Honestly: the minimum wage does need to go up

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

This post got me thinking.

I am firmly in favor of:

A) A higher minimum wage in the whole US, and my home state of NY
B) Honesty in politics

While the OP I linked to is not exactly dishonest, it's not exactly honest either.
And this is not to put flak upon the poster there, but it's an example of political rhetoric that is used to leverage one side of a conversation, ignoring nuance.

the graphic in the linked to OP:

1) Doesn't seem to take into account state laws that raise min wage over fed laws
2) Doesn't take into account the vast difference in housing throughout a state

My objection is more with 2 than 1. 1 is easy to take care of, but 2 is not easy.

New York City is WAYYYY more expensive than Rochester or Buffalo, NY; or a large number of other places within the state I could name. Yet, this graphic gives us a number, presumably an average. But that average is way skewed. But how else should they do it? Give us on graphic for NYC and another for the rest of NY State? That wouldn't work either, because then you'd need to break it down for other cities and so on. So what do we do?

We must talk about things in the big picture without getting bogged down in details, otherwise we will have to talk for eons before we can understand what needs to be done. So while I agree that the min wage needs to go up, across the US, I have a problem with the info-graphics created to support that argument. They lack nuance, and as such, are deceiving. Even if they don't mean to be, and are honestly doing the best they can to compile and sort the data, the inevitability of misleading data is going to doom us all.

That said.
Happy saint patty's day.
Was I drunk when I wrote this? You decide.

Comments

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

Let me see if I can make this clear. I have two businesses, one is an entertainment venue licensed as a restaurant and the other one is a convention center. Many nights at the convention center we have a bar minimum for most events if they want a bartender. If, for some reason, the crowd at the private event is smaller than anticipated, I can guarantee that the bartender will make at least $8.00 an hour.

As of this moment, we have had 1657 people go through a door @ $20 a head. We will wind up grossing over $25,000 for the night in bar and door sales, with a cost factor of about $7k (labor, COGS and talent).

This ain't "a bar" I have a restaurant venue with 5 bars as drink concessions and a restaurant kitchen for food with almost 30,000 sq ft of event space. FWIW, I am having zero problems staying in business or keeping bartenders TYVM :)

Hope this helps. If you want to check it out you can go to my profile and click the link.

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

I never said they were walking home with minimum wage. I DO NOT PAY THEM TIPS. I pay them PAY. and their PAY is actually $2.50 an hour, not even minimum wage.

What we do 'guarantee' is bonus that will get them to at LEAST $10.00 an hour if it is a private event, or a brand new weeknight event that has yet to catch on (see, a business can have slow nights and survive, if you are investing in a new night).

so my other stuff is corrected, after I woke up and was not pestered by the huge event we had going on.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

What in god's name does any of this have to do with the fact that bartenders make most of their money through tips? Earlier you said "I am not against raising the min wage if you are not against helping me pay for it." Then you used the example of bartenders (this is a terrible example for you, if I were playing devil's advocate I could find better), who would not be affected by a minimum wage increase because they already make most of their money through tips, which also doesn't affect you since you're still paying them the same.

Then you used some examples where you are forced to give them minimum wage money because they couldn't make enough in tips (strange ones) and I said this would happen so rarely that it still didn't affect you.

If you're running a highly-successful venue with a bartender actually tending bar, there's no way they're walking home with minimum wage most of the time.

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

agreed. rarely, but it DOES happen within our unique business model. Any slow night is overlooked due to the potential of the place. We are already the hottest night spot in Atlanta, and we are only about half way from our maximum revenue potential. Bartenders, especially the good ones, know that you have to go where the crowd is. And this year, at least, it is with us.

I think I need to do an 'ask the businessman' post. A lot of people get the wrong ideas about good employers. There are good workers and bad ones, just like bosses.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

I never said they were walking home with minimum wage. I DO NOT PAY THEM TIPS. I pay them PAY. and their PAY is actually $2.50 an hour, not even minimum wage.

Jesus, what are you talking about? Of course you don't pay them tips. Holy moly, I never said you did. You pay them $2.50 and the rest of the federal minimum wage is usually covered by tips. How did anything I said come across unclear?

What we do 'guarantee' is bonus that will get them to at LEAST $10.00 an hour if it is a private event, or a brand new weeknight event that has yet to catch on (see, a business can have slow nights and survive, if you are investing in a new night).

Still have no idea what this has to do with anything I was saying. We're talking about fucking bartenders and how they NORMALLY make money, stop giving me unrelated anecdotes about your business.

agreed. rarely, but it DOES happen within our unique business model. Any slow night is overlooked due to the potential of the place.

Yes, which is why an increase in federal minimum wage BARELY AFFECTS YOU AT ALL WITH REGARDS TO BARTENDERS.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

This is like the 4th post in a row that I've said that.