It's MY money and I'll do what I want with it!

As some of you already know, I've been hanging around Hooter's alot lately. But, I think I'll be there less frequently from now on. It's not really about the amount of money that I've been spending there. It's what happens to that money.

I've been hanging around there for about a year now and have a few regular waitresses. One in particular is a real gem. She will come over and sit at my table even if it's not in her section. She has spent hours at my table just chitchating every time I come in. Do I tip her well? I guess that's subjective, but yes, I try. She takes really good care of me, and when you break it down, I feel I can't tip her enough for the ego boost this pretty 20-year old gives me.....especially after the mind-fuck of a marriage I went through.

Everytime I walk through the doors of Hooters, my real world troubles are forgotten. When I sit at her table, and she comes over with those big, round brown eyes, and those pouty, full lips always coated in lip-gloss.....well, it just melts away all my stress. Not only is she beautiful, but she has a personality to go with it. And, that's the hook. For beauty will get attention, but personality will capture hearts. Unfortunately, she is like a drug. And, I'm addicted to her. Like any good drug, it starts off slowly, but the more you have, the more you want. Until eventually, you start using that drug to totally forget the things that are stressing you out: instead of dealing the those things head on. An easy out.

So, after a particularly wierd night of drinking, when my 'drug' wasn't around, I realized I was going through withdrawals. I had to sit back, take some time and re-examine what I was doing, and what was going on in my life that was stressing me out. My job, for one. I know, everyone has had a bad job. Mine is actually quite good. It's the company I work for....it's like being in a big dysfunctional family. Heck, I may as well stayed married if I wanted that type of mindfuck. Always throwing you off balance. If it's not one thing it's another. Reality just ceases to exist within this company's culture.

Anyways, that's not the point of this post....just the background. What really ticked me off was after chatting with ANOTHER girl there I found out a couple of surprising facts about how Hooter's operates, and where my TIP money goes.

First, Hooter's girls only get paid an hourly wage of $2.25. Most of them don't even know, because most of them recieve a ZERO $ paycheck. That's because, if you make over a certain amount of TIPS, Hooters doesn't pay the hourly wage....you've already made too much. In addition, this girl told me that Hooters also takes a cut of the tips.....maybe 2%....I'm not sure of the exact number...the night was a little foggy. But I figure.....wait a second....this is the money I have generously taken out of MY pocket to go directly to the girl as a TIP! I'm already paying HOOTERS too much for the crappy food and the beer!

So, not only if I TIP too much does Hooters save $2.25 an hour, but they start TAKING my money too! Sure, some of that tip the girl has to split up with the bartender and the food runner....that's acceptable: they do a job too. But HOOTERS, don't start taking money away from the waitress and ME off the backend when I've already paid you up front! The only way I can see to avoid this is to TIP in cash.....which I rarely carry.....as there is no electronic record of how much you tipped the girl.

So, there you have it. I'm tired of giving my money to a sneaky major corporation.