The day book. [volume], February 25, 1914, NOON EDITION, Image 7

About The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
WHAT SOME WAITRESSES PUT UP WITH IN;
ORDER TO GET THEIR LIVING
BY JANE WHITAKER r
-How -would you like to have to endure listening to a man tell you an in-1
decent story until you felt you wanted to horsewhip him, and yet have to
smile and ignore it, or have him squeeze your hand or touch you suggestive-
ly and yet pay nri heed to it merely because you knew if you dared to re-1
sent the familiarity he would not give you the ten or fifteen cents that you -absolutely
depended upon to pay your living expenses?
Yet that is what girls endure who work at Henrici's and other res-
taurants of the kind where starvation -wages are paid by their employers,
and the difference between this wage and the amount it costs to live must I
be supplemented by tips from customers.
When I read of the extent of this evil in a report of an investigation of v
girls employed in hotels and restaurants, which was conducted .by the
Juvenile Protective Association, I was sure it must be exaggerated, so, I
visited Carrie Alexander of the Waitresses' Union.
. "I want you to tell me from your own experience and the experiences
of other girls to whom you have listened if- the following is an exaggera
tion," I said to her, and then I let her read this:
"One girl said: 'People think they can say anything to a waitress. If
I took all the men said to me the way they meant I wouldn.'t be here long.' i
Another said she would rather not i
take the tips than have to listen to
the remarks of the young men who
gave them.
"The investigator saw. two young
men who were served by a pretty girl
trying to .flirt with her. .Before they
left one of the men handed the girl
.a bill and said something. She shook
her head and her face turned scarlet
and the investigator heard the man
say; 'Oh, very'-weltf if'ybu' feel-that
way about if." In another place the
investigator saw a man put his- arm
around a yoyng waitress in a sug
gestive manner. She looked appeal
ingly at the' manager, but no protest
was made..
"The giving, of tips should be abol
ished because of their pernicious ef
fect. A young- girl who under' any
other circumstances would not dream
of acceptingmohey from a man will
accept it .hi the guise of a tip. In
the hands of a vicious man this tip
establishes between him and the girl
a relation of subserviency and pa
tronage which may be easily the -beginning
of improper attentions.
"The most conscientious girl, de
pendent upon tips to eke out her slen
der wage, finds it difficult to deter
mine just where the line of propriety ,
is crossed. Thus, in addition to the
other dangers surrounding the girls
employed in hotels and restaurants, ,
they encounter that lack of respect
which curiously attaches itself to one
who accepts a gratuity." ;
"It is all true," Miss Alexander said,
emphatically. "That is why I so
strongly object to tips, because they
force a girl to submit to such insults.
That is why we are demanding that
restaurant keepers pay waitresses a
living wage, so they need not depend t
on tips in' order to live. Then they
will be in a position to. resent insults
which now. they must endure or lose I
the tip which is vitally necessary to i
them if they are to live at all."
If, therefore, we ignored every oth- r
er reason why Henrici's and other i
restaurants- of their kind should be )
forced to pay girls a living wage, if
we ignored the fact that their ardu-C
ous labor entitles the girls to a living
wage, if we ignored the fact that res-1
taurant keepers profit so greatly ons
labor that they are wen able to pay a
living wage, we would not dare, if we
MifriiiiiiiAriiff'fii-ht'