Elodie* takes on a gloomy air when the clock strikes 4 p.m. in her pub in the center of Paris: for this Friday evening, the manager has nothing to promise but sweat to her catering team. Or rather what’s left of it. Half of the troops are missing, forced into isolation due to Covid-19. The presents have dark circles and the head of the bad days. “Rather too many days”, rectifies Maxime *, pub server. For the young Parisian, this Friday marks his eleventh consecutive day of service. Rest seems far away, as do the basic rules of labor law: “We have no choice, he shrugs his shoulders. People are missing, we can’t recruit last minute replacements, what do you want us to do? That we close with each case of coronavirus? That we tell the customer to go and serve himself in the kitchen? He still doesn’t know whether or not he’ll work tomorrow, based on the test result of one of his classmates who tested positive five days ago, or how long he can keep up this hellish pace.
With the exceptional virulence of the Omicron variant and peaks in January at more than 350,000 cases on average per day in France, the restaurant sector has been put to the test. From the end of December, the Scientific Council warned of the risks of disruption of society, in the event of a strong wave in January. The wave took place, the disorganization was avoided as much as possible. But at what cost ? “We knew we would be in tension, but not to this point. It was a carnage and so many sacrifices for those who were not sick,” comments Jérémy*, a waiter in a café-bar near the pub. The 30-year-old has already done the morning and midday service, a working day extending from eight hours until midnight. “Due to the lack of manpower, we merged the morning and evening teams. We make improbable schedules, ”he breathes. His brother, who works with him in the same café, sleeps in the next room. “It’s pretty quiet there before the post-work crowd, so we alternate an hour nap for him and me to rest a bit,” he almost apologizes. Insufficient of course to recharge the batteries, “but that’s all we have”.
Understaffed and overworked
The profession of waiters-waitresses is particularly exposed. “The profession was already under tension before the pandemic”, recalls Vincent Sitz, president of the Employment and Training Commission at the
National group of independent hotels and restaurants (GNI-HCR). “In fact, as soon as an employee misses the call, his absence is felt, recognizes the trade unionist. If there are several absentees, the services must be rearranged. And with Omicron, there are absences”. To fill these gaps, some restaurants are adopting new closing days or reducing their number of tables, he notes.
But sometimes such solutions are impossible. Julie* works in the catering department of a senior residence, not far from Montpellier. If she did not have to work too many extra days, she regrets that “when someone is missing, he is not replaced. But the work remains the same! »
fill the holes
The young woman therefore often found herself alone having to manage the “60 little old people that I love, but who can be quite demanding and above all don’t like to wait! It is necessary that at noon sharp the entries are on the table, that the cheese is not too desired and that the coffees arrive quickly! With in addition the diving to manage. This inevitably makes me finish the service later and therefore fall behind on everything else. Sometimes I cut corners on my half-hour break or I come earlier the next day. »
So overwhelmed, Amy* only has five minutes to give us. “At least it’s in the theme of the article,” she quips. The waitress of this restaurant-bar in Chambéry enumerates this month which has just run over her: “Since January 3, I have worked 28 and a half days for 3 and a half days off. On my days off, I still set the alarm clock in the morning if someone calls me”. “Just in case”, but the case repeated itself several times. It must be said that last month, almost half of the staff tested positive, some of them with symptoms requiring several weeks of downtime. So we had to compensate.
Detrimental consequences on health
“No choice” remains the watchword for unreached waiters and waitresses. The consequences of this Stakhanovite pace are not insignificant. “I can’t sleep, too nervous. Never more than three hours a night, ”recalls the Chambéry woman, before returning to duty. Julie shares the same “chaotic” sleep and “very, very hard awakenings”, in addition to body pain. “This work was already quite physical and intense, having to regularly do the job of two people does not help, obviously. The back, legs and feet clink a lot. I also have headaches more often and they are more violent”
A word brushes everyone’s lips, without anyone daring to pronounce it too much: burn-out. “We suspect that it is not very healthy for our health. To stop? It would be letting go of the rest of the team, and screwing them even more in the shit”, Jérémy squeaks. Couet method on Amy’s side: “Of course I’m afraid of burnout, so I don’t think about it. I will manage. For the doctor in psychology and specialist in suffering at work Marie Pézé, such work rhythms are “impossible to follow and harmful to health. Overwork is dangerous and has harmful, long-term consequences, even after the pace finally slows down. I don’t know how these people will hold up,” she worries.
Waiting for the end
Everyone is hanging on, with the faith that the situation can only get better. The epidemic is showing serious signs of receding, giving hope that the worst is behind it. Caution is in order with Amy: “I’ve been saying it’s going to calm down for a month, and each time it’s worse and worse. ” Vincent Sitz is more optimistic: “We learned to adapt and stick together. Times are tough right now, but it can only get better. There were more concerns during the first waves, when the risks were not known. »
It’s past one o’clock in the morning and after finishing his evening service alone to navigate between dozens of tables, Maxime directly checks the figures for the evening coronavirus with a frail smile: “It’s going well, we’re going to end up seeing some the end “. Less absenteeism, more customers and revenue and finally a better tomorrow? “When all this shit is over and everyone is back, I’m going to take time off and sleep for a week,” he announced. In the evening, he learned that he would indeed be on duty tomorrow, a direct consequence of his colleague’s still positive test. Twelfth day in a row of work to come, therefore. “Waiting for the thirteenth”.
*Names have been changed