Katie Doyle, Girl About Town

Wednesday, Aug. 09, 2006 - 2:35 p.m.

Attention, California waiters and other tipped employees of the 7 states in the country that pay a higher minimum wage than the national minimum:

That minimum wage bill that just got shot down in the Senate - the one that would have also eliminated the estate tax - would have LOWERED your hourly wage.

"What's that, Katie?" I hear you ask. "It was supposed to raise minimum wage."

Ah, but only for those who don't make tips. For those of you who work for tips, it would have taken away your wage protections. See, in states like Texas, the laws say that an employer can pay his tipped employees way below minimum wage on the basis that said employee's tips make up the difference. And the GOP in all its wisdom thought that was a good idea and amended the bill so that employers with tipped employees could pay them a fraction of the minimun wage. So while the bill would have given someone flipping burgers at McDonald's in Texas an eventual $2.10/hour raise, it would have cut the wages for people making tips from whatever their current wage is - $6.75 for waiting tables in California, for instance - to a measley $2.65 an hour. And even that is 42 cents an hour more than a waiter in Texas makes right now.

Welcome to slave labor, folks.

What, you thought your waiter was making bank and rolling in dough? Hardly. Unless you do an incredibly high volume or work in an expensive restaurant, you don't get rich waiting tables. You also have to tip out anywhere from 20 - 35% of your tips to your support personnel (bussers, bartenders, and sometimes the guy running the line or the host staff). Something to think about the next time you leave your waiter $2 on a $20 tab. If he works at anything like the restaurants I've spent my worklife in, he's only getting to keep $1.30 of that two bucks, and that on top of $2.13/hour. Assuming he has 5 tables an hour, and they all chintzed him like you just did, because this is Chili's and most people are cheapass diners in a place like that, the guy is making all of $8.63 an hour BEFORE TAXES. And that's for the time they're on the floor with actual tables and a full station. It doesn't take into consideration the hour you have to be there before your shift starts and the hour of sidework you have to do at the end of your shift, and the hours when your station is slow and you spend all your time running other people's food, none of which makes you any tips at all. Out of an 8 hour wait shift, you generally only get to make tips 5 hours out of the day, assuming you have a full shift. Most waiters are students struggling to pay rent, tuition and books, or people who are trying to make their own small business fly and need the extra income for food and stuff, or people working a second job because this economy sucks ass and they still have loans to pay off. Don't be an asshole to your waiter, people, and don't assume that's "all" they are. Waiting tables is damned hard work, and anyone who gives your ass decent service deserves to be compensated for it and not made to feel like a loser. Tip a minimum of 15% (that's $3 on a $20 tab, INCLUDING the frigging tax) for decent service and 20-25% for above-average service, and don't piss and moan about it, because that's bullshit. Tipping is part of the dining experience. You know you have to do it, it's part of living in society, and if you don't want to leave a tip, then you have no business sitting your ass down at a restaurant table. That's what McDonald's is for. (Bygones to all you McDonald's people.)

But I digress. Those of you my peeps who make any tipped income at all, you might wanna drop your senator a letter, if you live and work in a state that pays above the national minimum wage to tipped employees. If that person is a Democrat, you probably owe them a thank you card.

Here's a copy of the letter I sent to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid today:

Dear Senator Reid:

In light of Senator Lieberman's very public withdrawal from the Democratic Party, following his loss in the Connecticut primary, I very strongly feel he should be stripped of all Democratic privilege and committee assignments.

For some time, I have not considered Joe Lieberman a member of the Democratic Party, and I am now utterly convinced he is not. In a primary election in which 14,000 new voters registered and another 14,000 switched from undeclared to Democratic Party affiliation, Mr. Lieberman lost by 4% - a greater margin of loss than that of Senator Kerry's failed presidential campaign, which Mr. Lieberman soundly declared for George W. Bush and the party of opposition. I find his declaration and bearing leading up to and following the Connecticut primary not only arrogant but dismissive of both voters and the Democratic Party. Mr. Lieberman has finally proven, once and for all, he does not have the best interests of my party at heart. The final humiliation is his blatant appeal to Republican Party members and lobbyists for their support. How much longer will the Democratic Party continue to grant Mr. Lieberman latitude for this kind of shameful, pandering behavior? Mr. Lieberman has, time and time again over the last several years, proven himself to be fully in the pockets of Republican interests. Now that he has at last made a public declaration and removed himself from the Democratic Party, please do what you should do in the best interests of this party and officially remove him with all haste.

Thank you for your time, Senator.
Blah blah blah.

I love living in Paris, yo. It's really awesome. I love getting on the subway to go anywhere I want to go, and being able to go all over the city. I love the architecture and the million and one museums - some of which are free (FREE!) - and that you can have tea in the same garden Chopin probably hung out in on warm summer Friday nights. I love Palais Garnier with its elaborate brass floor grates and gothic black lighting fixtures. I love the Eiffel Tower and that it's brown, not grey or black. I love how green the plants are and lush the gardens are. I love gravel and the way it crunches under my feet when I wander through those same gardens or historical places. I love the passages that were the precursor to the modern day shopping mall and are a lot more genteel. I even like the ridiculous warren of medieval streets and bad city planning that sometimes results in my getting lost because I digressed on the way home from the Metro despite really needing to pee. Because sometimes that results in a really insane piece of quiche lorraine, yo. I just wish I could figure out how to stay longer, because man, does Paris rock.

I think the bug that has been threatening to kick my ass is finally going to make good on its threats. I guess it's a good thing the weather has been overcast and oppressive the last few days and that it's supposed to rain and be gross all weekend long, because it's already stressing me out to be missing shoot days, so if I were sick while it was sunny, that would cause me to weep. The weather here is grey and bleak and just generally not good for the last 3 days. It's distressing. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going to get to work on the book. :(

Today I met Beth at the Passage Jouffroy (opened in 1846, when it was THE place to see and be seen), and then we went to the Musee de la Vie Romantique (Museum of the Romatic Life) and viewed the house and George Sand's possessions (though she did not own the house, she was a frequent guest of painter Ari Scheffer, who did) and then sat for 2 hours and had tea in the garden. It was really lovely, and I WISH the light had been good, because sunlight would have really lit that garden in the most beautiful way ever. It *was* a very romantic place. If it were mine, no way would I let them make it into a museum. I'd totally LIVE there, because dude, it *ruled*. It was very romantic and utterly charming, and the kind of space I would give anything to create for myself. I loved it. Back in the first half of the 1800s, it was also a Friday night salon where people like Chopin, Liszt, Rossini (who also hung at the Hugos' Tuesday Night Salon) Charles Dickens, Eug�ne Delecroix, and George Sand (among others) used to hang out, and you could totally imagine it with very little effort. It was really cool too that there was a painting Scheffer did in the house of a woman out in the garden with a dog, so you could see how the garden and house had been changed, which was not much at all. Really cool.

I would post pictures, but judging from the reaction the last ones got, pictures are not the big draw one would think they might be.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to go lie down. Man, do I really want some Campbell's Chicken Noodle and Nabisco Premium Saltine crackers. :( Anyone? Anyone? Hand santizer would be good too, because for some bizarre reason, the French have yet to embrace it. Anywhere. :(

Peace out,
Katie

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