Seving in Florida by Barbara Enhrenreich

894 Words2 Pages

There were two major issues that Ehrenreich has with working in the restaurant. The first one is the management and the second issue is the amount of money she makes. The management is views as the enemy to the employees; making new rules for the staff and the endless accusations about the employees behaviors. The salary for restaurant employees makes it hard to secure housing, prescription drugs, and any unexpected expense. “Serving in Florida” written by Barbara Ehrenreich is a reflected recap of her time working in the restaurant industry. Management keeps Ehrenreich and other employees under surveillance. They monitor the behaviors of the employees for any signs of theft, drug use, sluggishness, or anything that might be concerned worse. The managers and assistant managers are what some employees’ think are “class enemy”. Most of the management is former cooks or clerks that have crossed over to the other side. Ehrenreich views those former cooks that as “corporate as opposed to human”. Assistant manager are paid only about $400 a week and follow the directions of a corporation that exists far away from the actually location of the restaurant. Management only job is to ensure that money is being made and to not cut the employees any slack. “You give and you give and they take”, Gail another employee informs Ehrenreich. Gail vows to never work in management again for this reason. Management can sit around for hours at any time that they want. However, it’s the management’s job to ensure no one else sits around. Employees keep themselves busy for the manager on duty won’t assign additional task to them like having to vacuuming the entire floor with a broken cleaner. To avoid having to vacuum the entire floor, she keep hersel... ... middle of paper ... ...cense if the employee cannot up two months’ rent then they won’t be able to get an apartment. Creating the possibly of having to pay for a room by the week. The room might include a hot plate if the employee is lucky. The other issue that employees run into is if they don’t have no money for healthcare then they will go without care or prescription drugs. Employee is given the option to enroll the company health care plan after three months; however application forms are claimed as lost so the employee has to start the paperwork over again. Ehrenreich assess her situation working at a restaurant there is no waiting for a payday. Tips usually cover the cost of meals, gas, and gives her a little to save. However, there are times when the tips are only $20. The average wage that an employee makes is $5.15 an hour plus tip that is shared with busboys and bartenders.

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