country. Those native to the states also want to take time to relax and o some back to school shopping prior to returning to college thus they leave in mid August.

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I am a retired workaholic and continuing aquaholic

This was a headline story in yesterday's Boston Globe, with a focus on teens working at Canobie Lake Park.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business...SGI/story.html

Don't get me started
 

Seasonal or year-round help in this region is a challenge for many reasons. I've seen busy restaurant choose to close because they were under staffed.

Retirees and vacationers have driven rental values beyond affordable.

There is a generation that has been mislead about what a good work ethic is.

What may be that rare occasion that someone makes a mistake or fails to please a customer ends up a headline on an Internet review site. One has to have pretty tough skin to deal with that and the ribbing they take from their peers.

Why work when there are so many ways to live off the dole? More than once this has been the case, People have quite their job with us because the high earnings jeopardize their hand-outs'

College kids do have to go back to school but they also want to get a vacation so they often quite a week or two early.

I believe that the tide will turn soon because the robotic age is about to displace many workers. They won't find jobs building robots because robots build robots. People will be turning to the restaurant business in droves because the money can be very good when done well.

I opened during the great recession and could not keep up with the number of applicants, up until a few years ago. I have had standing "help wanted" ads out all season and am lucky to get an inquirer per week. Then for every ten interviews scheduled I'm lucky to have one show up. Then of every ten I hire, I'm lucky to get one to show for work. Then for every ten to come to work I'm lucky to get one who does work. Consequently I've had to hire some who I likely would have passed on, only to find myself being held hostage to their disrespect at times.

Each year I hire one or two young foreign workers. I wish I could keep them because they have the work ethics and respect for their job reminiscent of the 1970s.

You nailed it Baygo! Amen!

Busy on the weekends, but...
 

Yes, they are busy on the weekends, but unlike years gone by, they do not have the staff to be open 7 days per week during their prime seasonal season. What you do not see now is the "townies" who worked the last 2 years of HS and 2-4 yrs of college. This was in the restaurants, motel housekeeping, etc..

Many restaurants are closed on Mon, Tue, Wed, or a combination of these days. One restaurant in Alton is closed on Sunday, and not for religious reasons. It is all about staffing. We tend to go out to eat for lunch, late lunch or an early dinner on the weekends.

JMHO, yours may vary.

Dave

Very well said, Baygo
 

I grew up in the construction business in the Lakes Region. My brothers have taken over my father's contracting business. They relate the same issues. Many people don't work because it's easier not to. Those who do work are hit or miss, largely miss. No one wants to work overtime, even in the busy summer season where they could work 12 hour days if they wanted to. How do you get ahead in life - hard work, whether school or business.

Thankfully, in my business, we see young people with great work ethics. However, we hire the cream of the crop. Occasionally, we hire someone who feels entitled, but that has always been the case. Perhaps the issue is the lack of entry-level employees, with quality individuals pursuing more high paying jobs. It seems like kids don't want to have summer jobs, so that may contribute to the problem. My kids are grown, but had summer jobs starting when they were 15. Of my peers and their children, my kids were an anomaly.

Anyway, the issue needs to be fixed. Several local employers have petitioned for increased work visas, so hopefully that solves the problem.

Closing on historical slow weekdays, reducing menu items, limiting the number of tables a server is serving to maintain a high quality of service each one of us excepts is a change to one business model. The whole housing cost is a different issue. The costs of housing in Laconia is the same if not lower then surrounding towns. It’s the city taxes that get us all. At the Cape and islands and lower Maine business owners have housing for their seasonal employees. Here, how many can say that.


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Il Faro in the Weirs is closed Mondays and Tuesdays

It's the same issue all over New England. It's even worse in the construction business. American kids don't want to get their hands dirty today.
My son inlaw is a fireman and most fireman have side jobs. He just put a big addition on his house and he used many of his co workers but he told me that the foreigners that he used showed up on time did a better job than any of his fireman co workers. He said his friends did shoddy work, never showed up when they were suppose to and were lazy.

This all sounds like Rome before the fall! Sometimes affluence can lead to complacency. Or perhaps the social safety net strips away the need to toil at the lower pay scales.


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Increase Tips to 25%...?
 

Yes, the state should raise The Meals and Rooms Tax to pay for summer help.
:rolleye1:

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How does raising tax...
 

Pay for employees salary?

You must be a democrat...Pass money through the Govt., who then distributes it to restaurants to pay for their employees? Jeeeez…

How about the restaurant raise the cost of their product to pay for their help? Isn't this how every other business does business?

Open tables
 

I understand the problems, but one thing that really burns my toast is to be asked to wait in the lobby and wait for a table, when I see empty tables available just because they are short handed. I would rather sit at a table and wait for service than stand at the door. JMHO.

How about if the State had an office to help employers find help and help potential employees with the state department paperwork needed to work here? And I would expect that would include coordinating housing. I commend Giuseppe’s for what they do as they found an excellent server and help with housing. I suspect the work visa is contingent on already having a job and housing. Maybe other employers are already doing that but I think it might help to have a central coordinator.

And there may not need to be a tax increase if restaurants can now stay open on Monday’s and Tuesday’s and collect more revenue.

The problem is once people sit, maybe not yourself though, they expect service to begin immediately or grow more impatient because they are sitting and see others served.


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:I was just typing the same thought. Maybe really comfy couches to wait on:):)

At 9% it's already one of the highest in the country

I agree with you on this. I would be much happier to be seated at the table and wait a bit for my meal than wait in the lobby. But when I asked about this, I was told, as joey said, that people don't want to wait and the cook only wants to be seated only those that he can cook for. I do think it is not a popular decision though for most of us. I have heard lots of people complain.

Though some times we fail, I find it hard to believe that anyone in the restaurant business has any intentions other than to please a guests. I earned my first dollar in the business 51 years ago. I've had the fortunate experience to enjoy the tutelage of some very successful restaurateurs along the way. Seating a guest before being ready to serve the guest is universally understood to be a practice that is more likely to lead to disappointment for the guest as well as disappointments for other guest as well as additional stress on staff who hate to see a guest neglected which can lead to other mistakes that consume more time.


Once a guest is seated the clock ticks in double time. The guest who has to wait for the table is left with one complaint whereas the seated guest will now exaggerate the time it took for the server to come by, then the time it took to order drinks, then the time to get the drinks. ect..

My restaurant has a system that I can refer to, to find the actual time every step is taken. I have yet to encounter a guest who stated the time they thought to pass that has actually been reasonably close to actual time.

Yes, there are always exceptions to a rule however when attempting to please the masses it is better to play the odds. We only want you to be happy.

The problem of finding workers is not a nationwide one; out here on the Left Coast there is no staffing shortage that I can see.

Portland has a vibrant restaurant scene with no lack of folks wanting and willing to work there.

I suspect that is due in part to the fact that a lot of younger folks have moved here because it's a "hip" place to live, a reputation fueled in part by the TV show "Portlandia."

Many arrive here looking for and taking whatever job they can find.

I understand the dynamic is completely different in the lakes region, a quasi-rural area.

One question as to the imported workers: where do they live while working in NH for the season?

I assume that the employer provides /pays for their housing?

If so, wouldn't this negatively affect the employer's overall bottom line profitability profitability?

At 9% it’s higher the any county in NYS which includes NYC. Raising the rate will absolutely hurt business.


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The problem is, it's not only YOU that has to wait for service. As people pile up, EVERYONE in the restaurant now would suffer slow service. Frankly, once I have gotten there early enough to be seated, I expect reasonable service at that point. Are you saying once you are seated you are willing to be totally ignored until previous diners are done? If not, than any service given to you cuts out of MY time and all others as well. Now a server has to deal with ALL of his customers being unhappy.

If you really mean that you expect NO service for up to an hour, I think that is magical thinking. Can you image 20 tables of people getting NO service for an hour while I and others finished our meals. I think it would get VERY ugly.

When I go into a busy, popular restaurant and they tell me the wait is an hour, I have the choice of stepping into the lounge, if available, and nursing a drink or two, waiting patiently, or going elsewhere. I know what to expect and no one else is inconvenienced because of my demand for service.

If your car dies, do you expect the dealership to fix yours ahead of everyone else waiting for the limited number of mechanics available? They might have 8 work bays but only 4 mechanics. Sometimes it can take a couple days to get the car looked at and parts received.

I agree it's disappointing not to be able to get service. I have seen many signs lately to hire cooks. I am sure the restaurants would LOVE to be able to accommodate more people and make more money. It's a hard problem to solve and the current way of dealing with it may not be perfect but I don't think this type of suggestion would work well.

I appreciate your reply. Not being in the restaurant business, I didn't realize that "seating a guest before being ready to serve the guest is universally understood to be a practice that is more likely to lead to disappointment". Until this summer I have never seen half the tables empty at a restaurant and yet there was an hour wait. I, personally, would be very happy to sit and visit with a couple of drinks alcoholic or not, if the server told us we would have to wait a while, rather than wait on a bench. But apparently I am not in the majority. I have heard the chatter and seen a lot of people leave when they see the empty tables and are told they have to wait so it makes me wonder. Probably this is more evident this year because of the shortage of help. I have never seen it like this before, ever.

Next Time...
 

...I may need to use more "eye-rolls"...

:rolleye1: :rolleye1: :rolleye1: :rolleye1: :rolleye1: :rolleye1: :rolleye1:

What is keeping summer help away? Is it the dependence on tips to arm any money combined with the fact that people (in general) who go out to eat up here are poor tippers? 45 yrs ago my wife worked as a waitress at a restaurant on Cape Cod & I worked in a factory. She made 2 times what I did over the summer and 90% of her $ came from tips.


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Actually, things have gone it the opposite direction. 45 years ago the customary tip was 15%, then 25 years ago or so it moved towards 18%, today its 20% and even higher in a restaurant where the staff is more knowledge for food allergies and sophisticated wines lists.

Today we even see people tipping for counter/take-out service.

Limited availability of low cost housing is a major factor into why summer help and blue collar workers are in short supply this season. But, not for the reason most believe. Laconia is the section 8 housing capital of the Lakes Region. Owners of multi unit housing in the region prefer a check from the government rather then chasing down renters. City leaders over the past 20 years have also been seeking government dollars by moving public housing to section 8. Those qualified for section 8 housing rarely join the work force. This trend needs to be stopped for the region to grow. I ask you to think before you add to the “tip jar” that has been floating around the local businesses this summer


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I recall a friend on Cape Cod saying that $100 in tips was a poor night. Actually I don't know how many tables she served. That was in the 80's. She also worked full time. Wonder what she would make today if still working.

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I am a retired workaholic and continuing aquaholic