Who the hell thinks that the workers gets to make the decision on whether or not places shut? The worker who can't afford to take the day off gets 0 say in whether or not a place stays open - and the owner doesn't have to work in the building so doesn't care a jot about whether their minimum wage workers are too hot. When I worked at a takeaway (in temperatures nowhere near what we've had today) we regularly had chefs and drivers sent home sick with heatstroke, fainters were a regular occurance and so was vomiting in some instances due to the heat. Not a particularly pleasant place to work in summer. (This was a well known chain takeaway too, so not exactly a struggling family ran business).
I now work in a well known chain restaurant and again, the staff (who again cannot afford to take a day off) are seriously struggling in this heat. One of our chefs has suffered heat exhaustion and there is no escape from the heat at all. We don't have air con in the building, it's very busy at night and we are dealing with customers complaining to us that it's too hot (we know we are working in it) and that it's not good enough and we need to somehow magically change the weather. Oh and one lovely customer moaning that their ice cream was starting to melt 🙄 in 38 degree heat!..... Sorry that turned in to a rant. If you must order takeaway please tip your driver, and if you go to a restaurant please be nice to your waiter/waitress! We deal with enough abuse anyway but the heat really seems to amp it up 😭