The AP was told by a restaurant manager that she had been using bad attitudes to fill vacant jobs. tartanparty/Shutterstock
According to The AP, a restaurant consultant said she needed to hire people with bad attitudes in order to fill certain roles.
However, rude staff scared customers away, said the consultant.
In the face of a shortage of hospitality workers, US restaurants go to great lengths to fill vacant positions.
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According to The Associated Press, a restaurant manager in Virginia was desperate for staff and said that she had to hire rude people to scare off customers.
This is just one example of how employers in the US are having to reconsider their recruitment needs amid a national shortage of hospitality workers.
Many restaurants responded by raising their minimum wage, offering free food to applicants and starting to hire teens.
According to the AP, Sarah White, a restaurant consultant and area manager at Lost Dog Cafe in Virginia, stated that she needed to hire people with bad attitudes to help fill job vacancies.
White stated that rude employees had deterred customers.
She told The AP that while they don't have someone to wait on them, we are losing them as well because they receive service from someone I wouldn't want to serve them.
According to The Associated Press, Lost Dog Cafe lost many of its staff members who had been there for more than ten years when the pandemic hit. According to The AP, 20% of the wait staff at the company had been lost by May.
The AP reported that the Lost Dog Cafe started hiring people with no restaurant experience, and it was the first time they had employed anyone under 18. White stated that they were also great hires.
"Now, we're hiring people we wouldn’t have hired before. White said that they were some of the most talented employees. It would have been our loss.
Insider requested comment from The Lost Dog Cafe, but they did not respond immediately.
A survey of approximately 13,000 job-seekers conducted by Joblist in July found that about a third of former hotel and restaurant staff would not return to the hospitality sector. Surveyed hospitality workers said that they felt discouraged by low salaries, poor benefits, and stressful work environments.
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