"Get a Real Job" & Why We Don't
Iāve been Serving and Bartending for nearly a decade now. I subscribe to pages that show the gritty side of our industryā made up almost entirely of venting service workers, angry that table four didnāt tip or that they served children who destroyed their section, and there is almost always a few comments from people who have obviously never carried a tray or taken an order in their life: āDonāt like it? Get a real job!ā So letās take a look at the claim that serving or bartending isnāt a āreal job,ā explain exactly why most of us choose this way of life and why you should respect it.
First of all, what constitutes a REAL job? Is it an office job with the regular hours of 9-5 Monday through Friday? Well, if thatās what you mean by a real job, youāre leaving out more than restaurant employees, such as anyone who works a job that doesnāt present normal hours, like police, writers, actors, nurses, etc. Iāve never heard anyone accuse a nurse of not having a real job, so maybe thatās not it. Perhaps a real job is one where one can make enough money to support him or herself. Well, in that case, many servers and bartenders are perfectly capable of living on their own without financial assistance from anyone or anything. So, maybe thatās not it either. Moving on. A āreal jobā could be a job with an income that isnāt supplemented by the public, i.e. Tips. In this case, I point out, a server and bartenderās job takes skill to do it well, and you are under a delusion if you think any of us would stay in this line of work for the hourly we are currently receiving, and no tips. The fact is, it is not minimum wage work. Anyone who has been out to eat even just a couple times a year will know there are people who are phenomenal at their job, and there are people who, well, just arenāt up to par, and thereās a reason for that. Whatever you may think, itās a very stressful line of work. If we were to abolish the tipping system, one of two things would happen: Either restaurants would add an extra tax (the United Kingdom uses this model) which would be the serverās tips at the end of the night. It would not be optional, nor would you be able to lower or raise it how you see fit. The second thing that could happen is that servers and bartenders would have to be given a better wage, and Iāve heard $30/hour thrown around quite a lot over the years, which to me sounds about right. However, to some people, this would be a decrease in what they are making now. Of course this might sound like a better option to you, the customer, no tipping, no extra tax, but you would end up paying. Restaurants and bars would NATURALLY hike up their prices to make up for paying their employees threefold (or more) what they pay them now. So in the end, itās all the same, and possibly not even for very good service. Not to mention, the job would be the same, so we do have real jobs, you may not agree with how it works, but the job itself is very much āreal.ā
So why DO we choose this line of work when some might think it would be easier and more stable to get a job that pays $20-30 an hour? Well, there are various reasons, and I will try to cover them all. Believe it or not, however, a great many of us are working toward something that may, or in most cases, may not be related to the service industry.
Some of us are in school, need our days free, and a job with shifts we can give away when homework becomes crazy. This is the main reason I am still in the industry. I am a junior in college, and although night classes are possible, they are limited in number and not exactly ideal for arranging time for homework. Serving and bartending allows me to work an insanely flexible schedule, making the most amount of money for the minimal amount of hours worked. Even if I found a night job doing something else while in school, getting my shift covered may not be an option, and the hours I would need to work to make what I make in a restaurant would be extensive, causing my grades to possibly take a hit.
Some of us have families. I have a daughter, and I am lucky enough to have a retired mother who helps out with her when I need it. My best friend, however, has a husband with a 9-5, Monday through Friday job, and together, they have two toddlers. This makes it impossible for her to work a steady day job without spending an absurd amount on child care.
Some of us cannot afford a higher education, and serving or bartending is ideal to control how much money we make. If youāre living on your own, and you donāt have enough to make rent one month, it is easy to pick up shifts. I am lucky. My school is paid for, but others donāt always have that luxury.
Some of us like it, and genuinely want to move up in this industry. I have known many people who wanted to stay in the restaurant industry. Some even went to school for restaurant and hospitality management. Others didnāt, but became managers or bartenders, anyway. There are many people who love working with the public and the demand they face in a fast-paced environment.
Some of us work in restaurants on the side of another job to supplement our income. Have you ever seen Mean Girls? There is a scene when you see Tina Fey, the calculus teacher in her bartending uniform, because she had to take on extra jobs to afford her divorce costs. Making a good living is hard, even if you have a degree and a career, and sometimes you just need that extra $200 a week to get by.
Whatever the reason is, there is no shame in being a server or a bartender. It is our choice, and itās unfortunate that some of us feel the need to justify that decision, or prove in any way that because we wait tables, we are not inferior or stupid. I will be doing this job until I am done with grad school, and I am just thankful a job like mine exists where I can control my money with great service and picking up odd hour shifts.