5 ms·

While I don't disagree with the sentiment, you have to factor in the fact that room/board is included in the military and it certainly isn't in Seattle. That's

• randunel 4y ago
  What about tips and tip sharing in Seattle? Wouldn't that factor in, too?
  • marak830 4y ago
    Back of house generally doesn't get tips.
    • gausswho 4y ago
      There's change in the air on that one. Minneapolis, for one, commonly adds service fees to restaurant bills and shares with the back. Some referenda in a couple days will determine ending the minimum wage exemption (which would be a shot across the bow for tips and thereby the imbalance between front and back of house). Fought heavily by large restaurant industry players.
      • lotsofpulp 4y ago
        Seattle and WA, where Dicks is, has not had a tipped minimum wage exception for many, many years. And also, Dicks is not a restaurant with wait service, so I have no idea why a tip would be expected. Even without the tipped minimum wage exception in WA/OR/CA, tips are still socially expected for wait service in the West coast, so waiters would probably continue to earn more in Minneapolis.
• lotsofpulp 4y ago
  Being stuck on the water for every hour of the day is way more negative than minus $8 per hour.
  • mcculley 4y ago
    That’s how I learned to read.
• watwut 4y ago
  You cant take your kids or partner into that room. That is a big one. You cant invite friends over. And the way you clean and use the space is controlled by your boss instead of having privacy.
  • vkou 4y ago
    Can't go for a walk. Can't go down to the park. Can't go down to the grocery, or the pub, or the library. There's a lot more to an apartment than four walls and a roof.
• _djo_ 4y ago
  Being a sole chef on board a Coast Guard ship is a much more challenging job than being a line cook at a fast food restaurant, as it includes all the aspects of planning and logistics that would normally be management's duties at the fast food place. Given that, the position is severely underpaid.
  • NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
    In fairness, the benefits are much better though; McDonald's isn't going to pay for your entire college education based on three years time in service.
    • _djo_ 4y ago
      True, so that's one benefit, but it's also one shared by any other service member including those in positions with far less responsibility and difficulty. Keeping a ship fed while at sea for months is a hard task.
      • NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
        The GI Bill is not "one benefit", it's like "the richest benefit in the history of benefits". It will pay all your tuition and fees for a four year college degree, and it'll pay a book stipend, and it'll pay you housing allowance on top of that.
        • _djo_ 4y ago
          Fair, I should've phrased that better. What I mean is that it's not unique to the ship's chef posting, but a general benefit for any enlisted member of the armed forces. It's also not something that most people place enough value on to serve in bad conditions for three years to get, judging by the US military's difficulty in recruiting. That's on top of a fully qualified CG Culinary Specialist potentially being able to get a high enough salary in the private sector to match the GI Bill's tuition cost, without needing to spend time away from home or dealing with austere service living conditions. Of course this doesn't mean that the only option is to increase salaries. The Coast Guard could also try to substantially improve the quality of life in the post and make it more attractive in that sense. It's a post that's been taken for granted for far too long. The current approach clearly isn't working, despite the GI Bill.
• ilyt 4y ago
  They don't get a room, they get a bunk. Are you really comparing living on a ship 24/7 to an apartment ?!