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One bartender faces the prospect of weeks without pay: “It’s gonna become a problem pretty quick.”

Mar 16, 2020
Neil Cairns, a bartender in Portland, Oregon says he'll just have to "hope for the best" as he faces reduced hours and the prospect of bar closures.
Neil Cairns at the Game Knight Lounge in Portland, Oregon.
Thomas Patterson

Unpredictable schedules are part of the retail gig but new policies could change that

Jun 13, 2019
But there are budding efforts to give hourly workers in those fields more dependable hours.
Many retail and service workers have to work night shifts and then return to work the next morning, dubbed "clopening."
Bradley Gordon via Flickr

Low pay and long hours: Staffing in the restaurant industry remains a challenge as sales grow

Jul 17, 2018
The National Restaurant association projects that sales will grow by 4 percent this year. Celebrity chefs and Instagram foodie streams all point to an industry on the upswing. But staffing restaurants isn’t easy these days. Susan Spicer runs three restaurants in New Orleans, and says this is in part because her industry gets a bad […]
CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP/Getty Images

Servers, steer clear of that table! Millennials are the worst tippers, report says

Jun 18, 2018
But the data doesn't paint the whole picture.
Visual Hunt

The latest fight for employee rights: work schedule predictability

Sep 4, 2017
Worker rights advocates say unpredictable schedules, and dreaded "clopenings," take a toll on employees.
Nadine Vassallo, manager of independent bookseller Book Soup, in West Hollywood, California, schedules a 20-person staff with an Excel spreadsheet. 
Larry Buhl/ for Marketplace

Why restaurants like no-tipping policies

Jul 5, 2016
For owners, it's a simple matter of economics.
Restaurants have begun experimenting with including tips, or gratuity, in the price of a meal listed on the menu.
Visual Hunt