Tips Not Included

By Jessica Sepulvado

When people get hungry and decide to go out to eat rather than cook or drive through the window of a fast food restaurant, they are not only providing business for that particular industry but they are contributing to the paychecks of bus boys, hostesses and even the kitchen staff. However, there is one group of people who do not have the luxury of a set income and rely solely on that customer’s decision to come in, sit down and eat--the servers of that restaurant.

Servers in the majority of restaurants get paid under minimum wage; a whopping $2.13 an hour, and then use tips to bring the total income up to minimum or above.

“$2.13 doesn’t pay the bills,” says Krista Chapman, 22, of Nacogdoches Texas. “Your gratitude and your thanks won’t buy my dinner, so tip.” Krista is a college student at SFA and an employee at La Carreta Mexican restaurant. She has been a waitress for four years .

Then there is tip sharing. Joseph Devine of ezine said, “One of the big issues in tip sharing comes up when those that directly earn tips share their tips with those that don’t earn tips. For example, requiring the servers and bartenders to share their tips with the busboys or cleaning staff of the restaurant. Yes, they help the overall atmosphere but they don’t actually bring in tips. The biggest problem with this system is that the tips aren’t tips anymore if they are used to even out salary. They are then salary except they can’t be fully depended on” (http://ezinearticles.com/?Issues-in-tip-sharing&id=2614857).

Dalton Thumann, 19, and also an employee at La Carreta said, “if you don’t work to earn the pay, you don’t deserve a part of it.”

Some would disagree that tip sharing to busboys is not as bad as it seems, even if they get paid an hourly minimum wage much greater than a servers. “If everyone does their job, it’s not an issue,” says Dani Ontiveros, 21 and a server working at Asian City. She has only been employed there for 7 months but she has had the job title of waitress or four years now. However, in Dani’s opinion, tip sharing “sometimes cheats the server depending on if you have lazy coworkers or even lazy management.”

There is no getting out of tip sharing your busboys or a hostess and if either of them fail to do their job, you get skipped several times or the busboy doesn’t seem interested in cleaning your table, they still get partial of what you sell.

Tip share is based on the total amount of food each server sells. At least that is how the system works at La Carreta. Three percent of all total sales is taken out and divided between three different people from that shift. The bartender, the hostess and the busboy/chipper each get one percent of this three. The only exception is when there is no hostess or busboy at the time or alcohol sales are at zero. If that is the case then the three percent is split between the other two possible options.

People sometimes ask how much a good tip is. “Offer up 15 percent to 20 percent of your total bill. Keep in mind that the amount you tip reflects the total price before any coupons, gift certificates, etc. Just because you get a discount does not mean your sever did not serve you the full order. If you are part of a party more than eight people, you should offer an amount closer to the 20 percent marker, if not more depending on the needs of the guests of your party. If, for example, one of your guests insists on getting the salad dressing on the side, extra bread more water and no avocado, then you definitely want compensate the server who extended service to include these extras,” suggests an Essortment website – Proper Tipping Etiquette (http://www.essortment.com/all/propertippinge_rmuv.htm).

When asked what to tell a customer who doesn’t tip, Ontiveros answers, “I look at all tables as a business opportunity. My opinion is most likely the same as any other server. They (customers) come in not to just eat but to be waited on. They are providing me with a job and then not paying for my services.” Ontiveros only has to pay 1.5% of tip share, but there is also no bartender and no hostess. That 1.5% goes to one person, the busboy/dish washer. She believes that this is a “very fair” amount.

When it comes to the statistics of how many people don’t understand the waitressing business, Ontiverous says, “I never look at a table negatively, but those that do know how it works; those are the people I’m going to make my money from.”

Jessica Hammon

Margaret Mitchell

Margarett Mitchell, a Cypress Senior, has returned to complete her final year at SFA despite considerable odds.

Mitchell, a communications major with an emphasis in public relations and a marketing minor, was forced to drop all but one of her classes last school year after an unexpected injury curtailed her semester and led her to remain in school for an extra year.

The injury, which occurred after a dancing accident in March, over spring break, resulted in a broken leg. Mitchell wore a hard cast for six weeks while recuperating in Houston.

Despite the time and difficulties of recovery, there was at least one silver-lined cloud. Thanks to the help of a leopard-print cast cover purchased from a specialty website, Mitchell cites the cast as one of the fashionable perks of her injury.

When asked more seriously what she took from the ordeal, Mitchell said “Something that has really struck true to me is to listen to yourself, to that inner voice, because it usually is right. Sometimes you can’t afford to make those kinds of mistakes. And the older you get, the more you learn to listen to yourself, that tiny voice.”

Perhaps a hard lesson to learn, but Mitchell has taken it in stride. She has returned to school and a normal life. She has a part time job working for a local doctor and now lives with her sister, an SFA freshman, in Nacogdoches.

But not content to rest, Mitchell has high hopes for the current semester, as well as her future. Though she has always been successful as a student, Mitchell said this semester would be different because she will apply herself more than she has previously.

“I really want to excel in my classes in a way that I haven’t in the past, and have all of my attention focused.”

After graduating in May, Mitchell is not positive what direction her career will take her. She may work for her father’s oilrig company, a job that would allow her a large amount of travel. She also has long term plans to follow a public relations career, which would allow her to pursue her interest in being an event planner.

Coming back from a dehabilitating injury and taking on an eighteen hour class load, it is clear Mitchell is capable of accomplishing what she sets her mind to.

“I want to prove to myself I can be responsible.” It seems, given the year and adversity she has overcome, that Mitchell is already most of the way to her goal.

Chasity Monschein

Chasity Monschein, Indianapolis sophomore, is currently working on a novel narrating her experience as a young, adopted child with a court case that made it all the way to the Supreme Court of three states.

Monschein has lived in seven states including: Texas, Indiana, Florida, Colorado, Minnesota, Louisiana and Ohio. Of the states she has lived in, her case made it to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, Colorado and Indiana.

“I’m writing in hopes that it can help someone who can’t afford lawyers,” Monschein said.

She explained that after the case, her parents were in a debt of $500,000 in lawyer fees. Court cases that go on for years may be costly.

“I testified from the ages of five to nine,” Monschein stated.

Monschein aspires to help those whom have been in similar situations and have questions.

“They want to know what happened in the past?” she said. “What can I learn from someone else’s case?”

Monschein’s case was centered on parents’ ad grandparents’ parental rights. In the instance in which a parent is denied visitation rights, the grandparents are given unlimited visitation pending a court decision overruling the original decision.

As in most states, grandparents have to prove that visitation is in the best interest of the child. The child undergoes a series of interviews in order to determine what in fact is best for the child. Ultimately, the courts reserve the right to either grant or deny grandparents’ visitation rights.

Last February Monschein traveled to Indiana to speak to the Senate on Bill SB155. The bill was passed regarding the rights and privileges of grandparents in custody battles. Her lawyer insisted that she come speak out against the bill because her case too applied to grandparent visitation.

Monscheins were made to be in court. Chasity’s father and grandfather were both involved in politics in the state of Indiana.

Chasity is a journalism student at SFA seeking teacher certification. She also studies sociology.

“I’m going to get my teacher’s certification while I’m here in case I want to teach high school,” she said.

Aside from working on the novel, Chasity is a weekend report for Lufkin Daily News.

Travis Bruce

by Lady Cole

Travis Bruce, Houston junior, is an ambidextrous Irish that has the luxury of deciding which hand to use in daily tasks since he has the talent of knowing how to use them both. “I usually just write with my left, eat with my left, but then I like throw with my right, and if I was going to punch somebody, I’d punch with my right”, said Bruce. Growing up in his home in Cypress Wood, Bruce was constantly involved in big time competition with his older brother, Robbie, gaining him the title amongst their friends as “Robbie’s little brother”, which Bruce didn’t care for too much. Instead, he wouldn’t mind going by the name of the actor that he says his own parents compares him to, who is Colin Farrell. Besides being a star in two of his favorite movies, S.W.A.T and Pride & Glory, Bruce says the Irish bond that him and Farrell share is just one more reason of why he would be his celebrity comparison. Other than watching Farrell in his favorite movies, Bruce tells of how he spends most of his time making memories with his neighbor, his fraternity Sigma Tau Gamma. The fall ’08 pledge of the fraternity tells of the craziest memory he has with Sig Tau, which was his pledge class retreat, leaving none of the wild details out. Hopefully the tales of this fun-filled trip doesn’t travel back to his girlfriend of six months, who Bruce isn’t quite sure of their relationship status. “Uh I don’t know, I’m not necessarily tied down, but we’re courting. Well at least something like that”, admitted the humorously, confused Bruce.

Bruce surprises me once more, going against the stereotypical facts about a Sig Tau member, when he admits that he himself does not yet have a tattoo. Although he has been contemplating about getting one and which one to get for about three years now, Bruce has yet to face the ink. When the day does come when he feels he’s ready to feel that needle against his skin, Bruce knows now exactly what will be his first piece of body art. “I’m religious, so I want Mathew 7:7. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you,” Bruce shared. His conversion to Catholicism, religious upbringing, and belief that a tattoo should have meaning and purpose, are the reasons for Bruce’s pick. In search for a church here in Nacogdoches that could slightly remind him of his church back home, Bruce has yet to be successful in this endeavor. The one similarity to his home church that would be nice, is the choice of mass times due to Bruce not being a morning person, especially not on Sundays.

The currently unemployed student, nonchalantly tells of how his employment at the local Chilis ended just after a short three months. Without a two weeks notice Bruce “just stop showing up”. Assuring me that this wasn’t of the norm when pertaining to his work experiences, Bruce explains how the job as a server, for him, was not the greatest thing in the world. That $400 that the FFA (Future Farmers of America) member made in high school in auctioning off the pig that he raised, could probably come in hand now. The similar to work experience, due to the student having to wake up at 5 a.m. every morning to feed and tend to the pig, who he named Breakfast, in the end earned Bruce a good deal of cash and a few pieces of delicious bacon. In the future, when searching for a steady job in an advertising firm of his choice, hopefully the six-foot Irish doesn’t pick up his old work habits.

Lady Cole

by Travis Bruce

LaDyrian Cole, Dallas Junior, is obsessed with Hello Kitty.

She answers to Lady and sometime Hello Kitty, even though those are not her real names. Cole is a member of a coed fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, at Stephen F. Austin State University. She rushed fall 08’ and her pledge class was Wilfred M. Krenek (WMK).

Cole said, “I am completely obsessed with Hello Kitty,” and is a cartoon show that turned into fashion items. Hello Kitty is worshiped in Japan, Cole also said, “ I want to go to Japan just to take pictures with the Hello Kitty statues” Her obsession sprung from her early childhood when her grandma introduced Hello Kitty tapes and other accessories as rewards for finishing homework or chores around the house. From this her obsession grew and by the age of 18 she had Hello Kitty permanently with her in the form of a tattoo.

She said, “ I am the biggest Hello Kitty fan ever!” Her room is completely decorated in Hello Kitty, she has two build-a-bears that are Hello Kitty black and white, screen savers, blankets- all-Hello Kitty.

However, she is not only interested in Hello Kitty she also spends a lot of her time doing schoolwork, and since she is a double major in Radio TV Broadcasting and Journalism (Public Relations) that can happen.

Her hobbies include writing poetry and doing activities for her fraternity, which include building the bonfire for homecoming and doing work with the Boy Scouts of America.

Another interesting fact about Cole is she is the oldest and the youngest sibling in her family. This sounds impossible but Cole is the oldest on her mom’s side of the family having a brother who is 10 years younger. She is the youngest on her dad’s side of the family having two sisters and one brother who are older than her.

Cole resides at The Lodge on campus and has three roommates, two of whom are her best friends and the other being an outcast (sad but true.)

Cole just got out of a three-year relationship with her high school sweetheart who she started dating her junior year in high school. She went to SFA and he went to UNT and over time the long distance between them caused them to end their relationship.

Cole is not sad about this but said, is very much single and happy to be single

Upon Cole being asked if she were to compare her self to a celebrity or ask which celebrity she was most like she responded with Gabrielle Union, who is one of the head cheerleader in the movie “Bring it On” and Kimberley Elise who started in “Set it Off” and “Beloved”. She chose these two actresses because they are strong beautiful black woman who are very diverse in their characters. Cole being a beautiful strong young black woman these two actresses are very good picks.

Cole’s grey colored contacts really make her eyes jump out at you. She is five foot four inches tall with silky medium length curly back hair. Another fun fact is that without her contacts is she is legally blind and actually couldn’t drive to school without them in.

All in all Cole is a wonderful unique and interesting young woman.

Ryan Chamberlain

When Ryan Chamberlain, Arlington, junior, ditches class he means it literally. A big crossroads in his life was deciding what college he was going to attend. “A lot of my friends were going to school at Texas State and encouraging me to go there but when I came to SFA to look at the campus and saw the ditch out in front of Hall 20 I could just picture myself riding my bike all throughout it.” Not only is BMX a big part of his life, but he likes to play soccer and travel as well or even get involved in anything extreme.

Ryan’s biggest hobby is BMX, he likes to ride and do all different tricks “My favorite part about riding is that the only competition you have is yourself.” There is no limit to the tricks and different stunts he is capable of. Another extreme sport that Ryan does when he gets the opportunity is surfing. His grandparents and Uncle live in Hawaii and whenever he visits you wouldn’t catch him anywhere else but out in the ocean.

When Ryan gets older he wants to live somewhere tropical, partly because of surfing but the nice weather is also enjoyable. Hawaii is on his list of possible places he would like to live along with Australia; he loves how exotic and different the animals and nature is compared to Texas. One thing he did get to experience without having to go somewhere exotic was getting to ride an elephant. While attending a circus one year with his family, Ryan and his two sisters loved the elephants and when it was all over they were giving elephant rides around the tent so he rode them and fed them peanuts. It was an experience so different that he won’t forget it.

Although Ryan is a GDI, he was still a part of many different activities throughout high school, including soccer and hockey. He played left wing in both sports. “One of my favorite memories from soccer was when the other team was dribbling the ball down the field and I can’t let them by so I rush at them steal the ball pass it off to my friend Matt who head butted it back to me to where I just chest bumped it down to my feet to where I scored the goal to have it tied up. It was probably the most ridiculous play ever because we were mainly just goofing off about it.”

His friends aren’t the only one’s that he gets to goof off around. His family always jokes around and has an interesting sense of humor. Ryan and his two sisters definitely trade off one-liners at each other. He gets most of his humorous lines from his favorite actor Will Ferrell.

Ryan loves his family, and as part of loving his family he loves his dogs too. He has two dogs, Allie and Maggie and if he could, would take them everywhere. He constantly plays with them and when he is back home, takes them to the local dog park.

There were many different sides of Ryan, his fun side in which he plays soccer and hockey, his extreme side where he does BMX and all sorts of tricks, his adventurous side in which he wants to live somewhere tropical and his loving side with his family and pets. He is a very well rounded person and has stories to back it all up.