The problem with a strike on Mother's Day that we forget

[xmas74]

Mother's Day is huge for the service industry, especially dining. The majority of people working on a Sunday, especially Mother's Day, are low income. They have few to zero resources available to be able to call in. Many places put policies in place threatening automatic termination for call ins on high traffic days.

The majority of low income people working that day will be women. Many will be parents. They don't get holidays of this nature off. Besides, the amount of tips received on a major day like this can make or break a family. I used to volunteer to wait tables on MD, oftentimes wearing a pin or button made by my child to let everyone know that I was a mom working the holiday. Those tips were incredible and I usually received a free meal from the restaurant just for working. Those MD tips paid for my kid's birthday in June, school supplies and some clothes in August.

I'm not going anywhere this Sunday. I'm still very sore from surgery and Monday is the big appointment. (I'll find out what stage and grade my cancer is on Monday.) The optics behind a national women's strike on Mother's Day is catchy. I understand it. The problem is that I also understand what it's like to be very poor. If I were still in service I'd be afraid of how much I could lose in tips with this event. It could be enough to not be able to afford back to school shoes in the summer or even enough to not afford to stock up the cupboards just as the kids will be home for summer vacation.

Do as you please but realize there are two sides and that one side will be heavily affected with little to no safety net. That side will also be the most affected by the SC decision.

[TygrBright]

1. It is factually correct that low-income women will feel the most economic impact from such a protest

It is also factually correct that it's generally the poor and the working classes who commit themselves to sharing what little they have to improve the lives of others who are suffering.

If you break down the statistics on charitable giving, the million-dollar donations from a few wealthy donors are eclipsed, both in total dollars overall, and as a percentage of donors' resources, by the millions of dollars given by people who "can't afford" to give.

The wealthy give for tax breaks, very often. And for ego reasons. And, yes, some because they feel a responsibility to give back and improve things for others less fortunate than themselves.

But it is the poor who tithe themselves rigorously to support their beliefs.

It is the working people who know the pain of suffering and stand out in the cold rain for hours, holding a picket line.

It is the people who know the misery of not being able to bury a parent with decency who contribute to the Go Fund Me of strangers trying to do right by their own dead.

Yes, sometimes it makes them vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation. They won't necessarily download the Charity Check report of the soup kitchen before they put their hard-earned $20 in the donation box.

Those who have missed meals know the sting of hunger.

The stingiest people in America are not the wealthy who need those tax breaks, or the poor who "can't afford to give."

The stingiest people in America, as a group, are the comfortable middle-class professionals whose charitable donations are often nonexistent or limited to an annual pledge to a church or a college, or a PBS subscription.

Women who are suffering the pain of economic marginalization know exactly what a threat Roe being overturned poses to the futures of themselves and their children.

And they know who will bear the burden of standing up against that threat.

Themselves.

Because it's always themselves.

They can't trust the rich.

They can't trust the "comfortable" and well-off.

So yes, I think the low income working women of America might surprise the OP.

But I won't be surprised.

I'll be there with them.

Not only am I requesting PTO for the strike period, I'm going to write a check for the PTO portion of my paycheck, to support the strike organizing.

NEVER AGAIN!

determinedly,
Bright

[blogslug]

2. I was a server for a long time

Generally, the Mother's Day crowd aren't known to be great tippers.

Also, servers should be paid a full, good wage so they don't have to rely on tips.

[xmas74]

4. Depends

The brunch crowd always did well. It was the after church that always had me running for less.

[blogslug]

5. You're right, there are no monoliths

For me, I always dreaded families and big parties in general, it was always a tipping crapshoot.

I still tip and I tip well because I live in a state that allows servers to be paid less than $3 an hour. Servers shouldn't have to rely on the vagaries of their customers in order to make a living.

[TheRealNorth]

3. I am kind of worried that we are walking right into next, "War on Mothers" Republican narrative...

Cause if I were a Republican, that's how I would frame this idea.