She looked at her paycheck and chuckled, shaking her head at the nine dollars that stared back at her. This was her pay after working for seventy hours.
Life was already difficult. Her bills were due, most of which she was already behind on. She couldn’t continue working this hard for such little pay. She would have her revenge.
Many people describe adult life as hard. Life after high school demands that a person becomes independent. People look for or create jobs to satisfy this need.
Some are lucky enough to find high-paying jobs. Others have to wade through whatever life throws at them. For twenty-year-old Aaliyah Cortez, adulthood was not kind. But she would do everything in her power not to let life break her.
A young single mom living in California, Aaliyah was driven to give her son the best life he could want. Every morning, she woke up early to search job forums in her local area for anything up her alley.
Aaliyah managed to land a bartending job, seeing it as a perfect fit. She didn’t know how wrong she was.
The first day at her new job was easy enough. All that Aaliyah had to do was serve drinks and hold the occasional conversation with customers. She enjoyed the experience, thanking God that she chose this path.
One of the customers left her a twenty-dollar tip while clearing his tab. The gesture caught Aaliyah by surprise. Little did she know that more shock was barreling her way.
The week followed the same pattern as Aaliyah’s first day. Customers occasionally left tips as a thank you for her service.
On the last day of the second week, her employer handed her her first paycheck. Aaliyah grabbed the payment slip and stashed it into her purse. She was happy to buy her son something nice to eat that night. If she knew better, she should have checked the slip then.
On her way home, Aaliyah decided to pass by a GameStop. Her son had been talking about this new video game that he liked. She wanted to surprise him with it tonight.
Before walking into the store, Aaliyah decided to check her salary. She fished out the slip and scanned through it. She cocked her head back, her brows rising. Something was terribly wrong.
Aaliyah held in a sigh. The paycheck indicated she had made a hundred and fifty dollars in the last two weeks. But after social security Medicare and income tax, she was only receiving nine dollars.
She huffed out a hot breath, a slight chuckle echoing up her paining chest. Nine dollars. Her rent, alongside other dozen bills, was due. Adulthood was going to swallow her alive. Her blood boiled.
Aaliyah returned the slip into her purse. Her fists balled, a surge of anger firing in her chest before settling in her stomach. After all the hours she’d put in, this was all she was receiving?
She looked into her purse, seeing the ninety dollars she made that day in tips. She held back tears as she realized her son wouldn’t be getting his game tonight. As soon as she got home, she found another problem waiting for her.
Her landlord had left a late rent notice on her door. Aaliyah didn’t even read it, only plucked and stuffed it in her purse next to her paycheck.
She spent that day awake in her room. She wondered how she would meet her and her son’s needs. Maybe she could hire a lawyer to help her–but she didn’t have the funds–then she thought of something epic.
Aaliyah’s world was crashing down on her. Her pay, the only thing that could save her from all this, was too low. Outraged, she decided to do something about it.
She refined her approach to bartending, looking at ways to receive more tips. She began working that same night, but another issue soon cropped up.
Even though Aaliyah was pushing herself to the limit, the tips weren’t as lucrative as she had projected. She needed to put in more hours if this was to work.
Aaliyah talked to her boss and got an additional role as a server. She could now work both day and night. The weekend came, and Aaliyah sat down to count her tips.
Her lips twitched, the smile broadening into a grin. Aaliyah had made seven hundred dollars off of tipping.
Her workmates could not believe she had made such an amount from tipping alone. Aaliyah let them in on her formula. The system worked well for them, but their boss soon found out what they were doing.
Aaliyah was unsure whether their boss would fire them. To her surprise, he acknowledged the difficulties of working under their current climate.
He also commended them for their newfound work ethic and the buzz it had created for their bar. Aaliyah went home and cleared all her pending bills. But even though she was happy, she still had a long way to go to give her son the life he deserved.
With the help of her colleagues, Aaliyah came up with a better system that leveraged working as a team to create better experiences for their customers. Their business skyrocketed, so did the tips they were receiving.
Aaliyah could not believe it. She bought her son the game he asked for. Although it wasn’t enough to show him how much he meant to her, it was an excellent start. Now there was only one thing left to do.
Aaliyah shared her story with the world. She showed societies that most bartenders and servers rely solely on tips to survive.
She also advised her fellow moms to continue being strong. As a mom, she understood the responsibilities and expectations of the job. “I would want them to know I’m supporting them!” she said.