Food and Beverage – The Quarter Rat

Banks Street Bar

Did the Banks Street Bar new owner really fire every employee? Sounds like it. That sucks, but there are plenty of other jobs out there. Good luck to you all.

“The new owner is an asshole!”
Well, ok. That happens sometimes, sounds like a bit of fortune being put into a position to have to move onto better things. Lots of good employers out there looking for good help.

“He lives in a mansion and pays his employees shit!”
Ok, another reason to move on. If he has difficulty keeping good staff, he will have no choice but to increase wages. Supply and demand apply to human resources as well.

The business was sold and the new owner decided to clean house and start with fresh staff. Sometimes it’s easier to start with new staff and reorganize than trying to correct issues. Is it a mistake? Time will tell. His money, his choice.

Most employers would rather hire someone with little or no experience and train them in how to do things than hire someone with “years of experience.” If you buy a business, the old staff will be reluctant to any changes, falling back on: “But this is how we always do it.”

An inexperienced applicant with a good attitude will more likely get the position than the industry veteran who is sure that he knows how everything should be run. Perhaps the new owner has a slightly higher standard of performance than the previous.

Someone who buys an established business is purchasing the name, location, equipment and the like. They are not buying the staff. The last I checked the buying and selling of workers was illegal in most states.

Sorry you are looking for a new job. You are not entitled to that job or any other. Their business, their choice of who to employ. Every job is just a contract. “You do this, I’ll pay you that.” Either one of you break the terms of the contract, the other can walk away.

I’m laughing at the comments on social media. I can picture all of them as co-workers. The ones who make it a point to take a shit on company time and boast about it. “I got one over on the boss! 20 minutes on the bowl playing with my phone.” While your co-workers had to pick up the slack. So much for the worker’s collective.

We’ve all worked with such people. Those who steal from the boss and justify it with, “He doesn’t pay me what I am worth.” Those who spit in customers’ food and back-stab co-workers at the drop of a hat. Often, it’s easier to just tear down and build new than to try repairing what’s there.

An employer owes you nothing more than the agreed upon pay on schedule.

Let’s ruin Mother’s Day

Those of us who work in the service industries are use to working holidays. It’s expected of us and we do not (or should not) whine about it. It’s no different than those who work in emergency services, health care or workers in countless other industries. We work so others can enjoy a special day. Perhaps Mr. NOLA History Guy is fortunate enough to be able to decide what days he will and will not work. More power to him and good for him. I imagine being a historian has pretty flexible schedules, if any.

Mother’s Day is one of the busiest days of the year for every restaurant in America. Any mother who works in the service industries is very accustomed to working today. Businesses can not spare any staff. All hands on deck. There will be a day off soon that she can spend with her family. She has that job to support her family and parents make sacrifices for their children. Not everybody goes to work with a sense of entitlement. We work all holidays and yes, EVEN Mardi Gras. We do it out of obligation to our employers and customers so those who don’t have to work can celebrate. What have you sacrificed for others to have fun?

“Serve you for tipped minimum wage” Sounds like something a typical virtue signaling leftist would say. A Bernie Sanders type of tweet, “How can I take today’s topic and twist it to make political sausage out of it?” “How can I demonize the BILLIONAIRES?” (Admit it, you read that in Bernie’s voice.)

You can bet damn well that any mother serving tables, working in a kitchen or slinging drinks today worked her ass off and made some good cash. She has probably worked every Mother’s Day for decades without complaining about it. She doesn’t need some self-righteous Twitter activist to stand up for her. Maybe you were lucky as a kid and your mom could take the day off from dancing.

My mother died just about 10 years ago. For the first 86 years of her life she was very active and tough as nails. She raised three sons, practically on her own. She did yard work well into her 70s that most historians wouldn’t be able to keep up with. My mother spent the last six years of her life in a nursing home looking forward to the next visit from her sons four times a week. She would have been happy to work into her 90s if she still could have.

I would give my right arm to have my mother alive and working hard in a restaurant today. Waiting on those people who are fortunate enough to have this day off. To have just one more Mother’s Day with her, even if it was at the end of her 12-hour shift when she was dog tired.

So please, spare us your virtuous finger-wagging to gratify one’s self. Those who are mothers or are children who would prefer to be with our mothers today but HAVE TO WORK don’t need to be exploited for your attempt at getting likes from other pompous socialists. Who generally don’t like working any job on any day.

If you got to spend time with your mother today, or tomorrow because she’s working, be fucking grateful.

Contact Eric T. Styles at styles@thequarterrat.com.

The future ain’t pretty

I was speaking to an individual today who has extensive insights into French Quarter businesses. I’ll call him a “very reliable anonymous source.” We chatted about business returning to the Quarter and things returning to our dysfunctional level of normalcy. We noted how many establishments didn’t return from the shutdown and the number of vacant buildings there are. I commented on how I anticipate huge corporate chains to move in and he replied, “They already are.”

According to “my source,” one big player who is looking to expand to Bourbon Street is TACO BELL. My first thought was a fast food joint and I guess I scowled in confusion. Not your average strip mall variant of the fast food chain, he said, but a huge, mega Taco Bell Cantina, like the one in Las Vegas. It’s more in line with the Hard Rock Cafe franchise, which also has a presence on Bourbon Street. I had to look this one up online.

A flagship Taco Bell. A monster location with multi-floors and alcoholic beverages. They even have a gift shop with Taco Bell apparel. I’ll say it right now: if you have Taco Bell printed on your shirt, you better be an employee. I can respect a TB employee. I cringe at the thought of people spending $30 on a T-shirt to advertise a corporation as a status symbol. Dumb asses will collect and wear Hard Rock Cafe shirts, so much for common sense I guess.

Read more: Visit Taco Bell’s Flagship Restaurant in Las Vegas (tacobell.com)

A year ago I predicted after the pandemic and the huge corporations pick through the rubble of destroyed small businesses that the French Quarter will become a Disney outlet. Let me amend that, it may become like a Fremont Street in Las Vegas. This works well with the mayor’s vision of pedestrian mall in the Quarter. The city would love to have large multinational corporations moving in and driving out the few remaining mom-and-pop establishments.

The small businesses whine and complain when license fees, taxes and regulations restrict their operations. Big corporations can absorb those costs and even welcome them. High costs of operations keep out the small time start-ups while allowing them more pull with the city.

Just what I want, Fremont Street. Drunk tourists on a ZipLine screaming past my apartment window every night vomiting alcohol-saturated Krystal burgers onto Bourbon Street below. People on balconies pelting the zip liners with beads and bottles. Think it sounds implausible? One thing we have learned over the past couple of years is: if a massive corporation throws enough money at the right political campaigns, they can get away with killing people.

We don’t know yet how Bourbon Street will change over the next few years, but have no doubt that it will change.