Tl;Dr : Got bored, did math.
As a hostes at a relatively popular restaurant (upwards of 200+ people a day), I would make maybe 40 bucks on weekends from tips. For an 8 hour shift. On top of my fucked ass waiter wage of 3.95/hr. About half that on week days.
Let's do some math, assuming I had 40 hrs in a week, that's $158 baseline, assuming best results tipping (40 on weekends, 20 on weekdays, and assuming I worked only 8hr shifts Wed-Sun to include weekends), that's only $298 a WEEK. That is BARELY minimum wage. Also sums to $15,496 a year. Sounds deece, yea?
Food for me for 2 WEEKS, assuming I cooked my own meals and didn't eat out, would still be almost $160. That's just over $11k a year on FOOD Not to mention all my other bills that I'd have to pay. The only thing that kept me afloat was still living with my parents. Rent in my area for a 1 bedroom apt. is $1700/month average. That would leave me $16,240 in the NEGATIVE each year, not counting possible unforseen events.
At my current job (retail) I make $12.50 with 30hrs a week, let's do THAT math. $375 a week, $19,500 a year. After food that's down to $8,164, after rent I'm $18,536 in the hole. Worse off, and the extra $125 a week if I did 40hrs would only knock that to -$560 a year. Still losing money.
If, IF I worked both concurrently for a total of SEVENTY HOURS A WEEK and a total of $31,996 a year, after just food and rent, I'd net $16,500 a year, or $317.31 a week. At MINIMUM I'd need to be working about 60 hrs a week to scrape by, and if anyone knows anything about food, chances are I won't be getting 40hr weeks or consistent tips.
However, my fiance also makes 12.50 and works a 30hr week. After food for 2 and rent split 50/50, COMBINED we only net $10,280, or $5,140 apiece per year. That's LESS THAN $100 A WEEK FOR PERSONAL EXPENSES. We both smoke (some side math, $8 a pack, 2 packs a month each, $384 a year combined, and neither of us want to quit as its the only thing left to numb us from reality), I collect media formats (about $150 sink a month, $1,800 from my pockets) he's an artist so he needs supplies (about $100 a month, $1,200 from his)… That leaves verry little room for any unforseen events like flooding, housing price increases, injury or sickness, etc.
Oh, and thats all before the government steals my money for “taxes”. We'd be lucky to break even.
But somehow I should feel LUCKY to be making $12.50/hr?! I'm on the brink of giving up, truly, this isn't remotely livable at this rate. I'm going back to my fast food job that I loathed (not the hostes gig, different food job) because they're offering me $16/hr, 18hrs a week, and I'd be cramming that with my current $12.50x30hr job just so I can afford to exist even remotely comfortably. I'm done, I'm on the edge, the only things bringing me any joy and getting me through are my fiance, the cigarettes I can barely afford, and my music collection that im too proud of to stop… fuck this country right in its capitalist ass.