[DiapDealer]

But I happen to know that the owners of this establishment are free to work their own business (and it only takes one). So they don't need to tolerate lousy employees. They choose to do so.

It's like I always say about local bar owners. You won't succeed by sitting on the other side of the bar and paying bartenders. Only the bar owners who work behind the bar (as much as humanly possible) will thrive. Too many business owners are too quick to try and jump from self-employed to employer. If you CAN run your own business with no (or very little) help, you SHOULD. Your bottom line (and most likely your customers) will thank you for it.

Of course it's different if there's more work than one person can reasonably do.