Wages, Heavy Lifting

Chapter 2

If you have read Chapter 1, you are already beginning to understand your boss, and his livelihood. If you haven't read Chapter 1, make it required reading, before you go any further.

Everything mentioned in Chapter 1 is not too much to ask from an employee, and if you follow Chapter 2, it is not outrageous to ask for a raise if you have improved your employer's new profits. Bartender's wages have not accelerated since 1979; while the cost of living has increased over 250%. If you have raised your employer's net profits by 5%, he can afford to give you a 2% raise. Your tips have also decreased in the last 2-3 years, to the point that they are virtually non-existent in some areas, and much less in all areas of the country.

There are certain things that your employer may request, that you have a legitimate right to refuse to do. If you are a woman, it is only sensible that you refuse to lift heavy beer cases, kegs and liquor cases. If you break you elbow or dislocate your shoulder while you are trying to do the work, you aren't able to work with any type of efficiency in an arm cast, nor do you look good trying to work. You won't look good in a back brace because your back can't take the stress, and chiropractors, traction, and back surgery are expensive alternatives. You won't look good in a hospital room, nor will you be able to work while in the hospital. Needless to say, many employers, even though they are required by law to carry workman's compensation insurance, cannot afford the expense of the insurance,. Even if your employer does carry workman's compensation insurance, it could take years to get a settlement, and what do you live on in the mean time? If you are awarded a settlement, just because you are entitled to it, doesn't mean you will receive anything. What if you employer goes bankrupt? A woman's muscle mass is much less than a man's, and you are not physically capable of doing some things. If your employer wants a person, who can left heavy articles, then he should hire a stocker. If your employer reaps a 5% increase in net profits, then he can afford to pay 1% to a stocker. Tell your employer that you can't physically do the heavy work and lifting, that there are physical handicaps when an employer hires a woman, and that you need your health to work, not to be crippled by osteoarthritis in your elb ows and shoulders when you are 35 years old, and be unable to get a job, nor do you want to risk the possibility of having to have your spine fused, because your vertebra weren't protected by the heavy muscle mass that a man has. Remind him of how men, even with their musculature, have back problems, tell him to talk to his own doctor about it, and his insurance agent, because neither one of those professionals will urge him to expect heavy lefting from a woman, and show him this if he isn't familiar with it already. A bartender is hired to bartend, and to increase net profits by bartending, only.