As told to Mike Plaid
Wednesday, Aug 26, 2015
Reprinted from a Facebook Post
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I know the stress of having to work two jobs to make ends meet. I worked as a sales associate at a retail store and as a server to support myself and pay off college loans. An increase in the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour would help many people that are in similar situations by allowing them to work only one job and remain financially stable.
I’m the daughter of a single mom and when it was time for me to go to school there was no trust fund or savings account; I had to work and take out student loans. With the amount of student debt I have I could not afford to work part-time at one job and pay for rent and basic necessities, along with paying my student loans.
For younger people like me that aren’t able to find a job straight out of college, the service industry is one of the only opportunities we have to make money.In my retail job, I worked six years and only received a 22 cent raise. Between both of my jobs as a server and retail worker I worked over 40 hours a week; if the minimum wage were raised I know Tacoma workers would feel relieved knowing that they wouldn’t have to work as much, and would be happy receiving the pay that they deserve.