Untangling Chains

I've read through yards of comments, this week, relating to articles about the rash of CEOs in the catering or restaurant business whose hackles have been well and truly raised at the prospect of the Affordable Care Act's mandate that they must, if their staff numbers reach a certain level, provide health care insurance cover for full-time employees. A common response from commenters is something which, after a while, began to strike me as tiresomely smug and self-righteous: e.g. "We never, and have never eaten, (alternatively will not in future eat) at Applebee's, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Denny's, Dairy Queen, Papa John's....." the lists go on. These people obviously must live in urban areas where choice abounds. Usually there are added remarks about the quality of food in the named establishments, words such as "garbage" "swill" appear. The usual internet hyperbole!

Whereas I do fully understand the principle and value (in some cases) of boycott, and acknowledge that people are free to choose their eating places, for taste or other reasons, it does seem kind of counter-productive to boycott all chain restaurants if the main reason for doing so relies on the inhumanity of their CEOs. All that's likely to happen, should boycotts become widespread, is that even more jobs will be lost, more people will become unemployed. It's unlikely that small cafés would suddenly spring up to take up the slack and offer jobs in small local establishments, whose owners would not be required to provide health insurance anyway!

Here's an idea: if a person decides to dine in one of the offending eateries, where the chain is not conducting itself well regarding matters mentioned above, why not carry a personal, signed letter addressed to the Manager or Area Manager, expressing concern at the attitude of their company on the matter of health care insurance provision? Withering remarks could be backed up with a link to an on-line article. Ask that the letter, delivered locally by hand, be copied to the company CEO.

The type of food most chain restaurants dish up is not to the taste of everyone. Some of it is certainly not to my own taste, but most of it, especially in the non-fast food places, couldn't, in all fairness, be categorised as "swill" or "garbage". Unimaginative - perhaps! Some of it is unhealthy too, but then, so is some food served in local, privately-run diners. We frequent chain eateries in the course of our road trips, we have a few favourite venues; a few we routinely avoid when possible, too, for reason of our own tastes.

There are certain advantages to chain eateries. 1: Consistency. You know exactly what you're going to get when you order a certain item - wherever you are in the vastness of the USA. Some might consider that not to be a good thing - but it does have advantages. 2: In most states you can be reliably assured that high standards of cleanliness in food preparation and proper storage are fully adhered to in chain establishments. In independently owned businesses, one cannot always be as confident on this score - if you've ever watched TV's Restaurant Impossible
you'll not need convincing!

Another post of mine about the injustices restaurant staff must endure is HERE.

a) LEAP 2012. b) Supporting Food Industry Staff

It's a once-in-4-years-date today. Searching around for something of interest, I noticed an online commenter wondering whether there has ever been a set of twins born very close to midnight at either end of a leap-day, one just before midnight, one just after. If such twins exist one will have a birthday each year, the other, though no doubt used to celebrating annually with their twin, will have a true calendrical birthday only every 4 years.

Astrologically, though, leap years are inconsequential. People born on 29th February are no different from anyone else, they have a natal chart which describes the position of Sun, Moon and planets at the exact time they came into the world. The Sun will return to the same position it was at their time of birth once every year, leap year or not, so leap year babies do have an astrological birthday every year, it will be shown on the calendar as either 28th February or 1 March.



On a different topic entirely, and quite unrelated to astrology, a word or two about an injustice in the USA which goes on, unchecked practically right under our noses.



I've noticed during the past few days articles and threads of enlightening comments about the conditions under which restaurant and fast-food outlet staff are expected to work. That Oscar-nominated movie The Help reminded us of a terrible injustice which happened decades ago; today's version of what went on in The Help, though somewhat milder, is still injustice.

See, for instance:

Is Your Local Restaurant Relying on Exploited Women's Labor?
and
Restaurant workers Show Up Sick

When I lived in the UK (most of my life) it was common knowledge over there that British tourists to the US were always overjoyed to find that eating out was so cheap - far cheaper than in the UK. I now realise why that is!

A snip from the first of the above links, the article is by Michelle Chen:

Federal law makes the labor of tipped workers especially cheap (assuming that tips will make up the difference): a subminimum wage of just $2.13 compared to the standard $7.25 for other sectors. And of restaurant workers who rely on tips, most are women, concentrated in jobs like serving and tending the counter.

The lower-wage tier for restaurant work reflects a legacy of discrimination in labor regulation. Historically, sectors relying heavily on women and people of color, such as domestic work and farm work, have been excluded from critical labor protections.
But the inequity restaurant workers face isn’t just a bread-and-butter issue of wages. A national survey of several thousand restaurant workers found that:
90 percent lack paid sick days and 90 percent do not receive health insurance through their employers. One third of all female restaurant workers … lack any kind of health care, whether provided by their employer or otherwise.

Families suffer when parents can’t afford to take a day off to care for an ill child. And when sick food-service employees drag themselves to work, everyone is at risk. A majority of restaurant workers reported “going to work and cooking, preparing, or serving food while sick,” according to ROC’s study–a startling 70 percent among women. Imagine a bout of the flu in a hot, crowded kitchen, and how many hands touched your salad on its way to the table.

Those thoughts could easily put me off eating out ever again, but it wouldn't help struggling food industry staff and their families. What's needed is for well-regarded politicians and Union leaders to start fighting for better pay and improved conditions for these massively under-appreciated workers. Cost of eating out would necessarily go up, but so be it. Do we wish to enjoy ourselves at the expense of those who help us to do so?

All we can continue to do, for now, is to show appreciation by adding a decent level of tip, at least 15%, to the meal's cost, considering it to be a part of the fair price of the food and service we have received.