Quote:
Originally Posted by Stu from NYC
When tips are added into a servers pay they can do well.
Sad when the govt would rather borrow money than to work out a plan to get people back to work.
|
Our children (and I doubt they are exceptions !) worked their way through under grad and grad school working minimum wage jobs just as I did. While there are people who do not tip, over-all it really is much better than usually discussed. I was a "curbie" for a root-beer drive-in, and worked same for a Steak & Shake. Certainly saw it was not the way to great wealth, but, definitely much better than most would guess it to be. One thing my adult children and I all agree on having all worked a variety of these jobs; a significant problems among minimum wage workers is a lack of knowledge and/or skills in managing money. It's a sad and never ending problem in our society that those who need the greatest expertise in money management, are often those who left school before they took advantage of the 12 years of free education our country offers every individual. Please understand this is NOT ALL who work in these industries, but so many who most need the ability to compare prices, value, and convert net weights at the grocery store, lack such skills. They are the ones most like to NOT read the fine print on an auto lease or bill of sale, etc. etc. Also adding to the problem is that a high percentage of those who do complete their education may have been present in classes but paid little attention to learning.
This was verified when I was involved in research into this very topic. Those who completed secondary school with high attendance records and a history of completing assignments (regardless of g.p.a. !), but were not college bound, tended to NOT enter minimum wage jobs and entered skilled trade schools and apprenticeships and entered the military (where they received advanced education and skills training), and they attended community college evening outreach programs at a much higher rate than those who did complete secondary school but with sporadic and limited engagement in the classroom learning process.
We are a free county, free to reject education, however, mandatory basic education, provided free through taxes, could go a long way to solving many, not all of course, problems of our society. IF minimum wage jobs provided a launching platform, a support, for reaching for additional education or to gain skills to prepare for a better paying job, we could greatly reduce the number of welfare programs we must offer to keep our country from deteriorating to the level of many I have seen in travels abroad. There is much we "could" do. When my parents were young, education was mandatory in their state. IF anyone dared to "skip" school, Mr. "Jake", the "truant officer" as he was called, was a branch of the local police force, something like officers assigned to schools today to discourage drug use. Students and parents KNEW they had a responsibility to attend classes for 12 years; it was something you owed yourself and you duty to your country to be literate. While some could view this as anti-democratic (forced education) and obviously that is what has happened over the years since my parent's youth, it could just be worth a try rather than continue down this path ?
People do not seem to be concerned with the fact that many of our country's secondary schools have now dropped below the 50% graduation rate. This can have a devastating effect on GNP, wages, welfare burdens; it touches every aspect of our society.