Santino’s Pizzeria, located in the Georgesville area near Cloumbus , Ohio, had two signs posted on Tuesday reading “Now hiring non-stupid people.” One hung from the fence on the side of the building, while a copy of it also hung upside-down above the entrance. Santino’s also posted a more neutral message, “We’re hiring,” on the door to go inside. Heather Stockton—a manager at the shop—explained that the sign was “supposed to be a joke” in response to what she described as employment struggles. According to that report, the sign was initially posted several months ago, although its nationwide virality didn’t kick in until more recently.
So what does the company define as a "non-stupid person?" Stockton said she is looking for workers that are "just reliable, on time, just, don't come to work in like sandals." Fellow business owner Cathy Barrett said she understands the challenges of finding workers and will continue to support the shop. “I thought [the sign] was awesome, because they're not saying people are stupid, they're saying, hey let's pay attention, let's communicate, let's get things going back to the way they're supposed to be, helping each other,” said Barrett.
One parent of a 16-year old employee said that the store is constantly staffed by only a couple teenagers. This individual also stated that the teen left a shift when told they would be running the store alone during the day. (source) Doing more with less has been the norm for many small businesses. But if Santino's is wanting one teenager to run the store alone, it makes sense that there would be very high turnover.
According to Forbes, Low wages and lack of benefits are a recurring pain point for retail workers, but they also feel little to no control of their work schedules, inconsistent hours and lack of training to move up the ladder. When that information is taken into consideration, it is easy to see why there is such a problem with finding and keeping good retail workers. But a bad boss will also not keep good workers, especially in a very competitive retail environment.
We don't know what Santino's pays, but we can assume it's a very low wage. That is typical for such a place: we know they are not paying close to a living wage. So this will limit there worker pool to just teenagers or collage students living at home. Anyone living on their own and paying the sky high rents today, would not be able to work for such a small amount of money. And with inflation the cost of everything has also gone up. I would guess Santino's did not offer their employees a massive coast of living raise.
Though money is only the beginning. As a typical pizza place, we know they have the most hostile chaotic schedule for their employees. Maybe if the boss likes you, or you are attractive, you might be able to get a somewhat stable schedule. Though most employees will get the short end of the stick. Not only will the boss demand they work odd hours, nights and weekends; but they will demand employees change their schedule to work at the bosses whim. Does an employee get a premium or bonus for working a night or weekend? It is doubtful. They are much more likely to get the boss just threatening their job then anything else.
It's unlikely Santino's Pizzeria offers any sort of benefits. They only list that...oooohh...you get your birthday off paid. So, again, this makes your only worker pool very young workers. A pizza shop is not a great place to work. It's hot, it's noisy and busy most of the time. And that is just the work of making food. It might not be so bad, but that would not be the worst of it. As would be typical of most jobs like this, you would not be treated all that well by your boss. Your boss would ride you all shift long, making sure you did everything they wanted at their whim. Not the best work place.
This sign would deter me from eating or working there. It’s an indication the management is rude, impatient and probably unwilling to train. We are in the beginnings of a major socioeconomic revolution whose effects are just being felt and is largely misunderstood. At the root of it is that no one, not even teens, want to do sh*tty jobs for sh*tty pay any more. Especially not when their employers are making greater profits than ever.
So any “struggle” is for fast food shop owners to keep up with steady, if not increased demand and thus record profit potential… without paying a dime more for labor than they did three years ago, when too many workers accepted the situation as inevitable The notion here isn’t “higher minimum wage,” a concept formulated entirely from employer perspective — “how little can I get away with paying?” but “minimum living wage” which is both from the worker perspective and the ethically defensible one. If the hourly take-home wage is not close to 1/40th of a week’s basic living costs… it’s unethical.
And a business that can only survive, and profit, by underpaying its work force is functionally bankrupt. As well as unethical.
