On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 2:50 PM, William Conger <[email protected]>wrote:
> > We stopped to eat on the interstate last week The only place was a > Denny's (I'd > never been to one). It was very crowded. We chose to sit at the counter > directly in front of the kitchen serving area. It was mayhem. The > waitresses, > all plenty tough looking country girls (who I imagined had three kids at > mom's > trailer and an absent husband, either run-off or in jail), were running > and > bumping into each other, slopping the food, dropping utensils, and rinsing > containers for quick reuse. The cooks, all scraggy looking, skinny boys, > literally threw the food onto the frying surfaces, scooped the butter or > lard, > and slammed it all onto big plates. The floors were littered, the counter > stools were wobbly. When we had finished our leathery lukewarm grilled > cheese > sandwiches and received the check (rather steep I thought). I cautiously > asked > our waitress how she was paid. She said $4.90 an hour plus tips. I > guessed > that she probably averaged $400 a week take home, if that. Her face was > covered > with sweat. Now that, to me, is exploitation. The girl is working like a > beast, the restaurant is like a farm where animals are fed by the scoop, > and the > prices are actually high for that type of place. Something is very > wrong.The > dignity of hard working underclass people is being abused. They will not > easily > escape their hard-times poverty. And this waitress is probably among the > lucky > few in her societal group. She's likely in deep debt as well. I gave her > five > bucks on a twelve dollar bill. I should've given every girl there $100 and > put > it on my credit card just because I don't like what chain restaurants and > stores > do to (mostly small town) workers. They need unions. > Speaking of Denny's, someone may have recently taken pity on their customers: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/mystery-customer-picks-tab-entire-denny-restaurant-195902637.html
