Living on $2.13 an hour and tips: the harsh inequality of the service industry

[umbertino]

In most US states, 'tipped-minimum wage' can be shockingly low even before taxes, and women most often pay the price

 

• Jana Kasperkevic
•  
• theguardian.com, Sunday 19 January 2014 14.30 GMT

 

 

 

Imagine that your pay depended on the mood of your clients, or on whether all your colleagues and superiors did their jobs well. Food industry workers like Nakima Jones don't have to imagine this – for them, income instability is a daily reality. Jones is one of 10 million Americans working in food and drink establishments throughout the nation. She knows what’s it like to depend on customers for her rent and grocery money.

 

Jones, who was born and raised in New York City, has been working on and off in the restaurant industry since she was 16-years-old. Jones recalled some of the hardships of working for tips this week in a panel held by the Ms Foundation, Murphy Institute and ROC United, which focused on surviving on pay of less than $5 an hour. Among the obstacles she faced were an ever-changing schedule, double shifts and even the fear of going to the bathroom, as she didn't want to risk giving customers a reason to say she had been inattentive.

 

Since 1996, the federal tipped-minimum wage for food workers like Jones has been $2.13. So far, only seven states have passed legislation eliminating this kind of sub-wage, requiring all workers to be paid a statewide minimum wage. Some states have taken steps to increase the tipped wage slightly. For example, New York restaurant workers are now paid $5 an hour. Yet many states still pay their food industry workers less than $3 an hour.

 

This tipped-minimum wage policy is basically the restaurant industry asking its customers to pay its workers, says Saru Jayaraman, co-director of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, also known as ROC-United, and author of Behind the Kitchen Door.

 

"When you earn a wage of $2 or $5, you don’t actually earn a wage at all. Your wage is so low it goes entirely to taxes and you get a pay stub that says ‘This is not a paycheck’. It says '$0'. And you live off of your tips,” explains Jayaraman. Restaurant workers are also required by law to claim their tips as income. The tax on their combined income – hourly wage plus tips – is considerably more than what they would pay on their hourly pay.

 

Relying mostly on tips for one’s income is not just an issue of income instability, but also that of job insecurity that comes with having a seasonal job. “When you live off of tips, your rent and your bills don't go up and down, but your income does. It varies day to day, week to week, month to month, year to year,” says Jayaraman. “You don't actually have an income. In fact, you are interviewing for your job every time a new customer sits down.”

 

That kind of job insecurity is even harder on mothers as they have to work around an ever-changing schedule to juggle doing their job and taking care of their kids.

 

 

A women's issue, a family issue

 

Restaurant work is notoriously capricious. A while back, Nakima Jones got fired from one of her serving jobs. Her transgression? Asking one of her colleagues to take care of a table of diners so that she could make it to her son’s school in time to pick him up.

 

Jones is not alone. Women and mothers are typically the ones who depend on tips to feed their families. “It's not the white man who works at the fancy steak house on 42nd street. That's actually not the majority of tipped workers,” says Jayaraman.

Actually, 70% of tipped workers are women, who work at the iHop and Applebee's and Olive Garden and Red Lobster. They suffer from three times the poverty rate of the rest of the US workforce. They use food stamps at double the rate of the rest of the US workforce, which means that the women who put food on our tables in America cannot actually afford to eat themselves.

Out of 200 mothers from Chicago, Washington DC, Detroit, Los Angeles and New York, interviewed by ROC-United, 56% had a predictable work schedule and just 7% received financial assistance to help with childcare costs. On average, these mothers spent about 35% of their weekly wages on childcare, with the average cost per child reaching as high as $87 a week. Additionally, 29% of them had to pay a fine to their childcare provider, due to schedule changes at work.

 

Tipped minimum wage and its effect on families is not just a women issues. It's a community issue, says the New York City borough president, Gale Brewer.

“Every time a woman gets a decrease in her salary, every single dollar goes to the local grocery store, the local childcare center, and it just revolves around the neighborhood. It doesn't go to Connecticut, it doesn't go to Bermuda. It doesn't go to the plane that takes us to Bermuda or the private jet. It stays right there in the neighborhood.”

Unfortunately, the current cost of living in New York, the sum of rent, childcare, school, transportation and food, "is a whole lot more than a tipped wage that most of the women make in the city of New York," Brewer admits.

 

 

 

'Out of 100 resumes, I would have five from women'

 

Jayaraman blames the stagnant $2.13 tipped minimum wage on the National Restaurant Association, or as she refers to it, "the other NRA". In 1996, when tipped-minimum wage began, the organization was led by a future Republican aspirant to the Oval Office: Herman Cain.

 

The change needs to come within the restaurant industry, says Catherine May Saillard, owner of ICI restaurant in Brooklyn. One way to do so is to “change the way people think about leadership and authority within restaurant setting” and to get more women in the leadership positions.

 

"Whenever I place an ad to look for a chef, out of a 100 resumes, I would have five from women. I don't think that women cook less or not as well as men,” she explains. “If I place an ad for a manager position, out of a 100 resumes, I would have two that would be women. And if I place an ad for a part-time brunch server, then I would have 95 women and five men."

 

While women made up 66% of tipped employees between 2010 to 2012, men only made up 34%, according to a report by ROC-United. In management, those numbers were reversed, with women making up just 38% and men making up 62%.

 

"I strongly support the raising the minimum tipped wage,” Saillard says. “I could fight against it, because that is money that is going to come out of my pocket, but I think [the increase] is fair."

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jan/19/restaurants-tips-minimum-wage-service-industry

[Maggie123]

This is true in my state... I could not believe it when I moved here a few years ago... 2.13 per hour???... makes me disgusted!

 

Folks in Utah seem to be blisfully unaware about a 15% - 20% tip for good service...  I've seen them leave a 1$ for a table of four.

 

Cheapo's... When I go out I automaticly figure in a much higher tip to compensate for the selfish tightwads.

[Maggie123]

Dang!!!

 

"Blissfully" and "Automatically"... edited just for you... didn't want to bug anyone.

 

 

 

Have never been able to make "spellcheck" work here.

[dog53]

I know quite a few waitresses that work for this amount. Most of them make anywhere from  75 to 100 dollars a shift Sometimes more. 

If waitressing is your chosen profession and your good at it. Its pretty easy to find work in a better restaurant .  Good professional waitresses are hard to come by. 

[tankdude]

This is true in my state... I could not believe it when I moved here a few years ago... 2.13 per hour???... makes me disgusted!

 

Folks in Utah seem to be blisfully unaware about a 15% - 20% tip for good service...  I've seen them leave a 1$ for a table of four.

 

Cheapo's... When I go out I automaticly figure in a much higher tip to compensate for the selfish tightwads.

Same here in MT - I usually base tips on at least 20% myself - more if the service is really excellent.  

 

I like to model myself after Jim Rohn - "He tips like a rich man."  Part of the self belief system -  I act rich, believe I can be rich, and eventually I will be rich. 

 

I even leave tips in my hotel room for the cleaners when I check out. They provide a service too. 

[chess]

.....once knew a mohel........who just worked for tips!

[gymrat76541]

There are some jobs that do not even pay you any minimum wage at all - just tips. Valet for one. You either make a killin' or go home broke.

[Houston1099]

Waitstaff do not make full minimum wage.

 

They earn about half of their state's minimum wage for every hour they work.

 

The real money they make is in tips.

 

That being said, there is too much debate about tips.

 

Even though all waitstaff get stuck with the occasional bad table, people serving in nice restaurants are

 

working to earn 20 percent of the bill in tips.

 

When a waitress is good at her job, that means she is working for $10 for every $50 spent on food and drink.

 

On a busy Friday or Saturday night, that can amount to hundreds of dollars for a few hours' work, not to

 

mention that there is money to be had serving diners during the workweek as well.

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/about_4760413_paying-careers-that-nobody-wants.html#ixzz2qyryNnBJ

Edited January 20, 2014 by Houston1099

[Thaiexpat]

.....once knew a mohel........who just worked for tips!

As a Jew, I endorse this joke. For those who don't know what a mohel is: he's the guy who does the "snip-snip" to baby Jewish boys. Hahahahah. Good one, Chess

[caz1104]

When I was younger I worked at a "full" service gas station pumping gas & changing tires making min/wage. I learned very early on that this would not support me and this had to be a stepping stone. I went to college on grants(which have been paid back), graduated and utilized my degree to become successful in my chosen field. NO ONE pushed me but me to strive to do & be better.

[tankdude]

As a Jew, I endorse this joke. For those who don't know what a mohel is: he's the guy who does the "snip-snip" to baby Jewish boys. Hahahahah. Good one, Chess

Oy - What's a goy to do? The jokes make me so meshugas! 

(Not bad for a Catholic kid used to Latin but who's watched "Snow in August" about 4 times.)

[Muleslayer]

When I was younger I worked at a "full" service gas station pumping gas & changing tires making min/wage. I learned very early on that this would not support me and this had to be a stepping stone. I went to college on grants(which have been paid back), graduated and utilized my degree to become successful in my chosen field. NO ONE pushed me but me to strive to do & be better.

Here here.

Good on ya!

Same here.

I went the burger joint route and no grants.

Grandpa called it sweat equity.

[caz1104]

Congrats Muleslayer!!  The American Dream does work for those who choose to strive and work hard for a better life. Waiting for good fortune to drop on your lap seldom happens. 

[nstoolman1]

When I was younger I worked at a "full" service gas station pumping gas & changing tires making min/wage. I learned very early on that this would not support me and this had to be a stepping stone. I went to college on grants(which have been paid back), graduated and utilized my degree to become successful in my chosen field. NO ONE pushed me but me to strive to do & be better.

 

So did I except for the college part. Gas was .30 a gal for Premium. I was making $2.75 an hour.

Edited January 21, 2014 by nstoolman1

[caz1104]

nstoolman1,

 

cool, I was able to pump gas, and clean all outside windows(yes that was part of full service) and catch pump at $5. That was a game we played and to this day I can still catch it pretty close to target amount(harder to do with the amount dictating speed).

[Muleslayer]

Probably sticking my neck out here but here goes.

There was a time that I went through 4 to 8 jobs a year.

Yes they were low paying minimum wage jobs.

Burger joints,carpet cleaning, shat shoveling, walking billboard, leaflet distributor

Gotta love that PC , the worst job's I ever had is a toss up between salvaging axle grease from a 55 gallon drum with a putty knife, yes it was "inside" work as in get inside! Three hours every day to try to wash off the smell.

And a company that makes fiberglass photograph sinks. 9 feet long 4 tall and three deep. BIG!

Layup guys would build sink on a mold. Anyone who has done "glass" work knows there is no such thing as a clean edge!

Anywho very long story short, you had to cut the edges off after coming off the mold.

You can NOT use a toothed saw on fiberglass and expect it to not look like you chewed it off! Had to use a fiber grinding blade. LOTS of very itchy fiberglass dust in the air, ears, nose, underarms, and worst of all on the "short arm" and associated equipment!

Never did stop scratching.

In short sh*ty jobs.

That is what motivated me to get of my dead a$$ get a real job (usmc)

Learn a skill and get PAID WELL for it!

Bless my T.I. For screaming in my my face, you think the world owes you something don't you? you sniveling little mamas boy!

You want it? WORK for it!

You sniveling little ba**terd!

GET A HAIRCUT AND GET A REAL JOB!!!!!

P.s. It took 25 years to to get the "paid well" part right!

μολὼν λαβέ

[Shabibilicious]

nstoolman1,

 

cool, I was able to pump gas, and clean all outside windows(yes that was part of full service) and catch pump at $5. That was a game we played and to this day I can still catch it pretty close to target amount(harder to do with the amount dictating speed).

 

Hahaha.....Shell boy here.  We used to play that same game.  I was pretty good at it as well, depending on who was sitting behind the wheel....on a hot day.....on her way to the lake.    

 

GO RV, and NO BV

[caz1104]

Hey Shabs!

 

Phillips 66 here-lol

 

On hot days hated to have to check the oil, that really sucked. Otherwise not a bad job,met many a young lady there. Boy those were the days. 

[Shabibilicious]

Caz,

 

Those really were great times.....made some life long friends working at the gas station.  Made a whopping $3.15 an hour and gave up most of my weekends to the place.  But, I bought my first new moped with my own earned money when I was 14.....and my first crappy car when I was 16........but they were mine and I paid for them, nothing sweeter than the satisfaction of accomplishing a goal all on your own.    

 

GO RV, and NO BV

[caz1104]

:twothumbs: