No one wants to work in hospitality – chilblands

No one wants to work in hospitality

17 Jul, 2026

I have been working in the food and beverage service industry for 6 years. I hate it. Constantly understaffed, not compensated fairly, a dead-end opportunity and constantly undermined. For someone working with food, maintaining safety standards, serving 10-30 people at the same time, and working independently... I do not feel appreciated monetarily or professionally.

I recently had a bad shift when we were understaffed, and I had to stay back for 1 hour to clean up. I stood between two guys who talked about stock trading. They hoped to sell it one day and pursue something more meaningful. I know a handful of people who found customer service meaningful. It can totally be a great passion and joy to converse with people. However, that is the fraction of the role.

I've had many people blow their vape smoke at me. "Sorry, but this is a no-smoking zone, " I said as they rolled their eyes. Truth of the matter is, the food and beverage service industry is built for temporary employment. Not to mention outside perception of the job and employees as "lesser than". Sometimes it is the only job someone can have.

It made me think a lot about immigrants' work rights because many international students end up working full-time in hospitality. They have little protection if an employer takes advantage of them because of ignorance (from the worker) or malice (from the employer). Immigrants may also face racism and linguicism (discrimination against accents) in the workplace. Many of my colleagues are students (domestic and international) and working-class people's second/ third job. No one actually wants to work in hospitality. We just want to get by.

The robots can't replace human service or work. It is also not stealing anyone's job. John just put in his two weeks yesterday (he's been with us for 3 days).