[jdulej]

Originally Posted by bagboy

Those spewing that garbage about Villagers being unvaccinated are clueless

Covid Act Now

I don't like it either, but it is what it is. The surrounding workforce, who couldn't afford to eat at Cody's if they didn't work there, see a bunch of entitled rich people (rich from the point of view of having nothing) take over their little part of Fl, complain about everything, refuse (not everyone, but many) to follow guidelines set by the CDC, live in pretty little houses that don't flood, the power never goes out. And on and on. To the locals, we (Villagers) are like a drug - you get hooked on the high of at least having a job, but can never get quite enough. So you hate them but still show up for your fix. I think some finally just said F-- it, I'm otta here - and good for them.
(sorry for the rant, I must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed. But, I stick by the above)

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by jdulej

I don't like it either, but it is what it is. The surrounding workforce, who couldn't afford to eat at Cody's if they didn't work there, see a bunch of entitled rich people (rich from the point of view of having nothing) take over their little part of Fl, complain about everything, refuse (not everyone, but many) to follow guidelines set by the CDC, live in pretty little houses that don't flood, the power never goes out. And on and on. To the locals, we (Villagers) are like a drug - you get hooked on the high of at least having a job, but can never get quite enough. So you hate them but still show up for your fix. I think some finally just said F-- it, I'm otta here - and good for them.
(sorry for the rant, I must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed. But, I stick by the above)

Interesting. Thirty years ago, Sumter County ranked as the poorest of 67 counties in Florida in all categories. Now it ranks between 14th and 29th depending on which metric you use. I wonder how upset "the locals" are about that?????

[jdulej]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

Interesting. Thirty years ago, Sumter County ranked as the poorest of 67 counties in Florida in all categories. Now it ranks between 14th and 29th depending on which metric you use. I wonder how upset "the locals" are about that?????

Like I said, It's a drug. I know (for myself) I would not put up with the way I see many customers in places like Cody's treat the wait staff. And I worked that sort of job in my youth. Also, any statistics measuring wealth around here is so skewed by the Villages as to be worthless, IMO.

Saying the above, I don't want to imply that the original OP is at all guilty. This thread has wandered all over the place.

[wdst1]

Originally Posted by snbrafford

==================================================

My wife and I recently traveled to New England area on our first vacation since this whole Covid thing stopping in Myrtle Beach along the way. All during our trip, many hotels and restaurants had signs posted that they were short staffed to had cut back on service due to COVID. If you go into other returns here in The Villages like Beef O'Brady's or Bob Evans or Darrell's Dinner or... the list goes on - there will often be a "short staffed" sign on the door. And not to mention - there are "help wanted" signs everywhere. No one wants to work for service industry wages as long as they can collect unemployment. The solution, in my opinion, is to reduce unemployment payments the longer a person is on it (assuming they are physically able to work) so they will go back to work. We can't continue to reward people for not working when there are plenty of jobs out there.

Reduce unemployment, yeah right. Even $15/hr is not a liveable wage. Stop your draconian statements and pray you are not in their position.

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by jdulej

Like I said, It's a drug. I know (for myself) I would not put up with the way I see many customers in places like Cody's treat the wait staff. And I worked that sort of job in my youth. Also, any statistics measuring wealth around here is so skewed by the Villages as to be worthless, IMO.

Saying the above, I don't want to imply that the original OP is at all guilty. This thread has wandered all over the place.

As usual.

But I have to believe that the presence and subsequent growth of The Villages has greatly expanded the employment opportunities for "the locals". (Sumter County unemployment rate July 1991-----9.2%, July 2021------6.5%)

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by wdst1

Reduce unemployment, yeah right. Even $15/hr is not a liveable wage. Stop your draconian statements and pray you are not in their position.

Liveable????? $15/hr = 30K/yr---and that is a one income family, most in that category will have 2 workers.

Here are the federal poverty line guidelines for 2021 with size of family in left column:

1 $12,880
2 $17,420
3 $21,960
4 $26,500

So 30+K/yr is certainly "liveable"

Not everyone can be a billionaire

[Ewalsh43]

Originally Posted by Koapaka

Decided to go out to eat this evening, and went to Cody's Roadhouse at Lake Sumter.

Got seated, and waited and waited and waited for our server to come and even ask us for drink order. I would say it was at least 15 minutes, but hey, everyone is short staffed...so we just enjoyed waiting. Came and took our drink order, wanted a bottle of wine and 2 waters. Another 15 minutes LITERALLY before the water was served. Oh, no wine, what else do you want (claims they only had ONE of the bottle selections listed....ok, no problem, hubby has a beer and I stick with my water). Order was taken at that time. Hubby asked for his steak cooked rare.....she responds cant promise that buy will request.) Now, at what point does the customer not have the right to request the temp they want their steak cooked?? I ordered chicken wings. Literally, another 20 minutes passed and when she waltzes by to serve the people that have come in way after us, I ask about the beer. "Oh, I put the order in, I have to wait for them to serve it" was her response. No apology, no let me check on it...basically, "not my fault". Beer finally arrives about 10 minutes later....still no food. We actually watched people come in, get seated, get served and enjoying their meal being waited on by other servers as we sat and waited. Never offered to refill water, just kept asking "everything alright here" every time she passed by. Finally, food arrives. Hubby orders another beer since he has been drinking the other one during the extended wait....never comes. Bottom line, I have been the person preaching patience as we deal with these staff shortages...but it was apparent this particular server was NO hurry, not my fault, get there when I get there mode.

I actually was so unhappy I seriously considered leaving no tip. I could not bring myself to do it and tipped the 20% minimum we always leave (And for exceptional service we have left as much as 100% of the bill....trust me, CHASE credit card sends me constant email notifications, "did you intend to leave this percentage as tip?"), but gotta wonder....think we will be eating at home a lot more this winter as the snowbirds return.

At what point does the "short staffed" issue start to allow incompetence to rule the day?? There HAS to be a limit, where do you draw the line???

Sorry to say, this has really turned us off to Cody's. The entire experience was actually that sad.

Next time politely complain to the manager. You might get the meal for free. The manager cant fix a bad waiter or waitress if they don’t know there is a problem. Tipping only condones the bad behavior…..reducing the tip sends a clear message.

[Dana1963]

Originally Posted by DylanTodd

In my humble opinion, I commend the original poster for leaving the 20% tip and then posing the question here on TOTV. What he/she originally asked is when will the 'covid excuses stop?'

I am still in the restaurant business in New England until my wife & I move down full time. This afternoon I was actually at the Massachusetts restaurant association meeting with other restauranteurs discussing all these challenges we are currently facing and trust me there are a lot of them! The best perspective I heard today is the people shortage is here to stay and would have been here regardless of the COVID. As baby boomers are aging out of the workforce the generations underneath chose to have less children or delay starting a family. This is probably the realistic cause for our shortage, not covid.

Again its just my opinion, but if we don't support the art of service and provide patience for restaurant managers during the next year or so while we get our footing underneath us it will just drive more people away from the industry.

Your assessment is thoughtful and seems accurate I'm sure you will be contradicted. I have 3 granddaughters who were in food service they admittedly left the industry because of pay no benefits hours and lousy tippers although still in college all 3 are still employed now receiving financial assistance for college paid vacation, sick pay dental medical 401k. Better pay and hours.
I just don't throw out 20% tips if a waiter/waitress earns it they receive it. When I receive poor service they may be lucky to get the minimum 10-15% and I let them know it along with shift manager/owner.

[Professor]

Solution...eat at home. Food out is generally mediocre at best anyway. Cook it yourself and you get what you want done the way you want at the time you want it...win/win. Frankly we have grown tired of poor service, higher prices, and food that is just not that good, so we have opened up two places at restaurants for others by not going out to eat anymore. One side benefit...we have both lost some weight since we eat healthier at home. Enjoy those tables we won't be occupying everyone!

[Smiley Services]

I have walked out of Codys more than once for the same reasons....JS

[GeriS]

Originally Posted by bagboy

Those spewing that garbage about Villagers being unvaccinated are clueless

Covid Act Now

You're wasting your time trying to convince them. There eyes are not open.

[cafw1]

I've been wondering if waiters and waitresses now receive "going rate" pay of $15+ per hour. Does anybody know what a server receives? I've seen signs outside of restaurants saying Hiring--$15 plus per hour. It could be really lucrative if the base pay is $15 and they get tips on top of that----you'd think people would be rushing to get those jobs. If anybody knows let us know.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

You really think that TV is going to get high quality minimum wage employees with Disney right down the road? When Covid came through alot of older employees, ie boomers, decided that retirement was better than working, and the openings go to younger employees. . .

Lots of restaurant employees have had to go looking for other jobs during the pandemic and found them. . . My daughter is one. . . restaurant mgmt has to deal with transient employees, and local franchises will move them around to where the higher demand is. . especially with no benefits and non restaurant offers benefits

Let say that the rural areas are not the most ideal for career development. . . If you haven't figured out yet, TV has outgrown the local minimum employees, and florida in general has had a large influx of retirees. . . putting a higher demand on minimum wage employees all over the state, who aren't afraid of leaving when the mgmt sux in their opinion. . . if you don't look at nor understand demographics, you won't understand why your expectations are no longer getting met. . . but you might be affected by it without realizing.

People don't realize that that there are limits to everything, go read "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell, and you will find out that human organizations actually have a limit of size before its too hard to manage, based upon brain capacity, There are limits to the TV as physical homes might scale, but the rest of the financial and employment support may not. . .

I know that some TV wannabees are now looking elsewhere, and we are not there permanently, but will no hesitate to move if the developer over develops and the amenity quality suffers too much.

finance guy

[ChicagoNative]

“…rich, entitled, anti-vaxx villagers…”. That’s about as fertile as two feet up a bull’s behind, but I digress.

Regarding the Covid excuse, I’ve begun to wonder the same thing. While we’ve personally taken this whole thing seriously right from jump, and also realize that there were and still are some bad hiccups in the supply chain, I suspect it’s being used as a handy catch-all by all businesses.

Regarding Cody’s, we’ve dined at the LSL location many times as we love the patio atmosphere. There has been one time where we experienced a similar experience as the OP, and that was pre-Covid. Every other time we’ve gone there, both service and food have been good. We try to go during off hours, and even then they still draw decent crowds. The place is jammed during “normal” lunch and dinner times.

I would not tip 20% for the kind of service described. Nevah. Evah. Why reward that? Tipping is already out of control imo, and now there seems to be a more vocal sentiment that tipping should be 30%+ to be proper….because Covid, ad nauseum.

We’ve worked hard for what we’ve got and don’t feel the least bit guilty for being able to afford to eat out once or twice a week; nor will we be guilted into over tipping, especially for crap service.

[Andyb]

Besides the COVID excuse, it’s the fact workers can stay home and make the same amount of money or more. Government creating laziness.