Is this bullshit?

[dsp3000]

One of my co workers told me he had a bad experience at cheesecake factory. Took 2 hours for the food to come out and the manager apologized and said that 3 of their cooks quit because they can make more money off unemployment right now than work.

First don't you not get unemployment if you leave your job? Second doesn't unemployment only pay a portion of your salary and cap off at a certain amount? Does the recent covid relief bill add any kickers to being unemployed right now that makes it"worth it"?

[Kali]

1. most likely bullshit, yes

bad managers always spew crap like this

[lagomorph777]

2. What kind of cooks could you hire for less than unemployment pays?

I'd be afraid to eat their food.

[Turbineguy]

3. RWNJ Fantasy story.

[Lovie777]

4. In California they verify through your recent employment if you were . .

laid off or fire. If you quit you get nada.

[PJMcK]

5. Yep, it's BS

If you're offered work, you can't claim unemployment. (Ask my wife!)

The amount is capped.

The story is typical Republican bullshit. No truth to it.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

6. Probably?

IIRC there was some kind of waiver where if you quit cause you're worried about COVID you can still get UI. However you may've had to prove some condition that made you more likely to contract it, not sure. It's also probably ended by now if it ever was the case.

Yes, the state will pay based on a % of the previous income, but I think the Federal $300 is an equal addition for everyone (not sure on that but possibly?).

So yes, my recollection is that it's possible that some people have quit because they get more on UI.

That being said, manager is still probably full of shit cause doubtful they all quit the same day while this customer was there, nor does he likely know they specifically quit cause 'the money' as opposed to 'not wanting to get covid'.

Also, it's a managers job to manage how many sections to open based on the capability of the staff they have on hand to serve guests.

[AZ8theist]

14. You are correct, Lebo...

I left a job with no intention of collecting. However, AZ forced me to apply in order to qualify for state health care. I ended up collecting UI for about 6 months before going back to work.
Whatever reason I gave them for quitting was enough, I suppose....

[Hamlette]

74. partially true

I was legal counsel for the UI office in my state for 20 years. I went back to help them out this summer due to the pandemic.

You cannot quit because of COVID if the employer is obeying the law (requiring face masks etc.). You will be denied benefits. Trust me, we had many cases like that. All denied. No claimant I saw were able to prove the employer was not following the law.

You cannot quit because you want to get UI even if UI pays more.

Each state has a different rate for UI. In some states it is very low, my state was pretty good for a red state.

The 300 is added on top of whatever the normal benefits are and is the same for everyone (I am not 100% sure of this as when I worked last summer and fall it was when the extra payment was $600 per week and that was equal for everyone regardless of the benefit amount. I suppose it is the same under the Biden extension). And they added benefits for people who work in the gig economy which obviously does not apply to cooks in a restaurant.

You cannot turn down a job that pays the same as or more than the job you lost when you applied for benefits. As months go by, you must take a job making less than you earned during the prior year.

You must make a certain number of job contacts per month. The number differs per state. You must provide information about each job contact while claiming benefits. The UI office contacts the employers to see if you applied and followed through. Not all employers but some random number. With the high number of UI claims during the pandemic I would guess there are fewer contacts than in normal times but there must be some contacts.

Employers are told they need to contact the UI office if they offered a job and were turned down. They all know they need to.

So, if 3 cooks quit and got UI benefits, the restaurant is not following state or federal guidelines for safe working conditions.

[Maraya1969]

7. Please mention it to him that if you quit your job

You are not entitled to unemployment benefits. Ask him if he was mistaken. See if he squirms.

[Scrivener7]

8. Gee. Ya think?

[PoliticAverse]

9. Maybe, let's see...

> said that 3 of their cooks quit"
> First don't you not get unemployment if you leave your job?

Were they closed for a while? It's possible by "quit" the manager meant "were terminated and didn't return after they reopened".

> Second doesn't unemployment only pay a portion of your salary and cap off at a certain amount?
> Does the recent covid relief bill add any kickers to being unemployed right now that makes it"worth it"?

The Covif-19 relief bill (coupled with what the state you are in offers) could make it more lucrative to not return to work than work at lower paying jobs. A job that pays $ 12/hour for example would gross someone $480 (taxable) which can be exceeded by the amounts granted to the unemployed by the federal bill and state grants (See for example: https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/why-some-workers-are-making-more-on-unemployment-than-working ).

[ZZenith]

10. Do you mean the story itself or you posting it here?

[StarfishSaver]

16. Thank you!

[ZZenith]

17. StarfishSaver knows the score.

[StarfishSaver]

21. This one is not that hard to figure out

[ZZenith]

24. It's kind of cute, really.

Like when a three-year old comes up to tell you there’s a purple dragon under the front porch.

[obamanut2012]

58. hahahahah

yup

[alphafemale]

66. Does "this one" already have a history?

Something like this I immediately look at the post count.

Funny when they think they are being clever.

[alphafemale]

68. Does "this one" already have a history?

Something like this I immediately look at the post count.

Funny when they think they are being clever.

[WheelWalker]

19. Thread winner!

[dmr]

75. Who in their right mind would believe someone waited 2 hours for their food?

Really? REALLY?

I wouldn't. No way. No how!

Of course I'd be too embarrassed to post this tale here at the DU.

[ZZenith]

76. Nobody!

That is the answer to your question.

And who in their right mind would wait two hours for their food? Again, the answer is “Nobody.”

[TreasonousBastard]

11. How reliable is this co worker? Should you really believe him?

[dsp3000]

63. This kid is a new hire. Just told me about his weekend and dinner with his parents

Never really pegged him as a rwnj and our conversation never got political but his story had me thinking as this is not the first place I've heard this un employment bs being mentioned

[Hekate]

12. Since this is a right-wing trope as well as BS, I would ask your "friend" if they think Trump won...

...last year. Also, just for kicks, ask the location of the Cheesecake Factory so you can verify if they have cooks before you go.

Very fishy story, this. Cooks get paid a lot more than wait-staff. In many states, wait-staff are paid far below minimum wage and customers are expected to pick up the slack with tips, which often have to be shared with busboys and dishwashers.

Also on the topic of employers whinging about not being able to get job applicants, see this:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=15412760

[StarfishSaver]

22. The "friend's" story isn't the only think that's fishy here

[Hekate]

25. True dat

[Withywindle]

72. +1

If someone can live through this last year and think a long wait at fucking Cheesecake Factory is a desperate social problem that needs to be fixed now, they are not in reality.

They think they're entitled to be served on time, on their schedule, at their favorite mediocre chain, no matter what's going on in the world, and if workers don't want to show up to be exposed to unmasked people and bad ventilation, somehow it's the worker's fault? Or it's the government's fault for doing the bare minimum to help working-class people pay rent and bills without having to expose themselves to a deadly virus?

Fuck Cheesecake Factory. If shitty chain restaurants are a casualty of COVID-19 I won't mourn them much. I'll mourn the people I know who have died much more.

[StarfishSaver]

78. Or maybe this "friend" doesn't exist and the story is a crock

thrown in here just to disseminate and churn a right wing lie

[Withywindle]

71. But repukes are the party of the "working class," don'tcha know

Kinda fishy we get someone here smearing the REAL working class (minimum wage workers).

Also, restaurant workers had the highest death rate from COVID in the last year. Even more than health-care workers. God forbid they don't want to risk their lives and their families' lives for $2 an hour + tips.

[Footay]

13. But this is happening

BFF's daughter: married, college-educated mother of 3. Was working full-time in professional accounting. Between stimmy money, regular unemployment, extra covid unemployment and tax refund, she's decided to stay home because the difference in pay is basically nothing once you factor in child care costs.

[ZZenith]

20. What does that tell you about our society?

Hmmmm?

[LizBeth]

23. You are factoring in a lot of shit to get your answer. I stayed at home and raised kids cause once

you factored all cost of two parent working, my inability to have a higher income, it benefitted us, me staying home. Ok. So? It is like 15 an hour so if she was making 17, 18 an hour for college degree accounting then... ok.

[Hekate]

26. That's all going to disappear shortly. I just hope child care centers can re-open soon...

Because what would you like this woman to do? Lock her children into the apartment while she goes out to earn rent and groceries?

“Stimmy money”? Wow. Makes it sound like a hard-core drug.

[LizBeth]

30. +1

[RandiFan1290]

36. ZOMBIES!!!

Welcome back

[Hekate]

48. How fun is that? I love the phrase "stimmy money"

[Treefrog]

45. Uh huh.

[haele]

49. She must have been underpaid to begin with.

So COVID unemployment while the kids are too young for full-time school is probably much more efficient for both her family and her community economy than trying to keep afloat going back to work with employers who low-ball their worker's wages because of "Right to Work" or some other such anti-union Chamber of Commerce BS.

Being a professional accountant doesn't mean her employer pays her the proper wages and benefits commiserate to her education, talents, and experience (especially accountants for non-profits and churches).
And if she's a free-lance accountant, she may be waiting for the local economy to pick up before hanging her shingle up, as they used to say.

It is pretty much full time work looking for a better job.

Haele

[ismnotwasm]

51. Reeeaaally?

How Innnterrresttting.

[obamanut2012]

59. Gadzooks!

[Withywindle]

69. If she's working in accounting

there's no reason she can't still work from home, because accounting is a career that adapts very well to digital. Probably BETTER that way honestly, because there's literally nothing you can do face to face that can't be done just as well over networks, because there's no physical product involved and no f2f contact required.

Doesn't work in food service though. You have to actually have people working in a kitchen to make the food. And line cooks are the profession that died in the highest numbers.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/02/jobs-where-workers-have-the-highest-risk-of-dying-from-covid-study.html

[marble falls]

15. Shouldn't that story have started, "once upon a time ..."?

I was at a club function today and they repeated that canard. How does that even make sense?

[Hekate]

28. Well, you know the average American is soooooo lazy they won't work for starvation wages.

[LizBeth]

33. I feel kinda embolden at the moment. I had someone call, a place I would enjoy working and

told them that I needed 15 an hour and guaranteed full time. It was part time. Thanks, I wish, and no thank you. We had so much fun on the call she sent me an email thnaking me and wishing me luck.

For now, lol. By August I might have to do what I gotta do.

[marble falls]

53. You wanted a living wage??? Who do you think you are???

[LizBeth]

54. Lol, right? The last job they evaded the pay issue in interview then I took the job to find out

it was like a quarter more than minimum wage here in Oregon. I could not earn more than monthly expense regardless how poor I lived though they did guarantee and honor 40 a week. I used savings that have to last 'til I die to pick up the slack. I would like to get something that covers monthly and I mean I willingly and easily live poor and cannot cut another thing out but dog groomer every couple months. I cut my own hair, lol.

It is crazy.

[marble falls]

55. I like a simple life, but only if its voluntary and not including the hundred "should-I-get-bread-..

... or-the-bottle-of aspirin-on-sale" like questions living on the line requires weekly with no respite.

No one manages money in uncertain conditions better than the working poor.

[LizBeth]

60. Right

[JHB]

50. Given its nature, I think the beginning should likely be...

"I never thought anything like this would ever happen to me, but..."

Because someone is getting a little too much pleasure from this story.

[marble falls]

52. Mainly people who 'know' 77Mil is more than 85Mil.

[LizBeth]

18. They should not get UI if they quit and they are stringent on that. With the addition it is like 15

an hour so I am sure they would get more with UI. To get the additional UI it has to be a covid related firing.

[lame54]

27. You get unemployment for being fired or laid off...

Not quitting
Unemployment is a fraction of your pay but benefits have a time limit
The covid relief covers the difference in pay and extends the time

[former9thward]

41. Not true.

If you quit because of Covid concerns you get UC. Depending on your state plus the federal UC benefit the weekly benefit can be much higher than a low wage job.

[lame54]

47. Damn - i shoulda quit

[Ferrets are Cool]

29. Who is stupid enough to wait for 2 hours for food?

I'm serious. I've waited 45 minutes and walked out back when one could actually go to into a restaurant.

[LizBeth]

31. +1. I was thinking the same. Not like they have paid yet.

[Initech]

32. If you have to ask, it's probably bullshit.

[rsdsharp]

34. I think this is probably BS. Beyond that, depending on the state,

you can quit, and still collect unemployment. The quit must be justified, however. My wife worked for a place that began requiring staff to attend daily meetings to pray for money for the business. She quit, and when her unemployment was contested, she won.

[rogue emissary]

37. If the story is true.

What does that say about how much that cheesecake factory pays its cook? If someone could make more or get enough unemployment benefits not to work there. That's a damning story on that manager and their pay and benefits.

I know stories like these are being pushed by Republicans to get the benefits ended. I think if any of them are true, it might backfire and highlight how the minimum wage isn't at all enough to live on.

[Ocelot II]

38. If you can't get employees to work for you, you're not paying them enough.

If they're making more on unemployment than what you pay them, you're definitely not paying them enough.

[Lettuce Be]

39. Obviously BS

They should have been gifted their meal

[wryter2000]

40. If it's true

it's because he pays ridiculously low wages.

If the restaurant was closed for a while, they may have found other, better-paying jobs. Or he's an asshole to his employees.

[maxrandb]

42. In the Navy, these stories always started with

"This is a no-shitter..."

[Mariana]

43. Believe what this person tells you - about anything - at your own risk.

Honestly, I'd be wondering what other things he's lied about.

It should be pretty easy to verify or disprove this story. Ask your co-worker the location of the restaurant and the date it supposedly happened. If he refuses to say, or he pretends not to remember, you can be pretty sure he's lying. If he tells you where and when it was, go there yourself and speak to the manager. "Before I order, I'd like to be sure I'll get my food in a timely manner. Someone told me he had to wait two hours for his food on [date] because a bunch of your cooks quit to go on unemployment. Is that true?"

[Treefrog]

44. Sounds like a bs Facebook story.

Wherever you heard it.

[RegularJam]

46. It's a possibility.

I’m going to guess that by “quit” they actually meant didn’t come back after being told to go home without pay until they reopened.

[Claire Oh Nette]

56. Tis Bullshit.

You don't get unemployment if you quit of your own volition.

No one came back then quit to stay home and collect unemployment. Restaurants laid workers off. They chose not to keep them on payroll, and now want to open up immediately. Restaurants that pay $2.13 to tipped staff, knowing they're not at capacity. Fast food? Lousy job, contact with generally rude general public for low pay and no benefits? Miss me with that.

The Labor market has changed.

The Covid support checks demonstrated that our Federal Government thinks $31K is a living wage and the minimum to survive with $600 week. Since many jobs will not return and people will continue to struggle, said Fed agrees to minimum wage (7.25 x 40 = $300 week.

Republicans blocked a gradual increase in minimum wage? Fine. Biden just set the Federal contract wage at $15. Guess which job I'd try to get as a person returning to the job market after a once in a century global pandemic?

The Chandlers paid their LA Times reporters more to keep the union out.
Henry Ford paid his employees enough to buy the products he sold. Only in America is minimum wage less than the cost of a Bib Mac Meal.

CEO cut his salary so all his employees could earn $70K.

https://www.inc.com/magazine/201511/paul-keegan/does-more-pay-mean-more-growth.html

[obamanut2012]

57. cool story

brah.

[Baked Potato]

61. Why do these stories always involve restaurants? NT

[Texasgal]

62. Yes it's Bullshit!

First off you cannot claim unemployment if you quit your job.

Second, the extra kick from the feds is only reserved for people who's jobs were effected by COVID-19.

Unemployment only pays 65% of your salary anyway! Nobody is making money by sitting on their ass.

It's indeed bullshit!

[Raine]

64. Sounds and smells like total BS! 💩 👎nt

[Progressive Jones]

65. It's bullshit. That's the newest "Big Lie". "Nobody wants to work !". nt

[RANDYWILDMAN]

67. Cheesecake factory made 2 billion in profit last year

sounds like BS propaganda cause they don't want to raise or pay the minimum wage to their workers.

[Withywindle]

70. OH NO I am so sorry your friend had a bad experience at Cheesecake Factory

No, not really.

The profession that has died in the highest numbers from COVID is....RESTAURANT LINE COOKS.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/02/jobs-where-workers-have-the-highest-risk-of-dying-from-covid-study.html

The whole chain restaurant industry is based in shitty working conditions for desperate people. Unemployment is part of the reason they're understaffed, yes (and if your pay is lower than unemployment, you should go out of business), and another big part of the reason is that tens of thousands of the workers in that industry DIED.

[Withywindle]

73. Yes, this is bullshit. nt

[betsuni]

77. It's bullshit. Not like the food there is made from scratch.