Prices go up, wages go down?

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to take this time to use my purchased space on the Internet not for the typical bullshit/dick jokes/innuendo you're used to seeing, but instead to bring your attention to a new Senate Bill that's being considered in Florida.

The Optional Guaranteed Tipped Employee Wage Bill, or SB 2106, aims to cut wages of tipped employees by more than 50 percent.

SOURCE.

You guys may or may not be aware that servers in Florida make a whopping $4.65 per hour, in addition to money earned in tips.  That $4.65 hourly wage is what a server would see on his/her paycheck at the end of each week -- a paycheck that, more times than not, exists solely for covering taxes based on tips for the week and health insurance costs.

This is a snapshot of roughly one month's worth of paychecks I personally have received after taxes and health insurance costs.

In four weeks, I earned $18.73 from the company -- an amount of money unable to cover a measly half of a tank of gas.

And this is based on a $4.65 hourly wage.

SB 2106 aims to slash that to $2.13 -- a wage not seen since the early 2000's.

Two dollars and thirteen cents.

An hourly rate that would surely wipe any hint of a paycheck from existence.

But who gives a shit, right?  I make tips!  Why am I bitching about losing 18 dollars?

1.  Because it's 2012 and people still don't know how to fucking tip, or are completely unaware that their money puts food on my table.

Or both.

You might be surprised how many times this happens:

"Keep the change."

Oh, yeah?  Keep the change?  That means, from you, I earned $3.16.  But guess what?  I don't get to keep every cent I make from your tip!  See, most restaurants automatically deduct a percentage of a server's sales as a tip-out for bussers, bartenders, hosts or other people in the restaurant who help said restaurant maintain functionality.

In this scenario, on a $96.84 check, I earned less than a dollar for an hour and a half of keeping people happy.

But even if I don't have enough cash for groceries that week, I still have that paycheck from my hourly wage to cover taxes and health insurance costs.

2.  Because whatever I still owe after my check hits zero gets deducted from other sources of income, this means smaller or nonexistent tax returns and yearly bonuses.

You can tell me to get another job if I'm not happy all you want.

That's not the point, here.  Plus, the only times I'm not happy are when grown adults come in and treat me like I'm some kind of subhuman piece of garbage.  But that's a post for another day.

The point is, in this economy, there is absolutely no reason for anyone who lives comfortably to be making decisions on lowering the wages of people who, for the most part, bust their asses every single shift to make rent, keep the electricity going, pay off student loans, etc.

The following is a note posted by one of my good friends on Facebook.  Please read this for more perspective and links for you to click so you can help us say NO to the mass eradication of thousands upon thousands of workers' paychecks.


Friends, the Florida Senate wants to pass a bill proposed by the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association that would cut our hourly wage effective July 1, if it passes. The Federal Minimum wage for tipped employees is currently $2.13, but in Florida it's $4.65. If you work 30 hours a week, you currently gross $139.50. If your hourly wage was to be cut back to Federal minimum (and back to levels it was at in 1991) you would gross only $63.90 a week. Not only will you never see a paycheck, you'll possibly end up with no federal income tax return, possibly owing taxes at the end of the year, on top of owing leftover insurance premiums no longer covered by your wages. 

So here's the deal: 
"Carol Dover, chief executive officer of the restaurant-and-lodging association, said many restaurants she has talked to said they would keep current employees at the higher rate. But in an industry with high turnover, it wouldn't be long before many new employees would be making $2.13 an hour — a rate unchanged since 1991, critics said. "It's basically just more reason for them to try to hire new people, cut the hours [of existing workers] and get somebody to change jobs," Spencer said. "Restaurants don't have to fire people. They just start cutting shifts." (source: http://bit.ly/wO2PLq)

Here's a petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/the-governor-of-fl-stop-bill-spb-7210sb-2106-from-passing

Here's another one: http://sayno7210.com/

Here is all the contact info for everyone in Carol Dover's office. Please call them and let them know how you feel. http://www.frla.org/contact

Senator Jeremy Ring is apparently sponsoring the bill. Here's his contact info. Give him your thoughts. http://www.flsenate.gov/senators/s32

This sucks. Get angry. But don't just bitch, pass it on. Change will happen if we all yell together.  Please share with everyone you think will care.

Thank you!
-Trisha