A server from Tiny Tapp and Cafe works at the Chicago Riverwalk restaurant on Sept. 20, 2023. A measure that would make Chicago the largest American city to independently abolish a subminimum wage for workers who get tips is closer to reality.
Waiting tables taught me volumes about patience, human relations, finance and entrepreneurship. I also learned that service work is tough, backbreaking, with terrible hours. And don’t get me started on the crazy and vile things that happen back in the kitchens. Tips were everything. I was paid $1 an hour, but the tips helped finance my college tuition and an off-campus apartment. I did well, but I was lucky to be able to get a college degree and move on.
Johnson forged a compromise with business interests that had worked aggressively to keep him out of office. That’s a good thing. Chicago has no time for grudge matches.