Are We Really Better Off (100th Blog Post)

Many times in this blog I have made complaints about the service industry. I have picked on un-educated people and old people in particular and the frustration they cause me when I am being served by them. There is no excuse for their failure to provide me with good service, but the reason we have to put up with it is because of the good economy we are experiencing here in Newfoundland.

With the economy booming and good paying jobs being somewhat plentiful (depending on the industry), people with any level of education are no longer settling for service jobs that pay minimum wage or only a little bit above. They are going on to other jobs that do not necessarily require any formal education but are paying good wages because the company is experiencing a boom. This leaves the low paying service industries desperate for employees just to meet staffing requirements, and as a result you get people filling these jobs that have absolutely no concept of customer service or responsibility. This explains the un-educated section of the job market.

The good economy has also caused older people, who either never worked before or were supposed to be retired, to enter/re-enter the work force. The inflationary effects of the economy are very obvious. Just go to the grocery store and you'll notice it. What this does is puts an enormous amount of pressure on people on fixed incomes and they need to supplement that income somehow. They do this by filling the vacant jobs in the service industry and when they get their they are over their heads because they are not familiar with the processes. Being older they are also less receptive to training and tend to learn at a slower rate (yes there are lots of exceptions). Another major issue is they are extremely unmotivated. If I was 60 years old and working at Tim Hortons, my motivation level would also be in the shitter, that's for sure.

So are we really any better off with this economy? Not to jump on a bandwagon with all the "occupy" movements, but have we just created a place where the really rich get richer and the really poor get poorer? Or am I reading into this way too much? I guess with the good you have to take the bad, but either way I'm still not happy with the service I've been receiving!

Bad First Impressions (Guest Blog by Kim Mattsson)

Seriously? Get some common sense people!

Working in the restaurant industry I’ve seen people do some pretty stupid things, things that the average person would think are common sense aren’t necessarily common sense for everyone.

Take for example applying for a job. I’ve seen people come in at lunch or supper (which I will cut them some slack cause even though it’s the worse time for us it may be the only chance they had to drop one off), but there is NO EXCUSE for coming in to drop off a resume in your pyjamas! Really, do people not realize that this is their chance to make a good first impression?

Let’s move on to the people that drop off their resumes in pairs. Yes that’s right, some people come in with a friend or boyfriend/girlfriend and BOTH hand in a resume. Seriously, do you want the job? Usually we are filling one position at a time, so don’t bring the competition with you. Also do you think we want to hire people in a relationship? Trust me, from experience no one wants to be around that drama!

Can’t forget to mention the girls that come in with a “body guard”, by this I mean 2 people walk in the door, the guy stands off to the side and looks intimidating while the girls drops off her resume, then they both leave, or sometimes get a table and stay for something to eat, which is even more awkward.

Also, can we suggest you get a professional e-mail address? No one is going to take you serious when your email address is itsallgood@cyberdude.com. Okay that one is an inside joke, but people seriously have no clue. I’ve seen cookielover@hotmail.com, djspinsalot@hotmail.com, and the list goes on, doesn’t take much to get a proper email address I suggest everyone gets one that isn’t so embarrassing.

Also, spell check never hurt anyone. Seriously, whatever word processing program you’re using most likely underlines words that are misspelled. So again no excuse. While you’re at it, no one really cares about your hobbies section. You’re applying to work in a restaurant that gives people sombreros and a lame song for your birthday, no one cares if you like star gazing, or taking pictures, or martial arts. If it’s not applicable to the job don’t waste your time telling us about it.

Finally, don’t tell the people you are giving your resume to that you really want the job because you hate your current job and then go on to bash your employer, this will get your resume straight to the garbage.

Paul’s word of Advice: get someone who has a better job than you to proofread your resume.