A lot of talk about hospo at the moment, and I wanted to share the weird feeling a lot of us had about the pandemic and jobkeeper stuff. Staff actually wanted the system to fail.

There's no job stability, there's not a lot of pay, and even less respect for employees in hospo: treat staff as disposable and of course they leave. Then jobkeeper only applies to staff that have been at a venue longer than 12 months and it's a huge kick in the guts.

A lot of people wanted owners to come back from the lockdown ready to train staff properly and treat them as long term employees, break the cycle and knock down the us vs them mentality. And some employers tried very hard to keep their staff paid. But things go back to normal.

The horrible thing about those wankers that own Marys is that they're not unusual. Small bars don't survive (I know) so owners need multiple venues, have to see staff as $$$, it reinforces the problems, widens the divide, and we fall back into the same rut. Thats capitalism baby.

One thing you can do as a punter is look for breweries/wineries/distilleries. They are usually owner operated and have much better track records of paying and respecting staff. Or if you have a local pub, talk to the staff, make sure your money is going to the right people.

Support independent, support local, and treat every venue like you're a guest in someone's house. They deserve it.