Michigan residents are flocking north like never before this summer, their SUVs jammed with tents, bikes, coolers and kids.
It seems like some forgot to pack a few essential items: Patience, civility, gratitude.
In the past few weeks, MLive journalists have written about service staffs at northern Michigan establishments confronting aggressive and rude customers. In Charlevoix, one restaurant closed early during a popular local festival's fireworks night when patrons became abusive toward staff.
Days later, the management of Short’s Brewing in Bellaire issued a social media statement that literally said, "don’t be a jerk," with the standard set at "no tolerance" for anger and insults directed at employees.
"They said, 'If you can't be kind, we can't serve you,'" said Tanda Gmiter, who oversees travel coverage for MLive and is an expert on the northern Michigan tourism industry. "They were seeing not only rude behavior, but verbal insults to employees, screaming tirades, things that we would most likely associate with toddler temper tantrums."
Some of this can be traced back to COVID – and I don’t mean that it shorted out people’s "nice" gene (although, who knows?). The travel industry, particularly mom-and-pop operations, was throttled early in the pandemic by social and health restrictions.
When COVID slacked and travel picked up, flocks of tourists ran into businesses struggling with labor shortages, rising wages, supply-chain issues and soaring commodity prices. That’s why you see open tables while you wait an hour to be seated. That’s why that menu item you really have a hankering for is not available. That’s why you might get sticker shock when you see the bill.
Lindsay Moore, who covers economy and labor for MLive, has been writing about this unwieldy tangle of business complications throughout the pandemic. It’s not getting better, she notes.
"At the beginning of the summer Michigan's Restaurant and Lodging Association put out a survey – 80 percent of those surveyed said, 'We are understaffed.' And then half of those said, 'Because we're understaffed, we're cutting hours.'"
The staffing issues affect all businesses across Michigan, but those with seasonal surges are in a particularly tough spot. Moore last summer wrote a very illuminating package of stories on the lottery that large operations, like hotels on Mackinac Island, have to enter to get work visas for seasonal workers from abroad.
And when large operations like the Grand Hotel are clamoring for workers, the effects on the labor market roll downhill through the bars, restaurants and fudge shops. Add in a hostile work environment created by intemperate customers and you have an employment crisis.
"I just did a story about teenagers working and one of the first comments I got from teenagers networking is horror stories – of being yelled at, and being short staffed," Moore said. "And so why would you want your first job to be at a restaurant, right?"
You, the tourist, cannot do much to change the macroeconomics of the business environment right now. But Moore and Gmiter both encourage everyone to adjust their expectations before heading north.
Popular destinations – Mackinac Island, Tahquamenon Falls, Pictured Rocks, Traverse City – are seeing unprecedented numbers of visitors. Demand and prices are up for hotel rooms and AirBnBs; short-staffed restaurants have longer wait lists. Be prepared to go with Plan B, or simply take a chill pill and view the pleasant peninsula about you.
"If you're trying to get a full meal and excellent service in 25 minutes, you probably should hit that fast food restaurant down the road," Gmiter said. "If you want to wait, grab a beer, go outside on the patio and enjoy the nice weather. That's why you're there."
🎧 On this episode of our Behind the Headlines podcast, John Hiner talks with Tanda Gmiter and Lindsay Moore about testy tourists causing grief for northern Michigan business owners. They also discuss worker shortages and the general state of Michigan's tourism industry. Listen here on Spotify.
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John Hiner is the vice president of content for MLive Media Group. If you have questions you’d like him to answer, or topics to explore, share your thoughts at editor@mlive.com.
