I wish the only problem with being a waitress was getting a shitty salary.

Post-pandemic economists point out that 2022 will be the year of the tourism record. Hotels will hang full signs, entertainment areas will overflow, restaurants and bars will overflow. That’s why the news broke out. Waiter positions are not filled and insufficient to meet demand.

Before the pandemic, 73,000 workers dedicated to the hospitality industry did not return to work. That’s what this “voluntary and mass labor migration” is called in the United States, as they explain to us on Xataka. “The Big Waiver” and it seems Coming to Spain in the hospitality industry.

Again,why is there this waiter shortage? Well, waiters don’t want to be waitresses (apparently) for the paycheck, and hoteliers say the problem is tied and “I wish they paid more”. But low wages are not the only problem an emerging profession.

What happens when (at least) half of your salary is black?

Esther Miguel is 32 years old and is responsible for Processes and Innovation at Webedia, but at 17 she entered the hospitality world as a waitress. In her second summer, she was what she was offered while working at the same bar in a very touristy beach town. some dare say “part time”, twelve hours of work. But as Esther explained to us “I only quoted eight and wrote the other four in black”so, when he suffered a work accident that left a huge 19-point scar on his knee as a souvenir, he found himself on sick leave and only taking what was declared.

“I had an accident at work for not following half of the ground safety rules: I went to the container to throw a very large and very heavy rubbish and it must have a tin or glass in it.” The result was a three-week sick leave, during which time he received curious calls from his boss. “I was constantly wondering what the doctors were telling me when I could rejoin.”

According to INE data, a waiter earns an average of 1,300 euros gross per month, the lowest salary after unskilled workers, to add that the contracts are short (two-thirds were temporary in 2021). And at least when it comes to a contract.

Maricarmen, 38, has been pouring a drink at a bar while studying for nearly three years. “I worked without a contract and did not get a very good salary”, he admits to us. As a counterpoint, in addition to being a bar waitress, she worked in a restaurant and experienced a different situation. “When I worked as a waiter in a restaurant, it was always with a contract set to my hours and no overtime, just doing what I had to do.”

The same goes for editor Lola J. Espejo, 26, who worked at a restaurant in Granada for several summers without a contract. “I worked in black and had no schedule. If they called me on my day off because there were too many reservations, I had to go.” And as the Spanish proverb says, “neither paid nor grateful”, as Lola assures that if she stays for another half hour or 45 minutes, they will not overpay her as they should. “On the weekend and as if it were a favor he gave me ‘an extra 5 euros for loose half-hours’, even if those half-hours were an extra three hours a week.”

The difference between being a waiter in and out of Spain

Chef Ferrán Adriá said in an interview: he pointed out that in a few years waiters “will get paid more than a lawyer” and that there is a huge difference in salaries with Paris, for example.

Maricarmen told us she worked as a waitress for two years in Spain “in an American chain where breaks and occupational risks are taken very seriously” and in a family business. Nine months in Italy, assuring you “better fare than in Spain” here.

But in other parts of Europe waiters are already they get 3,500 euros per month, is not the only difference. In addition to Granada, Lola worked as a waitress in Sweden. “Everything is much more respected there. The program is the program and you won’t take another minute,” he explains. “At check-out, everyone parks what they’re doing, and what’s left unfinished is done the next day,” he adds.

The extra handicap that waiters experience every day

“I think what happens to all of us is when a slimy guy comes up to you and says ‘hello you’re beautiful today’ or they tell you how your clothes look and things they would never say to men. They don’t tell a man ‘how nice your hair is today’ or ‘how good you smell’.”, something Lola confirms doesn’t happen to her in Sweden either. “Customers didn’t drool like they did in Spain.”

Women are more vulnerable than men in this type of work. “As a waitress in a cocktail bar, the daily bread is that they try to let you in every night,” Maricarmen admits, assuring us that in some cases even she herself was frightened, in her own words, “something that shouldn’t be done.” happens in any job”.

“Someone tried to break into the bar and I found myself in a 19-year-old situation where you didn’t know what to do.” So much so that Maricarmen did not say anything about her work at home. “They asked me how my day was, and I always said it was okay in case Mom and Dad had a seizure. Imagine your 19-year-old daughter telling you that a drunk was trying to sneak into the bar.” The worst according to Maricarmen how alcohol affects some people. “It’s like they’re losing control and suddenly they believe they have a right to everything.”

Frankly, these testimonies do not mean that 100% of cases in the hospitality industry are like this, but it is what matters and it seems. The ‘Great Waiver’ is approaching She gives us a message, and Esther is clear about it: “I’ve seen a lot of people who couldn’t last three days because of the pressure. Looking for something in another industry doesn’t make sense to me anymore, it just seems like a survival instinct.”

Photos | Friends, Crew, Andriyko Podilnyk, Helena Lopes, Liam Martens, louis hansel Y Di_An_h inside splash