Would you swap your desk for a restaurant shift?
My friend just came from working at her sister's restaurant and was telling me how hard of a day it was, and how they are struggling with employee turnover. Then it got me thinking, what if there was an app that corporate workers could use to pick up shifts at other struggling businesses? Would you ever use it?
Why would anyone do that?
How would that work? Am I taking a vacation day from my corporate job so I can make $12/hr bussing tables? I’m not sure why I’d ever want to do that.
What would happen is this app would just turn into another form of gig work for unemployed people, and it would be a nightmare. Imagine going to a restaurant and no one knows what they’re doing, because they’re only there for a day. The restaurant would probably lose money due to waste and the bad reputation.
No. I got into corporate work to get away from the hell that is restaurant/retail work.
It would be cool to do some evening shifts at a restaurant, for the novelty and the social aspect (compared with staring at a screen all day)... plus the work is cognitively very simplistic... quite relaxing compared to corporate life. The problem is, if I have a day job as an engineer, my regular income puts me in a high tax bracket. So, not only would I be earning close to minimum wage, I would be taxed at the highest tax rate on the minimum wage... so it really would be a waste of time. Progressive tax rates are what makes it unviable for high income earners to pick up a weekend or evening job.
They're struggling with employee turnover because the boss won't pay competitive wages. Why won't the boss pay competitive wages? I have some ideas, but rather than project I'll just say that's the problem to solve.
NO WAY JOSE
until AI inevitably takes my job
then sure
I always thought about picking up some physically demanding job on weekends (like carrying boxes or something like that). It would serve me as exercise and I would get paid. Problem is i’m picky about the timing (e.g., not early in the morning, not when it’s hot, etc.)
Absolutely!
When I was in my twenties, a friend of mine had a catering lease at a golf club. I never worked seriously in the catering industry, but I always enjoyed helping out there (in service, in the warehouse, in the kitchen). It was a welcome change from constantly staring at a screen, and at the end of the day, it was a different kind of tiredness (the physical kind, you know).