Many of Sacramento's service workers have gone over a decade without a raise, and this year has been no different.
Amanda Teotorovich, along with her coworkers with Metrolink janitorial service for the Cal/EPA building in downtown Sacramento, said that they have tried to live and maintain the same lifestyle outside of work, but have been met with many obstacles.
“I’ve worked as a janitor for 16 years,” said Teotorovich. “They pay me $10.20 an hour…and it’s a little amount to support four children along with my mother.”
Rolling her eyes and taking a deep breath at the thought of all her expenses, Teotorovich recounts all the bills that must be maintained on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.
“We are homeowners, our interest rates have gone up, our kids have grown up and are asking for help in paying for necessary items,” said Teotorovich. “too many expenses.”
Down the street, employees at the Fog Mountain Café have been suffering the blow of less business, which to them equals fewer tips.
“[Customers] are going for the cheaper meals, especially at breakfast.” said Amanda Hopper, a waitress for the Fog Mountain Café.
Hopper said customers are steering away from big meals and instead ordering sides like toast or scrambled eggs.
“That decreases all of our tips, because if you don’t spend as much, you don’t need to give your server as much [for a tip],” said Hopper.
However, there are a few in the service industry that, like Adrianna Becerra, live alone and have been getting by a little bit better than others. Living in a one-bedroom apartment, she is still comfortably paying rent, bills, and groceries.
“I work 40 hours a week, and I’ve been living fine, thanks to God,” said Becerra, who works with Teotorovich as a janitor for MetroLink.
“I just have my dog, and dogs don’t eat a lot, you know?” said Becerra, making light of the situation.
Overall, the fact is that in the world of an every-day service worker, the only amount of money not going up is the salary.
“I’m doing OK,” said Becerra, “but we could all be doing better if they’d raise our salaries.”
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1 comment:
Good job!
A couple of things for the revision due Tuesday:
"Service workers have been hit hard during the budget crisis this summer." This is too general a lead. Your second sentence is much more specific. Quash that urge to generalize in your first sentence!
"Teotorovich, along with her coworkers, agrees"
Only use 'agrees' when you're going to name a coworker and a comment afterwards. That's a Broadcast approach to generalizing --- doesn't work here. We like our people to speak for themselves, not allow ourselves to globalize their comments.
Visibly overwhelmed at the thought..
Describe specifically what this looks like, not what you think it is. For instance, holding her head in her hands, slowly shaking her head, tears coming to her eyes.... be specific so people SEE visibly moved.
"Hopper explained that it’s been obvious that customers are steering away from omelettes and other full meals and instead ordering a side of toast or scrambled eggs."
All you need is Hopper said customers are steering away.... get rid of the wordy, unnecessary 'its; been obvious...'
Why is Becerra doing okay? Cheap rent that hasn't gone up? Can she explain?
GOOD WORK! You absolutely followed the assignment. Now we're working on writing --- as we should be.
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