A TikToker named Jola (@papajawnz) racked up over 698,000 views on a five-second clip where she shared her experience at a walk-in interview for a server position.
Judging from her anecdote, it sounded like a fairly unprofessional experience. Jola explains in the overlay text how since it was a walk-in interview, she walked inside to ask about the position while wearing shorts. Jola claims the interviewer took this as an invitation to be informal and proceeded to eat their lunch with her there.
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Jola writes in a text overlay of the video, “when I wore shorts to a walk in interview and the interviewer said ‘since we’re being casual im gonna eat my lunch’ and proceeded to down a 20pc wing meal in under 5 mins.”
She adds in the TikTok’s caption that “starting pay was 2/hr” which she later clarified in the comments section that it included tips. In another comment, she shared how the position was at a Studio Movie Grill, a dine-in movie theater chain. Depending on the state, different areas carry minimum wages for tipped workers. In New Jersey, for instance, the minimum cash wage for workers who receive gratuities is $5.26 per hour. In New Mexico, it’s $3.00.
Her post sparked a conversation among other TikTokers about the below-minimum wage starting hourly rates for tipped employees. Many users in the comments section said that even with tips, $2 an hour as a base rate was still too low, which Jola agreed with. She stated that she was so discouraged by the offer that it turned her off from looking for a job for the rest of the summer.
“Went to a job interview and they said the pay was $3/hr…Ian ever been so happy to not get a job,” one user said, who had a similar experience when on the hunt for work.
Others just couldn’t believe that a business would have the audacity to offer so little, with one user writing, “200 pennies for 60 minutes of my precious life is crazyyyyy.”
Some users said they had they gone to a job interview knowing the place paid so little that they would’ve shown up wearing pajamas.
“Manager threw that comment knowing damn well pay was $2 an hour,” a user wrote. “I would’ve came in pjs.”
Other TikTok users said they themselves didn’t bother to get dressed up for a job interview to become a server either. As one user wrote, “I wore a mini dress and fur slides I’m not bout to wear a suit to be a server.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Jola via TikTok comment for further information.
While there are many industries that have managed to bounce back from a labor shortage, the food service industry is still experiencing under-staffing woes. Toast wrote that some 450,000 jobs in the industry still remain unfilled, and it may have to do with the fact that many workers have cited that they are sick of dealing with rude customers for low pay, and a lack of health benefits.
