It might be, but, having owned a restaurant (not in SF), it doesn't ring untrue; some people are complete dicks all the time anyway and think because they are on the paying side of the table they can get away with anything and, as far as I have seen (and talked to the new owners of my ex restaurant) in the past weeks when travelling for the first time in 1.5 years, their fuse became just a bit shorter. When before they wouldn't have been nice (let's say they were difficult) while waiters would bend over backwards to accommodate them and then get a 2* star review (with made up things often!) anyway, now they become visibly agitated up to downright violent. It is probably temporary (hopefully?), but it doesn't ring untrue to me.

One more general point in favour of the narrative is the rate at which service industry workers have been leaving the industry in particular[1]. Of course that also can be a function of rising wages in warehouse work or better unemployment benefits so the phenomenon might not be solely recent, but I don't think the narrative is made up, retail work is pain.

And no offense but it might be your experience of luxurious SF dining that is a little bit unrepresentative.

[1]https://www.businessinsider.com/retail-workers-leaving-quit-...

>Doesn't mean we have to fall for it

Thing about an comment like this, it might be completely fake.

Abolish tipping so people can be treated as they deserve. Put the cost of labor into the price of goods sold like every other industry.

Absolutely. In most other areas of life, you only ever get to meet people who've passed the filter of your friends, families, acquaintances or even employer. Working in customer service basically means one gets a ~perfectly random sample of the population which is really not a great experience. It certainly builds character, though, and makes you forever appreciate other people working in customer service.

Near as I can tell from people in the industry - people are being 10x worse than they were before, and they were pretty bad before. In clearly objective ways, like starting fights with other customers, starting fights with staff, etc.

Covid tightened the screws on a lot of folks mentally, and it’s really clear which direction some people went.

The article is highly anecdotal, but what it claims is bad customers have gotten worse and nice customers have gotten nicer.

I don't think it's the mask doing the dehumanizing.

On a related note, one thing I'd never thought about until actually being served by a masked waiter last month was that, pandemic aside, I kind of liked it as a general protection against having them accidentally breathe or spit on my food.

I could see the mask policy remaining popular for chefs and/or waiters indefinitely, just as a logical next step after hairnets and gloves.

Indoor dining in the Bay Area has been mask free for months (the SF Gate is a San Francisco publication).

Maybe the opposite. People feel they can be extra rude because you can’t see their face?

exacerbate [https://www.wordnik.com/words/exacerbate] is the word. No hate here, it’s just a weird word ;)