While the past year certainly had its share of problems that continue to linger today, one issue that seems to have sprung up specifically in 2021 is the labor shortage that continues to complicate America’s service industry.
And while some have shared their theories as to why it’s been happening and how it can be resolved , it doesn’t seem as though a widespread and effective solution is within sight.
Further complicating matters are certain bait-and-switch tactics that see apparently struggling businesses give the impression that they’re desperate to hire anyone, but who turn people down on superficial grounds when they actually apply.
Yet while that doesn’t appear to be the case for pizzeria now making that claim online, that hasn’t stopped some from being suspicious as to why they’ve had such a hard time finding employees.
On August 18, Dave’s Pizza in Homewood, Alabama made a big splash on Facebook when they posted a graphic proclaiming that they’ll hire anyone right now.
As their post stated , “We will literally hire anyone. If you’re on unemployment and can’t find a job, call us.”
And at first, this seemed to attract a significant level of positive attention from customers and other readers.
Many posted messages of encouragement and sympathy at the struggle to find employees and some former employees turned up to report on the positive experiences they had working there.
And when one user asked if that meant “long-haired freaky people” could now work there, the owner assured him that he himself is about as long-haired and freaky as they come.
However, it seems that the love fest didn’t last long as some different comments started to show up within the following two days.
While some were concerned about what “anyone” meant and others reported experiences that cast doubt on what a great place the restaurant was to work, most of these suspicious comments seemed to assume that people weren’t applying there due to the pay they’d receive.
And they weren’t exactly convinced otherwise by the way the owner responded to their comments.
The most thorough response seemed to come as a reply to a comment that said, “Y’all have had a ‘now hiring’ banner up for years before the pandemic so even in like 2018 you couldnt pay people enough to put up with this place and it’s customers lol.”
But while the owner’s reply admitted that the pizza place’s labor problems couldn’t entirely be blamed on the pandemic, it was how they responded to the question of starting pay that left something to be desired.
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While some commenters pointed out that it’s their business as to how much they pay employees and that it varies by the candidate, the fact that a rough range wasn’t provided led critics to believe it wasn’t likely to sound attractive.
So unless enough of the more positive replies were left by people in the area who were willing to speak to a manager themselves, it doesn’t seem likely that the restaurant’s labor problems will go away anytime soon.