Pre COVID I knew a lot of amateur filmmaker wannabe Tarantinos who worked in restaurants, often seasonally, making shit money to fund their art. The usual 'starving artist' schtick. Once the world was shaken up they used the opportunity to reinvent themselves. Some became full time videographers, some went into business for themselves making art, some just went and got more stable jobs in the post-COVID search for workers.
All of them now have more disposable income and no desire to ever set foot in a restaurant again. The restaurants who are offering good wages/benefits were able to bring in new people to replace the ones they lost. The others are just gonna fail or have to re-evaluate their priorities. Note that some of the ones crying wolf the loudest have incredibly high profit margins. They just enjoy continuing the 'thin margin almost in the poor house' narrative in the hopes they can grift some more. It's truly pathetic.
