I’ve chosen to do my hypertext 2 on the low-wage-life of a waitress. What inspired me to choose this topic was the “Serving in
The wage of a waitress, however, is very different from that of any other low-wage job. The difference is that the wage of a waitress is not consistent, as the majority of the wage comes from tips. In fact the base wage is usually about half of the minimum wage. Thus, if business is slow, or the customers decide not to leave tip, the average wage of a waitress can come out to the legal minimum wage, if not lower, as they have to pay a certain percentage of their tips to the busboys and bartenders (Ehrenreich 28). This uncertainty of the wage is what I’ll be focusing on in the hypertext.
I’ll also focus on the fact that sometimes this uncertain wage isn’t enough to live a decent life. In fact, for one adult with three children, an hourly wage of $9.24 or less in 2004 is considered as poverty, assuming that the person works forty hours a week (Shipler 9). This estimate, however, “cuts far below the amount needed for a decent living” (Shipler 9). Also, considering that this was three years ago, and the price of living has increased since then, the hourly wage which is considered poverty level is much higher than $9.24. Thus, I will also focus on how one waitressing job does not provide sufficient funds for a decent life, as on average the hourly wage is slightly above the minimum wage according to Ehrenreich.
The lifestyle which the low wage allows for will also be covered in my hypertext. I will comment on how many of the waitresses must share one person apartments or trailers to simply be able to pay the monthly rent (Ehrenreich 25-27).
Another thing I will focus on will be the way many waitresses are taken advantage of in terms of benefits such as health insurance, similarly to the way fast food employees are taken advantage of (Schlosser 73-74).
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