Watching the WeHo Whackos Eating Their Own

 

 

Earlier this week, former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, Lisa Vanderpump, urged West Hollywood’s city council this week to hold off on raising the local minimum wage. Immediately, “fans” began bashing the restaurateur on SM, accusing her of being greedy and out of touch.

 

“I just implore you to really give this a lot of thought, because I do believe if we raise the minimum wage now, it’s going to be counterproductive,” Vanderpump, 61, said via Zoom during the city council meeting late Wednesday. Despite the reality star’s opposition, the bill (which raises the wage to $17.64 an hour) was eventually passed, and now becomes the highest local minimum wage in the country. Lisa and husband Ken Todd, along with other partners, own three L.A. restaurants; SUR, Pump, and Tom Tom, and are co-owners of Vanderpump Dogs as well, so they are definitely going to be feeling the pinch.

 

The backlash from dumb liberals has been brutal. “God forbid they make some sacrifices to their extremely lavish lifestyles to help keep their employees afloat when they’re worth $90 million,” one user tweeted. Another added, “if you can’t afford to pay wages to your employees then you can’t afford your business PERIOD.”. “Lisa is worth millions of dollars. How about she take a payout,” another wrote.

 

LVP then took to Twitter to clarify her remarks, saying she only wanted the city council to postpone the vote and consider another approach to minimum wage. “No, let me be clear, what we proposed to the city council was not to disregard the minimum wage – it was to approach it in a twofold manner.”. She expressed that she hoped to only delay the vote, writing “Until restaurants can get back on their feet during this deadly pandemic because so many have gone out of business, and others are faced with major debts they may not survive.”. Vanderpump then said she wanted West Hollywood to consider “restructuring the minimum wage pay scale so that certain categories of tipped employees … are not considered in the same class as non-tipped hourly.”. She claimed that tipped employees often make $500 a night and often $100,000 a year compared to employees who rely solely on minimum wage. The ordinance will begin Jan. 1, 2022, for hotel workers and July 1, 2022, for all other workers.

 

Let's have a short history lesson.  Back in 1938, the "minimum wage" was not enacted to become the sole/primary, let alone permanent income in one's life, but rather a transitionary/temporary means of income.  But thanks to decades of liberal indoctrination, too many people have lost sight of that.  It's now common place to hear people say, "How am I supposed to pay my bills on this?", or even worse, "They expect me to raise my family on this?".  The answer should be, "No ... we don't".  

 

But here's where I'm torn.  Our culture has obviously changed dramatically since 1938.  Certain industries like food and hospitality are not necessarily considered "temporary" jobs, and as LVP stated, SURvers can make a LOT of money these days.  Also, restaurants (fast food and finer dining), have become  monopolized by just a handful of companies worth billions and billions of dollars, and they most certainly can afford to pay a more sustainable wage, especially to those with experience and/or choose hospitality as a career.   Where I do have a problem with these huge minimum wage hikes is when you consider the "mom and pop" operations whom huge MW hikes could put out of business.  This is a not a one-size-fits-all situation ... not all minimum wage jobs are the same!  For example, sitting around in a mall boutique all day testing your friends is not the same as bussing tables or washing dishes in a busy restaurant.  And speaking of restaurant work, what LVP wanted to say, but of course can't, is that everyone the "entire" wages (in tips) are not always reported to the IRS ... okurrr?