I want to write to you about something that has been bothering me for some time now. That something is the fact that now a lot of Americans think it is stylish to be uneducated, unaware, and generally obnoxious. If you fall into this category of Americans, you need to decide whether to read on or go polish the mud flaps on your pickup truck instead. If you are one of these people and are easily offended, I'd recommend working on the mud flaps instead of reading on.
Over about the last ten years it seems like I've been encountering more and more of these people. When I was much younger we were taught to be inquisitive, embrace learning opportunities, and value knowledge. Even knowledge we knew we'd most likely never use. When we found that we really didn't know something that we should have known, we did a pretty good job of not letting anyone know that we didn't have that particular pearl of knowledge and then we went and learned it on the sly so we'd have it available for next time.
Today things are different. More and more often I hear things like "I don't know nothing about that" and "Who cares as long as I have a big screen TV" and "I have a constitutional right to...blah...blah...blah." The whole "constitutional right" thing is a subject for another post so I'm not going to get started on it here, but just suffice it to say that's the one that makes me livid every time. A chance encounter with an individual of this mentality during a visit to the grocery store yesterday was what compelled me to make this particular post.
In case you happen to be reading this at some future date, most of the world is currently being impacted to some degree by a coronavirus pandemic. A lot of people have died from it, a lot of people are sick, and most of us are scared shitless over the whole thing. Omaha, the city where I live, has restrictions in place that have closed restaurants, bars, and most any business where people congregate and generally just hang out near each other for any amount of time. Financially it has been very hard on many residents and local businesses and it has been an inconvenience for most of us in some way.
Grocery stores are impacted by the pandemic to some degree, but they are not closed. Customers who typically shop for small amounts of groceries several times each week are trying to limit their possible exposure to the virus by going as infrequently as possible and buying enough stuff that they don't have to go back in a day or two. We frequent several different grocery stores, but I chose this one yesterday because I had a prescription ready at the pharmacy, so I decided to just shop for groceries while I was there. I will say that this grocery store is not my favorite because they are much more expensive and I think the company is kind of shifty. Most grocery stores lowered prices when the pandemic hit in order to help their financially-strapped customers, but these guys raised them instead hoping no one would really take notice. In retrospect, I should have just picked up my medication and driven the six blocks to another grocery store, but I guess then I wouldn't have been compelled to get this off my chest and share it with you.
This particular grocery store had decided for some reason that the best way to combat coronavirus was to make their aisles one way. To get to an item in a particular aisle you have to be moving the correct direction or the grocery police will immediately come to you and let you know that you are a violator. If you happen to pass an item that you intended to buy, you can't just turn around and go back for it. You have to continue to the end of the aisle, go up an adjacent aisle, and then make another pass though the aisle where your item is located, hopefully remembering to grab it this time. If you think this can be confusing, you're right. It's like when a pilot is trying to land an airliner and realizes that he's coming in too high so instead of landing anyway he gives the plane some gas, pulls up, and circles around to try it again.
Ok, back to my story. I was going down the aisle with baking supplies and spices in order to get to the end and turn up an adjacent aisle where the item I wanted was located and I ran into a guy and his daughter coming toward me the wrong way. He was pushing the cart down the center of the aisle with his rotund body swaying side to side in what best could be described as an over-confident swagger. She was running behind him trying to get him to put on a medical mask and shouting about coronavirus. He had the usual shorts that went to his ankles, untied high top basketball shoes, a sleeveless t-shirt that read "Protected by Smith and Wesson," some scraggly facial hair, and what may have been a MAGA hat but I'm not sure because he was wearing it backwards. The grocery police were nowhere to be seen. I would have expected them to be all over this flagrant violation of their new grocery store traffic rules.
What triggered me to actually sit down and write this post was when I heard his reply to his daughter's pleas for him to wear a mask. He said to his young daughter "I don't need no fucking mask! Ain't no goddamned fucking coronavirus gonna get me so shut the fuck up." Of course this all came out at a volume level sufficient to be heard for three aisles in either direction. As we passed each other he looked me in the eye and said "What??" with a mildly disturbing level of animosity. My immediate urge was to grab a Pyrex baking dish off the shelf and beat him to death with it before continuing with my shopping, but I decided not to engage. I figured he would probably remove himself from the gene pool eventually anyway, maybe by following our genius president's recent advice to drink a bunch of Lysol. Throughout all this I did not see the grocery police even once.
To get back to the original purpose of my post, I can tell you that I see more and more of this behavior all the time. And the thing is, people acting like this are actually proud of the fact that they aren't really even aware of what's going on around them and they have no desire to become so. Our "stable genius" president has encouraged this type of living thoughtlessly, in complete ignorance, and without any consideration of others so now it's ok for them to act this way right out in the open instead of trying to conceal it somehow. I'm having a really hard time figuring this out. Maybe you have the answer, but I sure don't. The only thing I can think of right now is to just keep heavy objects away from easy reach while at the grocery store and hope for the best.
Monday, April 27, 2020
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Is it Time for Restaurant Employees to Return to Work?
This is a question every restaurant employee in Nebraska has been struggling with this weekend. On Friday our Governor, Pete Ricketts, issued an order that allows restaurants to reopen on May 4. I want to discuss it here, so if you're not from Nebraska or you really don't care about Nebraska restaurants or their employees, then this post isn't for you and you should move on to something more engaging like my post about pet bobcats.
Before I start telling you what I think about this decision, I want to be honest and let you know that I currently do not work in the restaurant industry. I did, however, spend many (30+) years in the industry as a chef and restaurant owner/operator. I retired from it several years ago because I am older and no longer able to perform at my best in that environment. I'm lucky enough to have another career path which has now landed me in the healthcare industry at the largest healthcare provider in Nebraska, which also happens to be one of the top organizations in the world for COVID-19 research and treatment. My wife is still in the restaurant industry and she has been impacted by COVID-19. I should also let you know that, although I generally don't agree with anything our Governor does, I think he has done a great job of leading our state through the COVID-19 pandemic up to this point. Just so you know, those are the things that influence my perspective on this situation.
Nebraska restaurants have been closed by executive order for several weeks in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19 and to "flatten the curve." (I'm not going to tell you what "flatten the curve" means because it has been explained in the news for weeks and if you don't know you can just Google it.) This was, and still is, the guidance provided by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). As of this morning, the CDC is still recommending that restaurants remain closed for dine-in business. The Governor's order directly contradicts the guidance of the CDC and Nebraska's healthcare experts.
About a week ago the White House issued some guidance for reopening sectors of the economy using a phased approach. The first phase required a two week downward trend in the number of new COVID-19 cases, sufficient available hospital capacity, and a target percentage of available ventilators on hand. In Nebraska we have met some of these conditions, but our number of cases are still increasing. We have still not reached our peak so we have not yet met the White House's decreasing cases criteria for Phase One reopening. The numbers reported by the state do not match the actual numbers of diagnosed and treated COVID-19 cases, so we should regard the State of Nebraska's numbers with some doubt.
Governor Ricketts relaxed the requirements for filing unemployment claims so that restaurant employees impacted by the closure of their workplaces due to COVID-19 became a valid reason for receiving unemployment benefits. This has been a great help to restaurant employees, especially when combined with federal COVID-19 assistance. It is the difference between making ends meet and living on the street for many of them.
If you're familiar with how unemployment insurance works from the employer's perspective, you know that the number of paid claims is one of the determining factors in a restaurant's cost of unemployment insurance. More paid claims means a higher cost of insurance to the employer. Governor Ricketts, through an executive order, exempted COVID-19 claims from this. If a restaurant closes due to COVID-19 and all of that restaurant's employees file unemployment and collect it, then it doesn't affect the restaurant's insurance rates. I applaud our Governor for his insightful decision in this regard. This will be really important later in the post, so make a mental bookmark here.
One of the requirements for reopening would be for employees to wear masks, but there is no requirement for customers to do the same. Obviously you can't require a customer to wear a mask when dining unless he/she is somehow able to consume food and drink through another bodily orifice, but that is a subject for a future post. The bottom line here is that having restaurant employees wear masks protects customers from contracting COVID-19 from employees, but employees are not protected from contracting it from customers due to the nature of how this virus spreads.
In weekly COVID-19 status calls in our organization, our experts are saying that reopening businesses prematurely would likely result in an increase in COVID-19 cases and epidemiologists are advising that we don't do it yet. It is simply not time, yet we are about to do it anyway. Governor Ricketts has listened to these experts up to this point, so why is this the time to stop? I'll let you form your own opinions, but I think this decision places a higher value on money and politics than on safety. You can decide for yourself if you think money is more important than human lives.
I told you earlier to make a mental bookmark so I want to talk about that now. The picture isn't pretty, but here it is. Within an hour of the Governor's order to allow restaurants to reopen Friday, some restaurant employees received texts and emails from their employers saying that their restaurants would be reopening by May 4 and if the employees didn't agree to show up for work and agree to a variable schedule they would be terminated for "job abandonment." For unemployment claims this would effectively terminate any benefits being paid. The employee could either return to work with a reduced schedule and lose any unemployment benefits or they would lose all benefits because they "abandoned" their jobs. If these employers left their employees in a status of "laid off due to COVID-19" the employees would still be able to collect unemployment benefits with no financial impact to the employer. If they change the employee's status to "job abandonment" it would have no financial advantage to the employer and would serve no purpose. It would just be spiteful and the threat to do so would be nothing short of coercion.
Think about this for a minute. These employers are effectively coercing their employees to return to a potentially deadly work environment or risk losing any financial safety nets the government is offering in response to COVID-19. They are being told that returning to a work environment that could make them sick or kill them and their family is their only option. I know what I think about this, but hopefully you can figure out that these employers are not only ethically challenged, but morally bankrupt.
I'd like to say that these are inexperienced restaurateurs and they don't know better, but they are not. One of the ones I know of that has done this has been around for 40 years and is proud to tell you that. They should know better by now and if they don't then they certainly have deeper problems than how to reopen after COVID-19.
That should just about wrap up this post. If you had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to say here, then I can sum it up by saying that it's not time to reopen restaurants in Omaha yet because our health experts tell us that. Our Governor knows this, yet he's willing to put lives at risk doing so. Restaurants who think they can coerce their employees into coming back to an unsafe environment should be ashamed of themselves and deserve to remain closed indefinitely.
Before I start telling you what I think about this decision, I want to be honest and let you know that I currently do not work in the restaurant industry. I did, however, spend many (30+) years in the industry as a chef and restaurant owner/operator. I retired from it several years ago because I am older and no longer able to perform at my best in that environment. I'm lucky enough to have another career path which has now landed me in the healthcare industry at the largest healthcare provider in Nebraska, which also happens to be one of the top organizations in the world for COVID-19 research and treatment. My wife is still in the restaurant industry and she has been impacted by COVID-19. I should also let you know that, although I generally don't agree with anything our Governor does, I think he has done a great job of leading our state through the COVID-19 pandemic up to this point. Just so you know, those are the things that influence my perspective on this situation.
Nebraska restaurants have been closed by executive order for several weeks in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19 and to "flatten the curve." (I'm not going to tell you what "flatten the curve" means because it has been explained in the news for weeks and if you don't know you can just Google it.) This was, and still is, the guidance provided by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). As of this morning, the CDC is still recommending that restaurants remain closed for dine-in business. The Governor's order directly contradicts the guidance of the CDC and Nebraska's healthcare experts.
About a week ago the White House issued some guidance for reopening sectors of the economy using a phased approach. The first phase required a two week downward trend in the number of new COVID-19 cases, sufficient available hospital capacity, and a target percentage of available ventilators on hand. In Nebraska we have met some of these conditions, but our number of cases are still increasing. We have still not reached our peak so we have not yet met the White House's decreasing cases criteria for Phase One reopening. The numbers reported by the state do not match the actual numbers of diagnosed and treated COVID-19 cases, so we should regard the State of Nebraska's numbers with some doubt.
Restaurant closures due to COVID-19 have been devastating to Nebraska restaurants and their employees. Some restaurants have responded by pivoting their business models to favor take-out and delivery, but this is no substitute for having paying customers actually in the restaurants spending money. Many restaurants will not recover from this and it's unrealistic to say that they will. If you are in the industry, you probably already know that most restaurants don't have the reserves to weather this event if it goes on for very long. Believe me, I felt the pain of managing daily cash flow in my restaurants and I understand how hard this is. I understand the impact of losing even one day's sales so what I say here is not just something I say lightly.
If you're familiar with how unemployment insurance works from the employer's perspective, you know that the number of paid claims is one of the determining factors in a restaurant's cost of unemployment insurance. More paid claims means a higher cost of insurance to the employer. Governor Ricketts, through an executive order, exempted COVID-19 claims from this. If a restaurant closes due to COVID-19 and all of that restaurant's employees file unemployment and collect it, then it doesn't affect the restaurant's insurance rates. I applaud our Governor for his insightful decision in this regard. This will be really important later in the post, so make a mental bookmark here.
I told you earlier to make a mental bookmark so I want to talk about that now. The picture isn't pretty, but here it is. Within an hour of the Governor's order to allow restaurants to reopen Friday, some restaurant employees received texts and emails from their employers saying that their restaurants would be reopening by May 4 and if the employees didn't agree to show up for work and agree to a variable schedule they would be terminated for "job abandonment." For unemployment claims this would effectively terminate any benefits being paid. The employee could either return to work with a reduced schedule and lose any unemployment benefits or they would lose all benefits because they "abandoned" their jobs. If these employers left their employees in a status of "laid off due to COVID-19" the employees would still be able to collect unemployment benefits with no financial impact to the employer. If they change the employee's status to "job abandonment" it would have no financial advantage to the employer and would serve no purpose. It would just be spiteful and the threat to do so would be nothing short of coercion.
Think about this for a minute. These employers are effectively coercing their employees to return to a potentially deadly work environment or risk losing any financial safety nets the government is offering in response to COVID-19. They are being told that returning to a work environment that could make them sick or kill them and their family is their only option. I know what I think about this, but hopefully you can figure out that these employers are not only ethically challenged, but morally bankrupt.
I'd like to say that these are inexperienced restaurateurs and they don't know better, but they are not. One of the ones I know of that has done this has been around for 40 years and is proud to tell you that. They should know better by now and if they don't then they certainly have deeper problems than how to reopen after COVID-19.
That should just about wrap up this post. If you had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to say here, then I can sum it up by saying that it's not time to reopen restaurants in Omaha yet because our health experts tell us that. Our Governor knows this, yet he's willing to put lives at risk doing so. Restaurants who think they can coerce their employees into coming back to an unsafe environment should be ashamed of themselves and deserve to remain closed indefinitely.
Saturday, April 25, 2020
Letter to Governor Ricketts and the Press
April 25, 2020
Even more disappointing than the Governor’s order was the response by some restaurants. Within hours of the Governor’s order, some restaurant employees who were laid off as a result of COVID-19 received texts and emails form their employers stating that the restaurant would begin the process of reopening and that the employee must commit to returning to work by Monday or the employer would contest the unemployment benefits the employee has been receiving.
As a former restaurant owner/operator, I understand the financial impact a large number of unemployment claims can have on the restaurant’s unemployment insurance rates. Governor Ricketts has already stated, however, that unemployment claims related to COVID-19 would not be included in the determination of a business’s insurance rates. In other words, a large number of COVID-19 related claims would have no financial impact on the business.
The bottom line here is that some restaurant owners are using Governor Ricketts’ order yesterday as leverage to coerce their employees to return to an unsafe work environment.
These unethical operators are threatening employees with loss of benefits unless the employee returns to work before experts say it is safe to do so. In addition, I don’t think they’ve given much thought to their own liability if an employee is coerced into returning to work in an unsafe environment and then gets sick and dies. As a relative of a restaurant worker, if this happened to my loved one I would certainly sue that restaurant out of existence so it could never happen again.
I fully understand the impact this pandemic is having on the restaurant industry, but I think the unethical actions of some restaurant owners are putting their employees and customers at risk in favor of cash flow and we need to call them out on it. Prioritizing money over human lives is simply unethical and morally wrong.
I am writing
to express my concern over Governor Ricketts’ decision yesterday to lift
restrictions on restaurants and also to express my outrage at the immediate
response by some restaurant owners in the Omaha area.
Governor
Ricketts’ decision clearly goes against CDC guidance for opening restaurants
during this pandemic. As of this
morning, the CDC web site says “In states with evidence of community
transmission, bars, restaurants, food courts, gyms, and other indoor and
outdoor venues where groups of people congregate should be closed.” In addition, Nebraska Medicine epidemiologists
are saying that now is not the time to relax restrictions. It is the time to double down on our efforts
to reduce the spread of coronavirus through our community. Governor Ricketts has listened to advice from
these experts throughout the pandemic and now is not the time to stop
listening.
Even more disappointing than the Governor’s order was the response by some restaurants. Within hours of the Governor’s order, some restaurant employees who were laid off as a result of COVID-19 received texts and emails form their employers stating that the restaurant would begin the process of reopening and that the employee must commit to returning to work by Monday or the employer would contest the unemployment benefits the employee has been receiving.
As a former restaurant owner/operator, I understand the financial impact a large number of unemployment claims can have on the restaurant’s unemployment insurance rates. Governor Ricketts has already stated, however, that unemployment claims related to COVID-19 would not be included in the determination of a business’s insurance rates. In other words, a large number of COVID-19 related claims would have no financial impact on the business.
The bottom line here is that some restaurant owners are using Governor Ricketts’ order yesterday as leverage to coerce their employees to return to an unsafe work environment.
These unethical operators are threatening employees with loss of benefits unless the employee returns to work before experts say it is safe to do so. In addition, I don’t think they’ve given much thought to their own liability if an employee is coerced into returning to work in an unsafe environment and then gets sick and dies. As a relative of a restaurant worker, if this happened to my loved one I would certainly sue that restaurant out of existence so it could never happen again.
I fully understand the impact this pandemic is having on the restaurant industry, but I think the unethical actions of some restaurant owners are putting their employees and customers at risk in favor of cash flow and we need to call them out on it. Prioritizing money over human lives is simply unethical and morally wrong.
Sincerely,
Jeff Camp