Waffle House: Part 2

Elaboration, clarification, and more information

Yesterday’s post about Waffle House caused quite a bit of discussion – some I anticipated, some I didn’t. That’s why I’d like to elaborate on and clarify a few things. I also had a few more thoughts that occurred to me in the shower, which is where I do all my best thinking.

Here we go.

What really got my goat was all the press surrounding the WH CEO talking about how this raise to a minimum of $3/hr was the "single largest additional investment in our workforce" in the last 68 years. To be perfectly fair and honest, they do plan to go up to $5.25 in the next couple of years as well. But those wages are still egregiously low, even though they say they have bonuses and incentives for their workers to reward service and loyalty. 

I also found out that the owner of WH is worth nearly $2 BILLION – with a B. That’s an absolutely revolting disparity. Nobody needs that much money.

Billionaire Waffle House Owner Joe Rogers, Jr.

This act of benevolence by WH was also not a proactive step to be a better employer and elevate its workers. It is a reactive response to WH workers who have been striking and protesting and petitioning for better wages and working conditions. Read more here, here, and especially here which taught me the new term “Southern economic development model.” 

Yes, we did know about the tipped minimum wage before I wrote this. What we didn’t realize was just how low it was ($2.13) in some states – mostly in the south. Here’s the whole list. We also didn’t know, but now we do, that many employers take credit card fees out of their employees tips. And we’ve now heard multiple accounts of people in the service industry never even getting a check from the employers because it was taken entirely for taxes or actually owing their employer money for benefits. Frankly, that’s some major league bullshit.

We also found out that Herman Cain is the man behind the tipped minimum wage (thanks, Tanya!) And that it’s been $2.13 since 1996. When I plug the numbers into an inflation calculator, in today’s dollars that would be $31.72. (UPDATE 6/19, 8:58 p.m. — It was pointed out to me that my inflation caluculator was DRASTICALLY wrong. The actual figure is $4.26. That’s still double.) Think about that for a minute. 

Boycotting WH isn’t the answer, you say. We’re not calling for mass boycotts. If you can’t live without a patty melt and a scattered hash brown, that’s fine with us. What we’re saying is that WE – just the two of us – have decided that we're not going to support the WH. You do what makes you happy.

Then you say, I guess you’ll never eat in any other restaurant ever again because they’re all crap. At which point we say, of course we will. And not every one will be the perfect employer. But there are establishments trying to do better like Trattoria Zaza in Birmingham which has moved away from tipping and gives their employees 20% of the total sale. We just want to be more vigilant about industry practices and where we choose to spend our money.

So why pick on WH? Waffle House has in recent years been elevated to an almost iconic status – a representation of the south, good hard-working southern folks, hospitality, and all the things honey and sugar darlin’ – when in fact it is actually a representation of what’s worst about the south – “low wages, lax regulation of businesses, low corporate taxes, and a lack of safety net supports for workers and families.” See “Southern economic development model” above.

But what about “the people” that work there? How can you abandon “the people"? We feel like “the people” are being taken advantage of and don’t want to support it. I also haven't shopped at a Walmart in nearly 16 years (Ricky in well over 20) because of their terrible employment practices. And while that ostensibly hasn’t changed things at all because our dollars are just a drop in the gigantic bucket of corporate greed and bad actors, it is a drop. And if there were more drops taken out of their bucket, maybe these big companies would do better by “the people.” 

If I could wave a magic wand and change things, I would. But I can’t. What I can do is use the platform I have to raise this issue so that more people know about not only WH’s egregious practices, but about practices in the food service industry as a whole. I suspect that most people are like Ricky and me – you rock along with a vague knowledge about the tipped minimum wage, you know the service industry has its problems, and you feel bad for the person who refills your coffee and brings you more ketchup so you try to tip extra before you go on about your nice life. But when you start chipping away at the uncomfortable truth, you feel really bad and want to try to help make things better. 

And that’s what these posts are – a feeble attempt at making things better. Because if you don’t have a healthy dose of optimism and a glimmer of hope that things can, in fact, be better and that you can make a difference with your actions and your words, the world is a dark and dismal place. And just like we can all choose what we support with our dollars, we can also choose how we want to view and experience life, and I choose optimism and hope.