Some jobs are hard and don’t pay well

 I spent two summers working for Chili’s Bar and Grill as a Dishwasher / Janitor.   At the time, I was back home between my Freshmen/Sophomore year and my Sophomore/Junior year.  I had a blast.   It was guaranteed income.  I was back home for the summer.  I was a college kid.  I was home in Pine Bluff, Arkansas yet working in the capital, Little Rock, which was an hour away.  My cousins lived in Little Rock so I had a place to stay when I didn’t feel like driving back.  I had a great time.

But the one thing I never thought about was the reality that there was some people who do this job full time. For me, it was a summer gig.  Something to make a few dollars in between school years and a way to have some great stories to share with my college friends.

But I never truly appreciated the hard work behind what I was doing. 

I worked the morning shift before the doors opened at 11:00am.  As such, I would arrive at 7:30am so I could clean the men and women’s bathrooms.  That meant, taking out the trash, cleaning the toilets, cleaning the sinks and sweeping / mopping the floors.  I had to do a lot of bending, stooping, and crawling.   

I had to do all of this and be done by 9:00am.  At 9:00am, I switched from Janitor to Dish washer / Food prep.  I would go into the deep freezer and pull out chickens to be thawed (and those boxes were heavy).  I had to get several bags of onions to be cut up (manually) and diced (with a dicing machine).  

All of that had to be done by 10:00am so I can get the dishwashing area ready.  That meant making sure the dishwashing machine was cleaned with bleach in the dispenser.  I ran through any glasses (or mugs) that were left out from the previous night.  I had to do another wipe down of the area.  

By the time, I got to wiping down the area, the doors were opening.  It’s 11:00am and it was ON and POPPIN!  From about 11am to noon, it was a steady pace.  No problem there.   However, from noon to about 1:30pm, it was like like the INDY 500.   The dishes were coming in mass and fast!  And on top of that, I had racks and racks of mugs that had to go through the machine.  

Unfortunately, the washing machine had to be cleaned out regularly or the water would back up.  So I would have to shut the machine down, drain the water, take the food strainers out, replenish the bleach, rinse the inside of the machine, put the strainers back in, and turn the water back on to fill back up.  

Unfortunately, while the dishwashing cleaning was going on, the dishes were backing up.  The cooks are hollaring for plates.  The waitresses are hollaring for mugs.  And it was JUST me so I had to hustle.   

So, here I am, a 145 lb skinny kid with coke bottle glasses moving 100 mph with no help.   And I was moving! Grabbing racks of mugs (which were about 30 lbs) and putting them out for the waitresses.   Grabbing plates to take to each cooking station (there were 2 separate prep stations and the main grilling station).  

Interestingly, in my job, I could eat lunch whenever I wanted to but there was one little catch, the BUSIEST time was during lunch.   I tried to each lunch one time and sit down but the dishwashing room got so backed up that I stopped eating and went back to work.   It was then the management and staff started noticing that I would skip lunch altogether.   Since I worked from 7:30am to 3:30pm, it was around 2 pm before things slowed down in the Dishwashing area.  By that time, I felt it made no sense to try and eat.   So, EXACTLY at noon when I was going 100 mph, one of the managers or cooks or waitresses would ask me “Tony, what do you want for lunch?”.  I got in the practice of ordering food like nuggets, a burger, or fries.  Things I could eat on the go!  

Did I ever sit down??  No sir!  From the moment I walked into the restaurant until the time I left, I was always on my feet.   I amazed myself at the reality that I never took a break.   I was pretty spent by the time I got home.

And how much did I earn per hour??   $4 per hour (This was 1988 and 1989)

And why is that important?   I was earning $4 per hour and I wasn’t paying rent (I was home for the summer).  I wasn’t paying car insurance.  I didn’t have any bills.  The ONLY thing I had to do was go to work and save my money.

Imagine what my world would be like if I needed that money to support myself! I mean that was my work day and I only did that job for two summers.  For some people, it is how they provide for their families.

The hardcore reality is that for some people, these jobs are HARD and that don’t always pay great.   I am often amazed by people who don’t truly appreciate the fact some jobs are HARD and don’t pay great!   

To quote from a movie, “Imagine if you have a meager wage and then watched that wage cut up some more”.  Clearly, some people who want to say a stimulus or unemployment is incentivizing people to NOT work!   

NEWSFLASH:   There are jobs out there that are HARD and don’t pay that great!   Wanting to work is NOT the problem.   Let’s start focusing on the pay!