The restaurant business and immigration.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110207/us_nm/us_usa_immigration_fastfood

Is there anyone out there who feels as that chosen profession is under attack? Do watch the news and wonder if your industry is being maligned for doing what is necessary in this economy?  Before we proceed any further I am not talking about Wall Street banks.  Your game has been rigged from the get go.  Too big to fail is sure to be considered one of history's great misnomers.  But that is a topic for another day.  Its unfair that good people  must be dragged through the mud; made to look like villains just to make a living.  Life is a bitch.

The industry I want to discuss is my own.  The restaurant business.  The only industry I feel qualified to dissect.  It is rare that a week goes by without some new reason to stay home and eat.  Salmonella outbreaks, product recalls, health food fads; and now the hiring of illegal immigrants.  Perhaps I'm wrong in thinking that this is news to those outside the industry bubble.  That some of my co workers citizenship is questionable is an open secret.

I blame what I've coined the Ratatouille principal, the fact that anyone can cook.  They may not cook very well or rise to the level of chef.  But the Pixar movie was right; anyone can cook.  Had I been aware of this fact ten years ago I may have chosen a different line of work entirely.  But when you finish high school you're expected to go to college.  Its been worth it though.  I love the look on a diner's face when they enjoy a dish I created.  We could liken it to the "light bulb moment" a teacher has when his student grasps some new idea.  And the group of friends I've found is second to none.

Leaving culinary school I had no illusions of stepping into an executive chef position.  Or becoming the next Iron Chef.  I wanted to work on a cruise ship.  Three years into a post 9/11 world the economy was starting to rebound.  The world was wide open.  Alas it was not to be.  A degree means little in a trade that demands you show me what you can do.

Now in 2011 the bubble has burst.  In spite of the adage that a man can do without life's necessities when he has a few of it luxuries; consumers aren't going out to eat.  So what is a restaurant owner to do.  Food prices are rising and rent isn't going down.  The only option is to cut back on labor cost.  The surest way to do that? Hire someone who will work cheap.  Someone with secrets to keep.  Which brings us to the article.

So what do we do?  Here the discussion gets murky.  Few want to be the cold-hearted bastard demanding the illegals be deported.  Not a politically savvy move if one is seeking re election.  Arizona has made a tough call.  I think a bad one.  No citizen should have to put up with some cop or bureaucrat demanding to see his papers.  Lucky for me I have this pasty white complexion.

I fear the outlook is bleak.  All those in Arizona who feel as I do are going to migrate; and probably not back to across the Rio.