High Risk No Reward
Seeing the nine dollars on her paycheck made her grin from ear to ear. This is the amount of money she had earned after seventy hours of work.
Her situation was already dire. She was behind on rent and could barely afford food. It was absolutely atrocious that she put in so many hours for so little return. She needed to get payback.
Independence
Being an adult is no easy task. Once one finishes school, you are required to be independent and self-sufficient. In order to achieve independence, you have to have a job.
Certain people hit the employment jackpot, and earn thousands of dollars monthly with benefits. However, others need to make do with the bare minimum. This was the case for Aaliyah Cortez. She was determined to make the best of her situation.
Working Hard
24-year-old Aaliyah was determined to give her son the best opportunities. As a single mother, she needed to work twice as hard to ensure he leads the life he deserves. Every day she went job hunting.
After months of searching for a job, she got hired as a bartender. However, she did not know what a big mistake accepting the position was.
Good Tip
Aaliyah enjoyed her work. She loved being able to talk to her customers and serving drinks was easy enough. She was thankful for this opportunity.
A kind customer gave her a twenty-dollar tip for a job well-done. Aaliyah felt grateful for the tip. However, she was unaware of what other surprises were headed her way.
Celebration
As the week went by customers continued to leave her tips as she was a good server.
After working for two weeks, it was time for Aaliyah to receive her first paycheck. She was so excited she just shoved it in her purse and headed home. She wanted to celebrate her first paycheck with her son. She was excited to treat them to a nice meal. It was, however, a big mistake not to check her paycheck the moment she received it.
Something Is Wrong
Aaliyah decided to stop at a videogame store on her way home from work. She wanted to treat her son with a game he had been talking about for weeks.
Aaliyah had to double-check that she had enough money so she opened her paycheck. When she saw the number on her paycheck her eyes almost popped out of her head. This was not right.
Bills To Pay
Tears welled up in her eyes. She made a hundred and fifty dollars but after health care and taxes she only had nine dollars left.
She could not believe that she only had nine dollars left. She had to pay rent and food. Her bills were piling up and she had no way of paying for everything. She could feel her blood pressure rising.
Anger
Aaliyah could not believe that after everything she had done for her job, this was how they were repaying her? Her face turned a deep shade of red.
She realized she would not be able to buy her son's game that day. Her heart broke. She left the store with tears in her eyes, but her bad day was about to get a lot worse.
Late Rent
There was a late rent notice on her couch. Her landlord left it there. She snatched it from the couch and stuffed it into her bag, not even bothering to read it.
That night she couldn't fall asleep. She simply stared at the ceiling until the sun came up. She was wondering how she was supposed to take care of herself and her son. She thought of getting a lawyer involved, but then remembered that she couldn't afford a lawyer. But then something epic came to mind.
Taking Back Control
Aaliyah felt consumed by stress. She needed more money. She knew she had to do something about this.
She tried to figure out ways how she could take more money with tips. Her shift started later that night, and it was her time to shine. However, another problem crept up on her.
The Plan
Even though Aaliyah was pushing herself to the limit, the tips weren't as lucrative as she had projected. She needed to put in more hours if this was to work.
Aaliyah talked to her boss and got an additional role as a server. She could now work both day and night. The weekend came, and Aaliyah sat down to count her tips.
A Satisfactory Outcome
Her lips twitched, the smile broadening into a grin. Aaliyah had made seven hundred dollars off of tipping.
Her workmates could not believe she had made such an amount from tipping alone. Aaliyah let them in on her formula. The system worked well for them, but their boss soon found out what they were doing.
Uncertainty
Aaliyah was unsure whether their boss would fire them. To her surprise, he acknowledged the difficulties of working under their current climate.
He also commended them for their newfound work ethic and the buzz it had created for their bar. Aaliyah went home and cleared all her pending bills. But even though she was happy, she still had a long way to go to give her son the life he deserved.
Working Smart
With the help of her colleagues, Aaliyah came up with a better system that leveraged working as a team to create better experiences for their customers. Their business skyrocketed, so did the tips they were receiving.
Aaliyah could not believe it. She bought her son the game he asked for. Although it wasn’t enough to show him how much he meant to her, it was an excellent start. Now there was only one thing left to do.
Making A Video
In her TikTok video, Aaliyah showed her shockingly low paycheck to the world. “I should have made $151,” she said, but after the government had taken its share of federal income tax, Medicare, and Social Security, she couldn’t even afford to live.
“I cannot afford to live off of $2.13 an hour, so I solely rely on the generosity of my customers,” she added, "This is why you tip."
Going Viral
Everyone who saw the video demanded to know why Aaliyah chose to continue working for the bar - surely, she should leave if the pay was so dismal?
Aaliyah had made the video to highlight what workers in the service industry have to endure and what a flawed system it is, but she never expected how much traction it would get.
Not Unusual
Aaliyah’s video garnered over 937,000 views and counting - people were absolutely shocked and appalled. The worst part?
The nine-dollar paycheck may have astounded users on social media, but a paycheck that low for people in the service industry is not all that unusual. Aaliyah’s video created such waves that the media was contacting her day and night.
A Minor Celebrity
After her video went viral, Aaliyah ended up doing interviews with Buzzfeed, TODAY, and Fox News, to name just a few.
“Honestly, every time I open a check I just chuckle a little bit. My coworkers and I will compare checks to see who got the least amount and we’ll just laugh because it’s ridiculous how little we get paid.” So, who is responsible for this?
Minimum Wage
Aaliyah, like many other bartenders and servers, earns the absolute minimum wage of $2.13 per hour.
The problem comes in when the U.S. Department of Labor stipulates that every tip Aaliyah receives can be used by her boss as a means to pay her a salary below the federal minimum wage. Contrary to what most people think, her tips form part of her salary! And there are other problems with this.
Open To Harrassment And Discrimination
Because Aaliyah’s salary relies on the generosity of the people she’s serving, she has to always be as pleasant as possible - even if it means she has to endure sexual harrassment or discrimination.
The difficulty Aaliya faces was perfectly summed up by one user’s comment on her TikTok video: "No we tip when we're given good service. We don't tip because you are being paid $2 an hour. That's a you problem tbh."
Relying On Strangers
"There are laws set up that allow tipped employees to be paid under the federal minimum wage, which makes us rely on the customer to pay our wages," Aaliyah told Buzzfeed.
"It's not right that we have to do this, but I wanted to shed some light on the issue and inform the public about the importance of tipping." And the scary part? Aaliyah’s checks have been lower.
Not A Living Wage
"If I had a good two weeks from my tips, my check will be on the lower side," Aaliyah explained. "At my last restaurant, my checks would come out to be $0," she continued.
"I just wish we were all being paid adequately and consistently," she said. "As you can see — by my check — I cannot afford to live off of $2.13 an hour, so I solely rely on the generosity of my customers."
Controversy
As shown by the comments on Aaliyah’s video, she had brought up a sensitive topic. The video made its way over to Twitter where it sparked a heated debate. While a lot of people were supportive, many chose to blame Aaliyah for her own situation.
"Stop working there then," one unsympathetic user wrote. "Don't go into a job knowing the outcome and blame people for not tipping."
Unsympathetic
Many users blamed Aaliyah for her low wages. After all, America is a capitalist country, right?
As the online debate raged, some users rushed to Aaliyah’s defence - stating that it wasn’t her fault that she earned such low wages, it was the system’s: "The problem is, it shouldn't be on the customer to begin with," this user wrote. "It's an excuse for restaurants to get away with starvation wages." But the plight of servers is nothing new.
Growing Awareness
For years, people all over the United States have started matching their bills with their tips as part of a viral internet trend. This trend is called the “Tip the Bill Challenge.”
It was initiated by those who wanted to acknowledge the hard workers in the service industry by doing something kind for them. It is well-known that servers struggle to make ends meet, and there’s a reason for that.
Tipped Minimum Wage
Not many people are aware that workers in the service industry aren’t paid in the same way as those with jobs in other industries. They receive a “tipped minimum wage,” which amounts to a fraction of the federal minimum wage.
Tips are designed to cover the rest of a server’s income, but there is no guarantee that they will.
Beholden
This leaves servers beholden to the whims of their paying customers, and it’s an unfair system. But there are some who are beginning to challenge it.
Danny Meyer, a restaurant owner who manages a wide array of bars and restaurants in New York City, has decided to do away with tipping altogether in his establishments.
Challenging The System
“I just decided — instead of blaming the tipping system for what didn’t seem fair or right, why not take it into our own hands?”
With Danny Meyer leading the way, hopefully, others will follow suit. This will ensure that service workers are given fair compensation for the valuable work they do. We need more people to do what Aaliyah did.
Don’t Forget To Tip
Even after all she’s been through, Aaliyah insisted that she loves her job, despite the dismal pay. “The most upsetting situation happens where a table doesn’t tip is from sports fans when their team doesn’t win. We have absolutely no control of that and we’ve most likely waited on them for a few hours!” she explained.
"We don't like relying on the customer, but until the laws can get changed, we still need to be paid," Aaliyah said in an interview. "Whatever you do, Don't. Forget. To. Tip."
Helping Others
Aaliyah shared her story with the world. She showed societies that most bartenders and servers rely solely on tips to survive.
She also advised her fellow moms to continue being strong. As a mom, she understood the responsibilities and expectations of the job. “I would want them to know I’m supporting them!” she said.