Government Micromanaging The Restaurants
Everyone who lives in NYC is very much aware that cockroaches scurry around even the finest restaurant. If it isn't killing patrons with any regularity, the patrons will keep coming. (I ate hot dogs off street carts that were probably cooked in water changed weekly. Still here!)
Meanwhile, New York City restaurant inspections have a lot to do with arbitrary in the name of safety -- often exercised by power-mad, city-employed graders. From Eater New York's Saxon Baird:
One common and costly response to the arrival of an inspector is to just toss everything in the trash. Kate Gordon, who has been bartending in New York City for the past three years, says she's had to throw away cutting boards or egg whites used in cocktails when an inspector arrived. "It's too much of a risk that you'll get docked for it," she says.The problem, the employees say, is that different inspectors dock points differently, and many infractions seem to fall into a gray area.
A few years ago, one of the restaurants Kanev worked at received a violation when an inspector saw stacks of small plates in a server station and informed them that those plates needed to be covered, or the top plate had to be flipped over. At another, the business was marked off because thin mixing straws were unwrapped; the straws, which were in a plastic container on the bar, typically do not come wrapped. One violation included the bartender having a rag in their back pocket.
These types of violations can often vary from inspector to inspector because the language of the health code is not always explicit. In the cases that Kanev experienced, the rules don't say that a rag can't be in the pocket of a bartender, but it does state "cloths used for the cleaning and sanitizing of food contact and non-food contact surfaces shall be stored clean and dry, or in a sanitizing solution between uses." What determines when a rag is and isn't in use can be at the discretion of the inspector.
The same goes with drinking straws. The code notes that straws "shall not be offered to the consumer unless they are completely enclosed in a wrapper or dispensed from a sanitary device." How is a sanitary device determined? The code doesn't say.
..."The cleaner the restaurant, where there aren't a lot of issues, that's when the small violations like unwrapped straws come out," says Kanev. "There's been so many times I've seen a place marked down for things that other inspectors didn't care about. It's always when they haven't found any violations in the kitchen or elsewhere. It's like they can't give us nothing and are just looking for something to mark off."
The Department of Health denies these allegations. In an email to Eater, DOH officials noted that inspectors adhere strictly to what's in the health code, and added that the inspections are ultimately for the betterment of the establishments themselves.
...All this comes down to a lack of common sense in the system, some say. To Gordon, the spirit of the health code -- to keep food and customers safe -- is being manipulated and forgotten. And because fines are involved, ultimately, the health code inspection process favors establishments with more money, they say.
Lawmakers around the country get into the act in meddling in the restaurant business. At Reason, Baylin Linnekin writes:
Chicago lawmakers, for example, are considering a new ordinance that would limit flexibility in scheduling workers' hours. In a great editorial last week, the Chicago Tribune urged the city to back off, noting the rules don't make sense and would hit restaurants and restaurant workers particularly hard.The Tribune reports the new rules would impose restrictions on flexible schedules for hourly workers (and even, in an apparent nod to the snowballing Bernie Sanders' campaign labor scandal, many salaried workers). Many of these workers, the Tribune notes, "prefer getting called on short notice to work [and] actually like a more fluid schedule--and extra hours." The editors, lamenting the fact that "employers find Chicago an increasingly hostile place to do business," close with this argument: "City Hall should not be interfering in shift changes at...Taco Bell."
From that editorial:
Under a draft of the ordinance, employers would have to post work schedules at least two weeks out. An increase or a reduction in posted hours could result in employer penalties. Schedule changes would be regulated and memorialized in writing; employees could turn down requests to pitch in extra hours; and companies could be fined for noncompliance.
You know where this leads: "Bye-bye, waiters! Helloooo, iPad ordering!"
I just love how snotty (appropriately snotty!) the Chi Trib ed board gets:
It's the ultimate intrusion of government in the workplace. Can't a nursing supervisor decide how best to staff an emergency room? Or a banquet hall manager how best to staff a funeral luncheon? Do we want aldermen making those decisions? No.Yet any deviation from the aldermen's mandates could result in companies getting slapped with fines.
'Discretion' and 'flexibility' in government are synonyms for corruption.
Ben at July 27, 2019 10:55 PM
If we stipulate that even the most rewarding sectors in a freely capitalist marketplace do best when they're appropriately regulated (and the most successful businessmen and -women in those enterprises have affirmed to me, without bitterness, that they do), then Western Civ's next great challenge will be keeping those regulators working towards the reliable competitive delivery of those goods and services, without corruption and without petty power games.
I feel that we were doing better at this challenge in the late hours of the last century than we're doing in the current hours of this one. (It even felt like Miami was starting to outgrow the madness of the Mariel Boatlift and other Latin American business patterns.)
And, to be clear, Trump and Trumpeninnies are *not* kicking this ball forward. Quite the opposite.
Crid at July 27, 2019 11:11 PM
The big problem here is the existence of administrative law agencies. They give lawmakers the free time to engage in needless busybodyism.
A court should overturn them en masse as violations of the separation of powers.
jdgalt at July 28, 2019 8:14 AM
One of the problems restaurants face is that they are usually subject to oversight by at least three health and safety regulatory agencies - the city health agency, the county health agency, and the state health agency.
And the requirements of each usually contradicts the requirements of at least one of the other agencies. Obey the requirements of one and you violate the requirements of at least one other agency.
Conan the Grammarian at July 28, 2019 8:18 AM
When a food inspector is dinging you because your bartender has a towel in his pocket, it's their way of saying that they want to be paid off.
mo at July 28, 2019 11:01 AM
@ mo
That type of shit gives me the huzz. Reminds me of some mafia BS. Wish someone would turn those assholes in.
Feebie at July 28, 2019 11:15 AM
Wonder how these guys don't have Equal Opportunity Commission powers yet?
"You don't have enough {special interest group} employees. That's unhealthy."
Radwaste at July 28, 2019 11:26 AM
"'Discretion' and 'flexibility' in government are synonyms for corruption."
Don't even pretend that inflexible regulations cannot be adjusted to consolidate power and make money for an agency. (cough, TSA, cough)
Radwaste at July 28, 2019 11:29 AM
I know Rad. But when flexibility is written into the regulation it make it so much easier to be corrupt than when rules are clear and easy to follow.
Ben at July 28, 2019 12:14 PM
It's my understanding that if you let a cockroach loose in a restaurant and pretend it's their fault, not only will they comp your meal but you will attract the attention of a hot writer who will fall madly in love with you.
NicoleK at July 28, 2019 6:06 PM
It's my understanding that if you let a cockroach loose in a restaurant and pretend it's their fault, not only will they comp your meal but you will attract the attention of a hot writer who will fall madly in love with you.
NicoleK at July 28, 2019 6:08 PM
Here's the thing about the restaurant industry (especially fast food, although it applies to nearly all restaurants): most of the jobs are entry-level. One of the implications is that people can, and frequently do, take leave or quit on little or no notice, leaving a store short-handed. If a restaurant or chain can't re-schedule to cover the gap, they might have to close for the day. Obviously, loss of revenue, particularly if it's normally a high-traffic day.
In between high school and college, I worked for a while for a restaurant chain. Part of that time, I was a "floater", someone who would agree to go to different stores around the region on short notice. They liked me for that work because I was usually available (having no social life to speak of), and because I was good at getting the hang of different kitchen layouts and equipment quickly. I got paid a small premium on top of my usual wages, in addition to overtime if it ran into that. At the time, it was a good deal.
Cousin Dave at July 29, 2019 11:46 AM
"and the most successful businessmen and -women in those enterprises have affirmed to me, without bitterness, that they do"
Because it's in their interest as the most successful players to have regulation. Regulation favors those at the top of an industry by creating barriers to entry for upstarts who might disrupt their dominance. Plus, they usually control the "experts" tapped to actually write the regulations, so they skew them in their own favor.
A former employer had a sandwich shop. Every time the inspector came, he'd ding him for the can opener blade not being clean. One day he spotted the inspector approaching the place, grabbed and employee, and sent him back to clean the can opener blade. The inspector took one look at the can opener, and asked, "Why did you go and do that? Now I have to find some other violation to prove to my boss that I was here."
The most effective system for assuring consumers that food meets their requirements is the Kosher certification industry, which is entirely private, voluntary, and accountable only to consumer demand. It consists of multiple vendors who compete for the trust of the various sub-markets within the Jewish community. It was instituted through the voluntary efforts of, and to meet the demands of a group representing less than a few percent of the population. Funny how that works.
bw1 at July 30, 2019 6:42 PM
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