The Randstad is flouting hospitality rules (and I get it)
Hospitality businesses in Amsterdam and Rotterdam are not sticking to the rules on reservations and health checks, according to research involving mystery visits to cafés and restaurants. Nijmegen and Maastricht, on the other hand, come out as the teacher’s pets of the class.
Quite apart from my reservations about this research, which was commissioned by a company that developed a reservation app for these coronavirus times and—how coincidental—recommends precisely that app as the solution to this ‘disobedience’, I completely understand all those cafés and restaurants that take these rules with a pinch of salt.
A charade
Because it’s one big charade. Are you from the same household? Do you have symptoms? As my colleague Sharon put it: “If you had to fill in a customs form asking whether you’re carrying a weapon, you wouldn’t tick ‘yes’ even if you were, would you?” You just have to take everyone at their word. Whether they ask you at the door or have you fill it in online beforehand, because you can’t check it.
Do you still get it?
And apart from the people working in hospitality, it’s also an illogical jumble of rules for guests, as demonstrated by this ‘joke’ doing the rounds on WhatsApp:
Do you still get it? That’s why I think hospitality businesses are absolutely right not to go along with all this nonsense and, above all, to decide for themselves what works best for their business. In terms of health, but also hospitality and simply being able to operate profitably, because, honestly… getting over the blows of the past few months is an achievement in itself. Condescending little studies don’t help with that.
‘Workable policy’
“Our research is not intended to point the finger at businesses breaking the rules,” Thomas Vles, founder of the app, tells Misset Horeca. “We want to present this information to the government so that it can develop a workable policy for 1 July.” A workable policy! That sounds great. Scrap all these crazy rules and replace them with logical, workable rules. Right, Thomas?
Apparently, he sees it differently. His idea of a workable policy is: the health check, disinfectant gel at the door and tracking who was at the establishment and when through reservations.
Well Thomas, that’s all very nice, but once again I agree with my colleague Sharon. Because if there’s one thing I find frightening, it’s the idea that some app keeps tabs on where I’ve been, what my state of health is, and that this data is then also passed on to the GGD. I would genuinely much rather have a drink at a place that trusts people to think for themselves—because, let’s be honest, people really can decide for themselves when it is or isn’t sensible to go out—without first having to put on a little performance.
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