The Hellscape of Restaurant Work
Sure, I’ve made a name for myself sharing political hot takes and being a top-notch public school teacher, but rarely do I ever discuss the 8 years I spent in the fast-food industry. I started my illustrious “career” in fast food in January of 2006 shortly after I turned 16. One of my mom’s friends hired me at Price Hill Skyline on Warsaw Ave in East Price Hill. What was the pay you might ask? Minimum wage at the time was $5.15 and that’s what they started me out at. Thanks to inflation, $5.15 in 2006 would equal to roughly $6.80 in 2021. As a 16-year-old high school kid, nobody really cared what teenagers get paid and that still seems to hold true. I’ve seen plenty of Conservatives say low-wage jobs are acceptable because “they’re designed for young people in high school starting at their first job.” Obviously, that premise is a load of garbage because high school kids and teenagers can’t work during daytime hours when restaurants serve the business crowd. Naturally, working adults are the ones who staff restaurants during day-shift hours and many of these restaurants continue to pay their employees low wages that hover around Ohio’s current minimum wage of $8.70 an hour.
Recently, many media outlets have been reporting on how there is a current shortage of restaurant workers. Last week, I went to the Newport Frisch’s restaurant and on their sign, it said “NOW HIRING. GREAT CULTURE. $400 SIGNING BONUS.” When I worked at Skyline Chili, hiring bonuses were obviously unheard of. But when I worked there, the CEO of the company railed on and on about how culture wins the day in restaurant work and that is what attracts and retains top talent, not pay. Obviously, we all know that is just the ramblings of a CEO that only cares about hoarding wealth and not sharing it with the labor that keeps the company running on a day-to-day basis. Proof that culture isn’t the main ingredient to attracting and keeping top talent is the current worker shortage occurring in the restaurant industry. I still have contacts that work in the restaurant industry and one friend of mine was a General Manager of a popular restaurant chain but walked away from the industry due to lackluster working conditions such as high-stress, low pay and terrible shift hours. He informed me all minors start at minimum wage which is $8.70 in Ohio. Anyone else who isn’t a teenager makes between $9 and $10 dollars an hour and obviously their benefits are pretty putrid. Most employees do not get things like health insurance and many of the employees rely on public assistance programs to get by. And if you don’t believe my friend or me, Glassdoor confirms the low wages and benefits of Skyline Chili employees.
The famous Skyline Chili 5-way, served up by the blood, sweat and tears of low-wage workers.
During my time at Skyline, I raised up through the ranks and by 18 years old they made me a Shift Manager! You’re probably wondering what was the compensation I received for my maturity and leadership abilities at such a young age? I was handsomely rewarded by being paid $9.00 an hour. For those keeping track at home, $9.00 in 2008 would be equivalent to $11.16 in 2021 due to inflation. I gave that company my heart and soul, working some times until 3:00 AM and then getting up by 9:00 AM to attend class at the University of Cincinnati. Thinking back, it sucked but sometimes you just do what you have to do to survive. That’s what most fast-food workers are doing; just surviving any way they can. Conservatives and restaurant owners can cry all they want about how desperate they are for employees, but if they want to attract talent, they need to improve their working conditions and pay. It would be extremely wise for restaurant workers to unionize, something that would be extremely challenging to do considering how disconnected most restaurants chains are from each other. I am a firm believer that our healthcare should not be tied to employment and that every worker deserves a living wage, despite their job. I applaud bar owners like Lindsey Swadner, owner of The Hub in Over-the-Rhine, who pays her bartenders $15 an hour because she understands that paying your employees a living wage is the top way to show you value them.
I topped out at Skyline Chili at $9.50 an hour in 2013 and by the Grace of God, hard work and my brain power, I graduated from UC and moved on to teaching. Interacting with most customers and forming relationships with them was probably the highlight of the job. The long and terrible shift hours were the ultimate downside of the job and are surely not ideal for anyone that has children. I also was able to eat all the free Skyline I wanted for 8 years so that was also a plus. But I never felt like the company truly valued me despite all the hard work and energy I gave to them. Many Conservatives reading this will clamor on about how extending and improving unemployment benefits and COVID are causing this worker shortage in the restaurant industry, but hiring and retaining talent has always been a struggle. COVID and improved unemployment benefits just exasperated the problem. It’s time to end poverty wages for the vast majority of restaurant workers and offer them benefits such as retirement and health insurance. Skyline at least did have the decency to have a 401k program for all of their employees, so props to them for that. If we end up having to pay 20 cents more for a Big Mac because the line cook is making $15 an hour, so be it. And keep in mind $15 an hour is only roughly $31,000 a year if the employee works full-time. Most restaurant workers don’t work 40 hours a week and are usually considered part-time employees. In 2021, providing for a family on $31,000 isn’t easy. With that, I bid you adieu and thank you for reading the story of my years in the fast-food industry serving up coneys and 3-ways for the residents of Price Hill.