An Open Letter: To the Denny's Guy

Denny's Guy,

   I get that you like money.  It's cool.  We all like money.  And I get that you want all of the money.  That, too, is reasonable, I suppose.  But don't try to displace your own greed by saying that you HAVE to cut hours on your wait staff or add a 5% price increase to your customer's bill to avoid the crippling cost of the health care mandate.  You don't.  Here's why...

   The average salary of Denny's wait staff is $4.25 an hour, before tips.  You aren't even paying the majority of your staff minimum wage.  Your customers are already picking up that slack.  Don't charge them more because you're scared that you won't make quite as much profit.  You will!  By paying for employee health care!  Here's why...

   There's this thing called productivity.  If employees are happier, productivity increases.  If your employees are healthy, productivity increases.  When productivity increases, profits increase.  What's more, you get the bonus benefit of keeping employees by showing that you actually care about their well-being.  Lower turnover leads to...you guessed it!  Increased profit! 

   See?  It's win/win.  This, right here, is that thing you folks in business are always talking about when you say that you just want to invest in the long-term success of your business.  Believe it or not, prior to the 1980s, giving your employees health benefits was the standard, rather than the exception.  And business thrived.  Let's go ahead and give it a shot, rather than being reactionary and clinging to outdated and/or hypocritical ideologies. 

Sincerely,
   A Rational American