Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for January 25, 2022

That’s one way to raise the minimum wage.

A rat in a cafe.

what a hard bargain

5 x Rat’s curent salary ($0), Cafe owner still ahead.

I’m trying this tomorrow.

Except the “fathead” bit…

“My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of subsidy…”

(Stolen from Doonesbury)

Five times his salary and still got hired? Did he last work there when minimum wage was $3.75?

In 1942 the US government decided to put a “price freeze” on wages to avoid inflation, since employers couldn’t offer higher wages as an incentive for new workers they started offering benefits such as employer backed insurance to make jobs more appealing.

I think you got a bad deal, Rat; you should have gone for “chrome-dome.”

Truer than you think. I heard an interview with a restaurant industry spokesperson who said that restaurants are so desperate for help they are willing to hire back people they have fired.

Desperation!

I quit my old job when they couldn’t even give me pallets to put orders on, among other supply complaints. I asked for it back a few months ago and they didn’t rehire me. I guess they really were listening after all.

He should hire Larry Croc … Croc Power !

I hope employers are not that desperate and Rat can sit at home. I know I wouldn’t want food or drinks made by a Rat. (yeah, I know I already do but I try not to think about it).

So he’ll pays you five times your salary while he has to heavily bribe the health officer for not shutting his place down for a rat infestation? Dang. He must be very desperate indeed.

1: “I didn’t know you were in a union. What’s it called?” 2: “Covid, Local 19”

Saw a news item where a pub in SC is providing child care for its waitstaff. They are fully staffed because of this. Amazing that a small business can afford to do this and bigger ones say they can’t afford it.

Alright, this is out of topic but I’ve been on this site for 3 years now, and I want to make a confession. I’m a part of the lgbtq+ community. I identify as pansexual and genderfae (as of now) and I hope you all will accept me! If anyone else is a part of the community please let me know that I’m not alone, and it’s not a sin. I’m having a hard time accepting it. I’m still a minor so I can’t come out to my parents, they might hurt me. If anyone has any tips, please do share them with me :) Peace out!

he must be really desperate for help…

Company car?

It won’t last two days. He’ll be back on his furry tailed keister in no time.

It took me a while to realize Rat wanted to call him “FATHEAD” rather than “FATHER.”

lmao well done, Rat.

At least he didn’t insist that they change the name to Fathead’s Roastery

Joe really has staffing problems.

A fate worse than death… letting Rat come back.

Listened yesterday on Market Watch of how Long-Covid is affecting the workforce. Sufferers being unable to work much or at all. Nasty stuff this virus brought.

…until he gets more employees then RAT WILL BE OUT ON HIS EARS….

A labor shortage.They just hired Guard Duck to work in a china shop.

About 40% of those people who major in education, get a teaching job and start teaching wash out before the 5th year. I have taught and I have worked in an office. The major difference is that when you are working in an office you do not have to be paying 100% attention 100% of the time. And, when you leave work, you leave work. Each class requires about 20 minutes of prep time if you are revising lessons you have done before. If it’s a new lesson, an hour or two is more likely.After getting a total of 6 1/2 years of college and working for 32 years, I was making about 75% of what my nephew was two years into a sales job.All of the ideas for improving education add about 20% to the classroom hours, and no additional money seems to be available to get extra people to help with the job, which would be a big help. Paying the people who are doing it more might make them happy, but it’s not going to increase the quality, because it would be an overwhelming amount of work. Eventually, they are going to get to the point where no one with the intelligence to do the job is going to be dumb enough to take it.

It is literally that bad some places, we haven’t gotten mail since last week, apparently most of the local post office is out sick.

I’d settle for once a day, but negotiate carryover usage and days off count towards the total.

Don’t mean to quibble (well, OK, yes I do) but I bleeve that Rat would be paid wages, not a salary.

This strip is anti-pomposity.So I’m relating a story from Harpo Marx’s memoirs.Cast is Harpo and two famous NY CITY literary columnists,Heywood Broun and Alexander Woolcott(who looked like Reginald Van Gleason).

One night,leaving the Algonquin Round Table,I shared acab with Broun and Woolcott.They were at each others throats,slur and nail,in some ridiculous literary argumentwhere I couldn’t get a word in sideways.

My place was the first stop.Woollcott said “Tell the driver where to drop us off like a good boy,Harpo”;and thenresumed his tirade against Broun.

I did not like his condescending attitude.So I said—“Theother two parties want to go to Werba’s Theatre;Brooklyn”. Werba’s was a burlesque house in the far off reaches of Flatbush".

At three in the morning my phone rang,with a frenzy of curses on the other end.Woolcott and Broun had arguedall the way over the Brooklyn Bridge before they realized what kind of a ride they were on.

Coming back,the cab had slid on the ice and stalled.Bythe time t hey got home they were in the early stages of frostbite".

And this was one of Harpo’s TAMER practical jokes.

BIG MISTAKE!!! He should have gotten the Rat clones back instead. They were superior employees.

For those who don’t think we’re experiencing a dysfunctional labor economy, if not an actual labor shortage, this is something to think about. I think it’s hard to what worse about our labor situation: The people who aren’t showing up to work, or the ones who do.

I know many places are desperately looking for help these days, but Joe must be really masochistic to hire Rat, and on those terms!

He needs the rat clones

Desparate times call for desparate measures.

I wonder if Joe can handle a few roasts himself without having an ear bleed

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