Friday, June 15, 2012

Why Tipping Your Server Is NECESSARY

I mean unless you get truly terrible service. But this excellent article is why I always try to tip and tip well.

"Workers are entitled to a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour if they do not receive tips and $2.13 per hour if they do, as well as overtime pay, if they work more than 40 hours per week; if tips and wages don't add up to $7.25 per hour, the employer is obligated to make up the difference. But many workers aren't aware that they're entitled to payment for all of the hours they work, let alone at what rate."

In short, most servers do not know that their employer must make certain they make at least $5.12 an hour in tips or pay them that on top of their minimum wage.  The employer's failure to do that is wage theft.

Plus here's a tidbit of information: thirty years ago, when I started working in restaurants, the tip-earning minimum wage was $2.01. So in THIRTY years, your server's wage has only gone up $0.12!  Twelve Cents.

Given inflation, that wage is actually the equivalent of working for free.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Reunion

So I said to him, "Barack, I know Abe Lincoln, And you ain't Abe Lincoln .."

Since he used the Lincoln Bible at his inauguration, Obama has made numerous attempts to associate himself with Lincoln. So why doesn't Obama use this famous Lincoln quote?

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."
... Abraham Lincoln

Mychal Massie's When Will Obama Crack?

I was just sent this article, "When Will Obama Crack In Public" by Mychal Massie. He wrote it a year ago and it seems incredibly prescient today! Read the whole thing. Here is a delicious taste - "The Obamas have behaved in every way but presidential – which is why it’s so offensive when we hear Obama say, in order “to restore fiscal responsibility, we all need to share in the sacrifice – but we don’t have to sacrifice the America we believe in.”" This is his impressive bio -
Mychal Massie is chairman of the National Leadership Network of Black Conservatives-Project 21 – a conservative black think tank located in Washington, D.C. He was recognized as the 2008 Conservative Man of the Year by the Conservative Party of Suffolk County, N.Y. He is a nationally recognized political activist, pundit and columnist. He has appeared on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, C-SPAN, NBC, Comcast Cable and talk-radio programming nationwide. A former self-employed business owner of more than 30 years, Massie's website is mychal-massie.com
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