OPINIONS
Minimum wage hike makes life much better
As a full-time weekday server at a restaurant, Friday used to be a day for me to look forward to the weekend, plan my nights and grin at the thought of relaxation. Friday was also a day for me to pick up the good old paycheck, something you think I would have been excited about. All I saw was $12.07, $7.45, and $15.27. Before long I would see a pattern, none of which equal making more money.
Well, that was then and this is now. My paycheck is now a No. 1 priority come Friday.
You see, last November, the majority of us voted in Proposition 202 giving minimum wage a boost from $5.15 an hour to $6.75 and from $2.13 to $3.75 an hour for servers. I couldn’t have checked that yes/for box any quicker. It turned out 65 percent of Arizonans agreed with me and as of Jan. 1, all servers would be making $3.75 an hour.
At first I felt that this increase would not impact my paycheck drastically. After all, $2.13 an hour was giving me $10 checks, since Uncle Sam likes to take his fair share out of my “claimed” tips and hourly pay.
Once I picked up that first check from the New Year, I opened it quick, really quick. $84.66! Ladies and gentlemen, I am now a firm believer in the minimum wage increase. Thank you to the 65 percent who voted yes to this proposition. I can’t help but feel you did a good job; not so much to you “no” voters.
Think about this: 75 more dollars a paycheck? That is the difference of having a girlfriend and not having a girlfriend, eating ramen noodles everyday or eating a sirlion steak once or twice a week.
In some cases, that could be $75 of free groceries and now we can all put gas in our cars to go visit our sick grandmother.I understand that while I see this increase as a huge benefit to servers alike, there is always an opposing argument, as stated in a recent Arizona Republic article from Chad Graham. He showed pizza joints and fast food restaurants that cut down on labor and layed off workers, starting with teens. My only response to that is there are plenty of jobs to have. This isn’t the Great Depression. I am yet to hear of students unable to find a job through this increase. I still see the “now hiring” signs on every street corner. My employer has in fact increased employees since the increase.
OK, so a teenager might have to actually try to get a job now, rather than getting hired anywhere and everywhere. Trust me, it will pay off in the end, literally.
I have also heard the “hurting the economy” and the “you make tips already” argument. To be honest, those arguments aren’t helping me. This minimum wage increase does and my paycheck is my proof. Does the economy provide me with a steak twice a week? No, but my new paycheck will.
Bill Gates is worth around $55 billion dollars. I am worth somewhat of a lesser amount. But hey, this minimum wage increase is putting me one step closer to Mr. Gates worth.
Hopefully, when the new propositions come out again, another minimum wage increase will be on that ballot. If so, you can count me as a vote number one in the yes box.
Volume
44, Issue 10. Today is
Aaron Dunton
Mesa Legend