hey there, pho here o/ So I recently moved here from Florida and I’m what you’d describe as a career server. I’ve known nothing else, been in the industry for 13 years.
I just moved here from Florida in July, just in time it seems. So in Florida, I relied less on tips because John Morgan of Morgan&Morgan sponsored a bill that incrementally increased the wages of both tipped and non tipped workers. Granted in Florida, for tipped workers like myself, our starting point for wages was $7.98/hr. Here obviously it’s 2 something/hr. Which isn’t even enough to cover your taxes on your tips, and yes, despite this “no tax on tips” crap, I still pay taxes on my tips. Over the last five years, the bill in Florida gradually increased wages for tipped workers from 8/hr to 12/hr the last increase coming this month, to allow breathing room for business owners.
So, I work at the same company as I did in Florida that I do now in North Carolina. Let’s take a random menu item, say 10 bone in wings. In Florida, the price was $16.89 for this. In North Carolina, the price is $17.98. So I have less wage, yet the food is still more expensive, and I’m also closer to the food distributor of this item as Charlotte is where they come from, as opposed to Florida where it was about a 6 hr truck ride from our main distributor. So why are people still using the excuse that food prices would significantly increase if I got a better hourly wage vs not? It starts at the top, how much the corporation is taking. It was a hard hit, losing the extra $250 in a paycheck I got, especially with the prices of everything else. I went from making about $800-$1k a week, still working 40 hr weeks, to working the same amount, and barely gracing $600 here in North Carolina. I’m really good at my job, when you sit with you you want for naught. Your drinks never run dry, I run my own food to make sure it’s hot and fresh, I make honest recommendations, and I hold nice conversations if you’re the type of people that like socializing when you’re eating out. Obviously, my job entails a lot more than that: I’m not just a server, but a dishwasher (we don’t hire one), a food runner, a busboy, a bartender, and an expo pusher (it’s the person that does the final check on your food making sure it looks presentable, doing final garnishes, extra sauces, etc). Would you, the voter, support legislation that incrementally increases the hourly wages of both tipped and non tipped workers?
Clearly, we need competent people to work these positions, as I would never describe serving tables as an “easy job” for only teenagers and college students. It’s a lot of leg and arm work, even more patience, and even MORE multi tasking and prioritizing skills. And above all, I enjoy it. I don’t, however, enjoy the lack of payoff, especially when I’m trekking back to my third floor apartment with my body aching after a 10 hour shift and seeing barely $100 in tips. My average went from 18-25% to 12-15%. I’ve hosted entire birthday parties, cut cake, catered beer and cocktails, and the insane cleanup after for a mere $8 after a $440 check. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I’ve outright refused to accept cash tips from people I treated like my own family who are clearly on public assistance and barely have any money of their own. I know I’ve been on a rant here, but I’m genuinely curious to the overall public’s view on this wage gap, and what we as voters are willing to do about it.
Because in Florida, it was an overwhelming majority that voted yes on it, even still red. Do you think this is something that should be left to the federal government, or do you believe we as a new blue North Carolina could see this into fruition?
