Ehrenreich Text

I am going to discuss Ehrenreich's experience in Key West, FL working as a waitress. Her first waitressing job was at a place called "The Hearthside" where she worked for two weeks from 2:00-10:00 pm for $2.43 an hour plus tips. She goes into much detail about what it was like for her working in this kind of industry. She mentions on page 17 that that a third of a server's job is "side work" which includes sweeping, scrubbing, slicing, refilling, and restocking. "Managers can sit- for hours at a time if they want- but it's their job to see that no one else ever does, even when there's nothing to do, and this is why, for servers, slow times can be as exhausting as rushes. You start dragging out each little chore because if the manager on duty catches you in an idle moment he will give you something far nastier to do" (pg. 22). Ehrenreich explains that the restaurant has something called the "break room." This is where the employees put their bags and clothes and take half-hour breaks. She continues to explain that taking a half-hour break in the break room is not a right and it can be taken away. Also, the lockers in the room can be searched at any time which can make any person hesitant to leave their belongings in there. Ehrenreich states that she hasn't been treated the way she has been at The Hearthside- she has to line up in the corrider, is threated with locker searches, and is peppered with carelessly aimed accusations. She states that the other problem in addition to the management, is that the job shows no sign of being financially viable. She adds that housing is the major disruption in everyone's life at her job. The Hearthside's health insurance plan kicks in only after three months and until then, you have to go without routine care or prescription drugs and end up paying the price. She then discusses that she sometimes leaves work with only $20 in tips. Servers share 15% of their tips with the busboys and bartendenders, and therefore, with wages included, they make about the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour.

Ehrenrich then explains taking on a second job at another restaurant called "Jerry's." At Jerry's there is no break room because there are no breaks. She states that for six to eight hours in a row, you never sit unless you have to go to the bathroom. "I start out with the beautiful, heroic idea of handling two jobs at once, and for two days I almost do it: working the breakfast/lunch shift at Jerry's from 8:00 till 2:00, arriving at The Hearthside a few minutes late, at 2:10, and attempting to hold out until 10:00. In the few minutes I have between jobs, I pick up a spicy chicken sandwich at the Wendy's drive-through window, gobble it down in the car, and change from khaki slacks to black, from Hawaiian to rust-colored polo" (pg. 32). She talks about one time she was left $1 on a $92 bill and that some leave no tip at all if one little thing goes wrong that is not even her fault. The tips average only 10 percent at Jerry's with the base pay of $2.15 an hour. With the obligation to share tips with the busboys dishwashers, she says they average about $7.50 an hour.

At The Hearthside Ehrenreich made about $5.15 an hour and at Jerry's made about $7.50an hour. According to the Poverty in America website, the Living Wage calculator calculated that for one adult living in Key West, FL the living wage is $9.70. The poverty wage is $5.04 and the minimum wage is $7.25. So while Ehrenrich was working at the Hearthside she was making well below minimum wage and close to the povery wage, while at Jerry's she was making just above the minimum wage.