Week 9 Article

 In 2007, for the first time in a decade, the minimum wage in America was raised. Previously $5.15 an hour, it leaped to $7.25 an hour. For millions of people this meant more money, more food and more security.

 For Cindy Soutter, however, this change did not apply. For over 36 years, she has made under $3.00 an hour working full time.

 Her job is active, requiring her to move on her feet for several hours at a time.

 Social skills are a must as she caters to all kinds of people.

 She often stays well after closing time to clean.

 Above all else, her job requires service with a smile – no matter what.

 Cindy Soutter is a waitress at a local Italian restaurant, and has been for the majority of her life.

 According to minimum-wage.org, $2.13 is the federal minimum wage for an employee who can make more than $30 a day in tips. This often applies to tip-reliant jobs such as bartending, servers and valets. As a waitress, Soutter has struggled for years with the sub-standard wage.

 “It’s frustrating because we work hard for our tips and some people don’t leave tips at all,” Soutter said. “If it’s really slow one night we may come into work and not even make minimum wage.”

 The law states that if the employee makes less in tips than minimum wage on any shift, the employer must reimburse the employee.

 For Phillip Love, a waiter at a popular restaurant chain, that isn’t always the case.

 “There are days where you are making 30 dollars for five hours, and that’s certainly nowhere close to working minimum wage,” Love said. “It’s kind of difficult that people will come in and tip you two or three dollars for a 30 dollar meal and I’ll be like, ‘Well thanks, you’re my only source of money.’”

 While $2.13 is the federal standard for tipped employees, many states have their own wages. 

 According to dol.gov, California pays its tipped employees an average of $8.00. New York varies its wage from $2.13 to $6.15 depending on the employee’s job. Oregon pays its tipped employees an average of $9.04.

  

 Fourteen states pay the federal minimum of $2.13, including Utah.

  For Soutter, the wage doesn’t match the long and strenuous hours she puts in nightly.

   

 “I feel like I work really hard for my money and I work really hard for the restaurant,” Soutter said. “Sometimes the hourly wage they pay us doesn’t feel like they compensate us for the time we put into the restaurant, the people we bring into the restaurant and the money we make them by doing an extra hard job.”

  

 “I think the waitress is why people come back or don’t come back,” Soutter said. “If you give good service you should be paid according to that.”

  Both Soutter and Love note that customers are always shocked to learn how much they make per hour.

 “Some customers say, ‘That’s your job: you’re a server, you get paid to do that and you don’t get a tip,’” Soutter said. “They don’t understand how much we’re paid. A lot of them are shocked when they find out how much we make.”

 “I understand the type of business I’m in, I understand the money we make is off our tips,” Love said. “However, I also feel that we should get more of an hourly wage for what we do. Half of the people that walk into our restaurant don’t understand that we’re getting paid so little.”