r/science • u/eastbayted • 2d ago

Health Sick food service workers remain top driver of viral foodborne outbreaks in US

https://www.healio.com/news/gastroenterology/20250331/sick-food-service-workers-remain-top-driver-of-viral-foodborne-outbreaks-in-us
17.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

529 comments sorted by

View all comments

759

u/HelenEk7 2d ago

No paid sick leave I take?

511

u/kimch3en0odles 2d ago

No health insurance either

198

u/shhhhquiet 2d ago

And squeeze-out-every-dollar strategies that leave no give in the schedule and lead managers to pressure staff to come to work sick.

88

u/HelenEk7 2d ago

And part of your salary comes from tipping.. Its almost a miracle that they get people to work in restaurants..

20

u/EredarLordJaraxxus 2d ago

Oh and top that off with a customer base that treats service workers like they are second class citizens

-23

u/rileyoneill 2d ago

End tipping and people would not want to be servers. Servers at busy restaurants can make really good money. Pay them a flat wage and they would not show up, and they would not volunteer for the busiest hours.

33

u/jurgy94 2d ago

This isn't a problem in the rest of the world where servers make much less (or none at all) from tips but are paid a decent wage hourly. Why would it be the case in the US?

7

u/daschande 2d ago

I had one server quit once, screaming and swearing at the manager on her way out, because she ONLY made $50 per hour in tips. On an average Tuesday in a blue collar corporate chain.

When the other servers heard the story, they all surrounded the 15 year old hostess and threatened to drag her out back and beat her ass senseless if anyone EVER made $50 per hour again; because the ONLY way a server gets paid that pathetically low is if the hostess intentionally screws them on seating.

Meanwhile, the cooks were making $8 per hour.

7

u/rileyoneill 2d ago

How much is this decent wage in actual dollars/euros? Servers in California make our minimum wage which is like $16 per hour plus tips. I knew people making $80,000 per year working as a server and this was 15 years ago. Do servers in Europe make this sort of money?

9

u/1_130426 2d ago

They do make a comparable amount when accounting for cost of living.

1

u/1handedmaster 2d ago

Bingo

Also, what benefits do they get or is insurance out of pocket for them?

1

u/JanetSnakehole610 2d ago edited 2d ago

Restaurants don’t want to pay the wages. Some states the hourly is like $5. If they upped it now the restaurant eats the cost and restaurants are already pretty risky as far as businesses go. Without tipping there’s less incentive to sell as well (why would I point out the more expensive wine, remind them of starters or desserts, upselling, etc.) so businesses are potentially losing out on sales on top of now paying servers.

And I’m sure service quality would go down. No rushing for refills, quickly bussing, offering recommendations, “customer is right” attitude, service with a smile, etc. In the US esp at some restaurants the servers are an integral part of guest experience. Like I work at a ski resort so on top of serving I’m giving advice on runs to take, weather updates, snow conditions, road conditions, hikes, history, explaining trail maps, etc. Many of the guests genuinely want to get to know me and my story. It takes up time and makes my job way harder trying to balance everything on top of ensuring they have a memorable genuine attentive experience.

And many restaurants do not offer health insurance, paid time off, sick leave, retirement plans, maternity/paternity leave, etc. So even if we’re making 50+ an hour it needs to be saved or invested since it’s not built into our wages in any capacity. If our hourly goes to like $25/hr it isn’t like getting a desk job where you’re at least reaping those benefits even if the pay is meh.

0

u/Designer_B 2d ago

Because they make more money than the rest of the world.

18

u/HelenEk7 2d ago

End tipping and people would not want to be servers.

There are around 1,500,000 restaurants and cafes in Europe. They are all able to get workers.

-17

u/rileyoneill 2d ago edited 2d ago

Various European countries also have very high youth unemployment rates and have a large amount of people who will take any kind of work. Cutting tipping in American restaurants would not make the servers better off.

We have fast food restaurants where people are paid minimum wage and people generally don’t want to work at these places.

14

u/HelenEk7 2d ago

We have fast food restaurants where people are paid minimum wage and odious generally don’t want to work at these places.

Sounds like your minimum wage might be too low?

-12

u/rileyoneill 2d ago

What should the minimum wage be? Until people want to work at McDonalds?

17

u/stalris 2d ago

You answered your own question

How much is this decent wage in actual dollars/euros? Servers in California make our minimum wage which is like $16 per hour plus tips. I knew people making $80,000 per year working as a server and this was 15 years ago. Do servers in Europe make this sort of money?

If waiters were making 80k a year in tips then that's what Mcdonald's workers should also be making, you'd have a line around the block to flip burgers at Mickey D's.

The point isn't that servers are overpaid, it's that everyone else is underpaid, and you're fine with that as long as it's not your favorite waiter getting stiffed. Don't act like tipping is some universal fix while ignoring that the rest of the working class gets scraps.

→ More replies (0)

7

u/HelenEk7 2d ago

Where I live you start at 19 USD per hour at Mac Donalds.

→ More replies (0)

2

u/1handedmaster 2d ago

If minimum wage in an area can't support one person living in an area, it's too low.

That simple. To quote a famous comedian "if your boss is paying you minimum wage, it means he would pay you less if he could."

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Sgt-Spliff- 2d ago

People already work at McDonald's

2

u/Thelmara 2d ago

End tipping and people would not want to be servers.

End tipping and people would not want to be servers at the current wage. Yes, employers would have to pay their servers more than they currently do. No, that's not a problem - that just means incorporating the costs that are currently covered by tips into the actual price of the food.

Imagine that, being able to know how much your food was going to cost and the servers knowing how much they were going to be paid without worrying they're going to be stiffed by the tip.

1

u/rileyoneill 2d ago

The servers would rather keep the status quo. The people who are currently doing the job would see it as lowering their income. The public would like it but the people currently doing the job would not.

1

u/Thelmara 2d ago

The servers would rather keep the status quo.

Not really relevant. I didn't say they'd like it, I said there's a price point where they'd do it.

The people who are currently doing the job would see it as lowering their income.

Yes, if you just cut the tips, it would be. And they would probably refuse to work at that wage, Which is why wages would have to go up.

1

u/rileyoneill 2d ago

The wages would go up or the quality would go down as there is little motivation. Its like when retail went from having salespeople who were paid a commission and thus realized they make more money when they sell more stuff, they work more effectively at selling more stuff to flat wages. Turns out, people working for flat wages don't really care about meeting any sort of quota or being an effective salesperson.

People will show up for flat pay. They just won't be very motivated. Extra effort doesn't result in extra money. Servers are sales people who have a tipping system over a commission system. Their motivation is to get customers spending more money because they see a chunk of it.

2

u/Thelmara 2d ago

And yet somehow restaurants with servers still exist all across the world, in places where tipping doesn't happen.

The wages and motivation will settle into an equilibrium eventually. That's how it always works.

22

u/ptcrisp 2d ago

this is the craziest part. not only is health insurance the cost of a new phone every month, it only MIGHT cover SOME amount of treatment! health insurance is more of a luxury item than a basic need

-6

u/Clueless_Otter 2d ago

Health insurance is not as expensive as you think tbh, unless you mean like the lowest end smartphone possible. It would be heavily subsidized for restaurant workers due to their low pay.

53

u/Weltallgaia 2d ago

Paid sick leave for food service workers? You get fired for calling in.

32

u/Dependent-Arm8501 2d ago

One small example: new McDonald's employees get a $200 bonus if they don't call out in the first month of employment. Whoever referred them gets it also. They incentivize coming to work sick.

19

u/General-Smoke169 2d ago edited 2d ago

It’s seen as a virtue in the service industry in the US to work while sick. People who call out are judged or assumed to be lazy. You would think the culture might have changed after covid, but it didn’t

-3

u/HelenEk7 2d ago

It’s seen as a virtue in the industry in the US to work while sick.

Even if you work as a nurse for instance?

10

u/General-Smoke169 2d ago

This post is about the service industry, I am sorry for assuming people would realize by “the industry” I meant the industry we were discussing. I will edit my comment

1

u/HelenEk7 2d ago

Others say that the same is the case for nurses. I asked to find out if this is a restaurant problem or a general work-place problem.

1

u/codysck 2d ago

No matter what industry you work for, they want you to come in sick. It's not a service industry problem it's an American problem

1

u/IncendiaryIceQueen 2d ago

I worked in a hospital in the past so this is entirely anecdotal, but yes hospitals are just the same about coming to work sick and shaming people for using leave. At least that was the culture of the hospital I worked at. They made a receptionist stay and work even though she had pink eye.

1

u/Pancreatic_Pirate 1d ago

No paid sick leave. No health insurance. Also, if someone calls in sick, a lot of managers will ask for a doctor’s note knowing full well their workers can’t afford it.

1

u/HelenEk7 1d ago

a lot of managers will ask for a doctor’s note knowing full well their workers can’t afford it.

How much do you pay to get a doctor's note?