Ok, so at the beginning of when gatherings were becoming acceptable again during the vaccination stages where we were cresting being able to conduct public events once more, I decided to approach my old catering company I worked at all the years I’d been in town about jumping back on board…
At first, they had no work, so my old boss said she’d get a hold of me when they were “ramping back up.”
Fast forward a couple months and along came the email; “hello, we’d like to invite you back although we’ve decided to cap the pay at $20/ hr (before we would average between $25 & $40/hr depending on the contract fees, staffing, and demands of the event..) and we’re bringing everyone back on probationary terms (as if I was a new hire; essentially 90 days of weak restrictions on the bullshit they can pull as a corporation).
I was LIVID and it took me 3 whole days to draft an email both stern enough and eloquent enough to respond. I said I was “flat out insulted” & that my almost 20 years in banquets and events (many with that company already) was worth exponentially more than they were offering and good luck to them (among other things not relevant to this post)!
Now, only about 6 months later, they’re flat out advertising their starting wages with “no experience necessary” at $5 more than they offered me to come back with actual in-house experience!
We’re not “Antiwork” we’re anti-exploitation, and this is a very raw example with this company completely exploiting two decades worth of dedication I’ve put into this industry!!
How in Uncle Sam’s hell do I not go crazy about this?!!!
It’s chump change in the grand scheme of things. One single event that we (annually) conducted at that company had a $100,000 dollar contract. One ️ single event… and paying me $25 /hr for the 12 hours on my feet loading, unloading, carrying, cleaning, stacking, organizing, decorating, serving, cleaning, re-stacking, barely getting any breaks and getting luke-warm food (if we were lucky) after it sitting in a chafing dish for 4 hours is severely inadequate compensation still, but yet I’m only worth $20… (NOPE!)
I made less than $300 (give or take the service charge tips, I was still at only $18/hr base back then) that day for my labor (not to mention taxes). The owners of the company who are always guests at that event, made more than $50,000 while their employees served them an elaborate banquet too…
Don’t get me wrong, I’m STOKED this movement is actually working! This post is also proof of that, but it hurts! These facts hurt. My legs hurt, my back hurts, I’m sick of being tired constantly for someone else’s chump change so I can barely afford to pay rent and afford enough gas to get back to the next event the next day. I’m exhausted and I DESERVE BETTER!!!
I’m not sure what else to say other than laying it all out on Reddit in my insane frustration at all this, so there you have it.
TLDR: my old company capped my pay when they invited me back post-pandemic (I said no) & now they’re starting rookies at $5/hr more than what they offered me with years of in-house experience & I’m having a hard time with the frustration of it all!