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The state of the economy at the street level

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There and also just near the servo on the left another favourite spot for revenue raising
 
frugal.rock said:
I've noticed that some walks of life are treating jobs and employers as disposable.
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having worked for several 'Mega-corps ' that have treated the employees the same way ( since the '70's )

all i can say is ... karma is a bitch

i do feel for the small/medium business who does the right thing ( and for the right reasons ) and they get bitten in the butt ( at best only their best staff poached )
 

Personally I've been there, done that with the "live to work thing". Eat, sleep, work 7 days a week - very doable if it needs to be done.

Life though is for living and I think the overall events of the past 3 years have brought many to a realisation that what they thought could be taken for granted can actually disappear in an instant. That being so, if the opportunity presents to do x then do it now not tomorrow becomes the thinking.

Hence the spending on experiences etc and lack of willingness to sacrifice today for the promise of tomorrow. Tomorrow may well be cancelled.

That plus a very strong message has been sent that when push comes to shove, imprudence is more likely to be rewarded than prudence. That's what the actions of governments during the pandemic amounted to - spendthrifts were given a doubling of the dole and no waiting times to keep them out of trouble, now the savers get punished through inflation.
 
And i would add:
Be entrepreneur and start a business: be it a cafe, a restaurant or renovate an airbnb or put it all in a rental property and the government wiped you out in a sec with a lockdown, a decree overnight while your new tenant get scotch free and the dole guy next door gets extra $
For the frog and others, start an international business and see nearly 3y of de facto travel ban.
Worse, spend years in training as a nurse, a GP , a cop or teacher and be prevented to work /fired for flimsy political pretext .
All the very essence of what USSR was, and crossing fingers created its downfall.
No reward for effort and authoritarian management of individual lives.
So individuals respond as they should, and it is not me who will blame them.
Do not count on them, or me to work bare the required minimum..which for many can be 0, either thru dole or early retirement
Some will say it was incidental, i think it was intentional: the basis of socialism embedded structure and another step in the Reset.
Societal engineering...
 
All this talk about people and their work ethic reminds me of family discussions with my wife's Uncles, when we were younger. They would talk about the 1970's, about how easy it was to find a job. Basically they could "leave one job, walk across the road and get another job", and the pay was good.

Funny how the working class enjoyed the opportunities of having choices in choosing the employment that suited them and receiving good pay for it, but everyone else did not. Hence the increase in the interest rates.

And here we are again, people angry about workers leaving a job they don't like and testing others. Interest rates increasing, so as to cause higher unemployment.

Are we repeating the 1970's? I think so, but with a little more control and knowledge.
 
Had a very interesting encounter today, took out my wife and kids today for lunch. Got some chips hot food coffee etc.

The quality was below average, hot food wasn't really hot, coffee came out of sync with everything and had to prove we paid for the muffins (paid seperate) which would of never came if we didn't mention it.

It was all teenagers doing the floor, when I raised the issues with a big smirk the 18yo or whatever girl basically said straight out she doesn't care, doing the bare minimum... she has no hope of buying a property or anything the other generations had so doesn't give a fek.

So I threw a 50 at her and said I don't give a fek too about the weekend surcharge or about the 100+ bill, her service and sht food is worth 50 at most.

Yeah feel bad for the owner, they weren't there. Its not my problem the person in charge feels like this, in the end of the day business is business

I feel this kind of attitude is the norm now
 

Maybe that is the attitude now, I can't blame her or you for your reaction.

It shows to me that if a business doesn't look after their employees then the employees will respond in kind, like it or not.

With low unemployment (for how long, who knows) employees can afford to tell the boss to shove it. In my view this attitude is a result of constant casualisation, outsourcing and diminution of wages and conditions. How can you have company loyalty when employees don't know who they are working for tomorrow and can't see a career path ?

Too much short term profit taking, not enough investment in the future.
 
thanks for reminding me why i don't eat out much ,

but don't worry some staff will finish college or uni. ( and move elsewhere ) and the least talented will ascend to management
 
but that has been coming for years ( the attitude ) , it isn't new , just more prevalent

wait until management are stuck with robot workers that should be fun ( to watch )
 
Don't feel bad for the owner.

A motivated boomer friend worked at a winery. Trendy, good name, but he quit; owner used to watch them on cctv from his home and bark into phone if he detected "slacking". The staff discount bottles of wine were good while they lasted.

But then, owner was being hammered; a leading Sydney restaurant wanted to run with his label, but offering $8 a bottle for what was quality and probably would be retailed at $15 a glass. He declined.
 
And am rereading The Undercover Economist by Tim Harcourt. 2006. Good stuff. The principles don't go away.
 

The blame has to be shared, but the owner/management must take the lion share.

I've been away for three weeks, we had family and friends come visit us and we took them to the pubs, restaurants and cafes for a meal. We had take-away on the beach and cooked for them after sourcing from the local grocery. We did not have a bad experience to share, all were different and fun.
The biggest meals came from one of the local pubs, which is now our local when we stay in the town on a very regular basis. All the meals are fresh, tasty, and old school large pub food. We love it. I think that they can do this by being family owned & operated, with a small loyal staff group.
Best quality came from the restaurant, which looks out of place in a small coastal town but is thriving from word of mouth across the region. The menu is smart and modern 4-5 star, though portions are small the experience makes up for it. They have a large number of staff, very loyal and helpful. Run by a husband and wife team, they respect their staff and treat them like family, they also make sure that there is no burn-out by having regular closed days for recuperation.
There a few cafes in the town, one was great but we've stayed away lately due to a noticeable drop in quality and service. Another is under new management & so far has had a flying staff with great food and happy staff offering great service.
The fish & chip shop serves amazing fish, fresh from the local fishermen. The service & friendly and prompt, the staff do their best for the owner & cook.

The hospitality industry wold have to be one of the hardest jobs on the planet. keeping motivated, not burning out, trying to offer quality food at a good price, dealing with all sorts of customers with their own issues. I don't know how owners and managers do it, but I take my hat of too all the good ones.
 

Very "interesting".

I'm imagining it from the perspective of the staff: busy, overworked, underappreciated, dealing with entitled boomers, sweating away in what should be their free time to try and make rent, bills and groceries.

In you come, pull her aside to raise the issues. I expect better quality food. My coffee didn't come when I expected it to. YOU FORGOT MY MUFFINS.

Smile, yes sir, I make minimum wage and have no control over the kitchen. (behind the smile: mate, you are 1% of 1% of my day I don't get paid enough to give a **** about you or anything you have to say)

Your reaction: pay less than half the bill, insult her and the establishment and leave.

I feel bad for your kids.
 
Looks as if you were lucky to come away with a morsel and a drink after that sort of service.
 
perhaps you would happily pay full price for a inferior product which was not that was advertised, bend over on the way out and say thank you.. but all I did is nicely enquire and was given attitude to which I replied with the same calibre tone. Yep important lesson for my kids how the world works and not to be walked over, not to confuse with walking over others
 
It certainly is a difficult time, inflation on the up, borrowing costs up, living costs up, house values down, rents up. Very messy.

Is the "Fair Go" over in Australia?

The Treasury will release a report today applauding solid intergenerational income mobility – aka the progress of incomes dependent on your economic background – and its fascinating how the mainstream press put their spin on it. The Guardian is dour: Children born into Australia’s poorest...
www.macrobusiness.com.au
 
I've only once taken issue with anyone working in hospitality.

Long story short - waiter tipped a jug of water straight onto my lap.

No apology offered even when it was mentioned and let's just say I wasn't happy. Nor would most be pleased if they then had to walk through the CBD looking like they'd wet their pants.

There are crap customers but there's crap workers in the industry too, it's not all one sided. Apologising and making efforts to rectify a stuff up isn't that hard.....
 
i didn't see any fingers pointed at ( 50 years of ) government policy in that article

various 'government incentives ' for first home buyers are a primary cause for jacked prices , extra government ( and council ) regulations , extra taxes , fees , charges and duties haven't helped ( conned the poor things into contracts they couldn't reasonably afford at the time )

in fact it seemed the more that government 'helped ' the worse things got

i have also watched tertiary learning centres ( colleges/universities ) devolve into juvenile distraction centres
 
Enjoy staying on the bottom or becoming unemployed for life with that attitude. People talk and people remember faces. The above thinking is probably why we need a nasty recession.
I currently work with helping immigrants set-up businesses. They work 7 days a week 16 hours a day. There's a reason that in one generation they can go from absolutely nothing, to their kids being doctors and lawyers. Not to mention housing and driving around in $250k mercs.

My experience with some of the "quietly quitting" kids is that they are entitled shts and tomorrow's losers. I had one the other day advise one friend that they should do the bare minimum in their aged care job (ie not helping clean them up).
What an absolutely sht take. People that are already struggling and you want to dehumanise them more.

These dipshts are born whingers
 
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