September 2010 – Laura MacDonald's Blog

HST Slams the Service Sector

The implementation of the harmonized sales tax (HST) in British Columbia, has become a source of constant stress for numerous businesses. In particular, restaurants have been negatively impacted by the HST. For instance, restaurant owners have found that their consumer base has dwindled due to this increased taxation. Regular customers would be less inclined to eat out at restaurants due to the extra cost imposed by the HST at this time.

As well, according to the CBC News article, “HST hurting B.C. restaurants: survey” this decrease in clientele has forced staff reductions and shorter business hours. This is a huge issue in for smaller restaurant businesses that might have been struggling before the HST was introduced in July. In fact, the HST could result in the loss of many small, independent restaurants. Imagine discovering one day in the near future, that one’s favourite Mexican restaurant has closed down. Clearly, it would be quite distressing to a community to learn of the demise of a local restaurant. However, this soon could become the fate of many small restaurants, if the effects of the HST are not combatted.

www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/08/03/bc-hst-hurting-restaurants.html

Provacative dress codes, a question of ethics in restaurants?

It seems that our society has finally begun to criticize the unreasonable demands that employers have of their waitresses in restaurants. According to the article, “Sexy should not be part of mandatory dress code, restaurant association says”, women who work in sports bars and other popular eating places are being forced to adhere to a strict dress code if they wish to keep their jobs. It would be fine if this dress code was appropriate and did not make the employees feel indecent. However, the simple fact is that it is not appropriate.

These restaurant businesses are demonstrating a severe lack of ethics in the area of their employees’ welfare. Having these clothing restrictions on employees is not right. Why must waitresses have to dress in a provocative manner? Is it not enough that they dress with a sense of professionalism and exude an attitude of cheerfulness and helpfulness? The issue here is that the restaurant businesses do not appear to respect their employees’s concerns and therefore overstep society’s view of what is right.