'Good luck eating out': Ted Cruz faces backlash after suggesting restaurant servers are grifters

[riversedge]

Source: raw story



Published 1 min ago on July 26, 2020


Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) faced backlash online on Sunday after he suggested restaurant servers are grifting government money instead of working during the coronavirus pandemic.

Cruz made the remarks during an appearance on the CBS program Face the Nation.

“I’ve spoken to small business owners all over the state of Texas who are trying to reopen,” the senator said, “and they are calling their waiters and waitresses, they are calling their bus boys and they won’t come back.”



Cruz added: “And of course they won’t come back because the federal government is paying them in some instances twice as much money to stay home.”.................................

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/2020/07/good-luck-eating-out-ted-cruz-faces-backlash-after-suggesting-restaurant-servers-are-grifters/

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gawd. cruz is such a cruel little man--like his boss #Trump!

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[wryter2000]

1. "Paying twice as much"?

What does that say about the employers? People shouldn't have to come back to that sort of poverty pay.

[Delphinus]

24. And that

is what I have said since the first assistance. How we pay our wait staff is a crime.

[Mr.Bill]

42. Can't get people to work for you? Simple formula:

Pay more. Been that way since money was invented.

[walkingman]

2. Texans need to wake up and rid ourselves of this garbage - too late for Cruz but

we can throw Cornyn out in November and Ted we're coming after you next.

[EarthFirst]

3. Let's just call it what it is: labor exploitation. nt

[dflprincess]

4. One thing these Republicans who complain about

people living large on "the dole" overlook is that a person risks losing their unemployment benefits if they refuse to return to work.

[Cirque du So-What]

8. The restaurants could report workers who refused to return

What incentive is there for restaurants to stay quiet when workers didn’t return from lay-off? None! I smell a BS story.

[dflprincess]

46. Exactly nt

[RobinA]

51. Not a BS Story

Whatever you think about how much anybody gets paid, this is not a BS story. A bakery near us is having this very problem and what he has for sale, much less than usual, reflects that. He likes his workers and there is a significant amount of training involved, so he can’t just hire the next 10 people who apply for a job.

[dchill]

5. Ted? IMO there's a grifter in a mirror near you! Better check it out.

[Shermann]

6. Did he actually call them grifters?

The quotes in TFA seem to come up well short of that.

[Gothmog]

7. Even take out food for Carnival Cruz may be subject to some extra love

[Paladin]

9. I hope restaurant staffs take revenge against Cruz for years to come.

The lowlife scumbag deserves the worst they can dish out.

[Evolve Dammit]

10. What a disgusting person. Good luck with your servers Teddy, aka "High Plains Grifter."

[keithbvadu2]

11. Does Rafael support workers and oppose legal immunity for employers?

Does Rafael support workers and oppose legal immunity for employers?

We know that's a foolish question.

[Docreed2003]

14. Boom!

Excellent meme!

[mr_lebowski]

19. I definitely like his style! (nt)

[SergeStorms]

40. He's got that whole...

cowboy thing going on. It almost makes me ashamed that I know the dialogue of that movie from memory. Almost.

[Island Deac]

12. Yep. Too much.

That $15 an hour they are staying home for ($600/40 hrs) IS more than twice the minimum wage ($7.25) that some are trying to pay them out of the PPP they got. I'd stay home too if you insisted on my gambling my life for a pittance.

[mr_lebowski]

21. To be fair, most states also pay $250-400/wk on top of the $400 from the Feds

Which means in total, yes ... some people are making (sometimes considerably) more money by not working.

I'm quite certain that a certain % of people are staying home at least in part because they're making more for not working. Human nature dictates that some will. Esp. when given an addt'l valid justification, such as 'I also don't want to get sick and die'.

It is what it is.

[Docreed2003]

13. Conservatives just can't seem to let go of the Puritanical idea of work

Ted, you smug asshole, these people aren't refusing to go back to work because they are receiving a stipend from the government. They are refusing to go back to work to unsafe circumstances that would put them and their families at risk!

I'm so glad you were able to obtain an Ivy League education and all the frills and benefits that education provides, but clearly you never learned what it meant to work hard and actually earn a living in this country. I'm sorry this pandemic has affected small business owners and I understand their desire to reopen, but they are just another example of how this economy fails the average American. In a more just society, those small business owners would be taken care of through this pandemic as well.

But no, Ted, you and your asshole conservative ilk took this tragedy and chose to monetize it to your own benefit and the benefit of your wealthy donors. Screw you and your sanctimonious disregard for average workers. I hope eating in a restaurant is never safe for you again, you prick. You showed your own colors in your willingness to ignore all of the bile Trump spewed on your own family in 2016z. What kind of a man can overlook the things that were said about your wife and your father? So you can take your opinions and bravado and stick it where the sun don't shine as far as I'm concerned. Your concern goes no further than the tip of your nose, as you've shown time and time again. Too bad the rest of your family can't see that you pos.

[Eugene]

15. As is to be expected, Carnival Cruz misleads,

unless expects servers to live on their low base pay rate.

[George II]

16. As Penny said in Big Bang Theory, "don't piss of people who handle your food."

[wheelinanddealin]

17. This is more of a reflection on the emplyoer not the worker n/t

[cstanleytech]

18. Gee, I dont know why they wont come back to a poverty level wage job with a high risk of

catching a virus that can potentially kill them.

[MissMillie]

20. If there are no customers, there are no tips.

Servers and clear-ers make most of their wages in TIPS.

I don't see pandemic-riddled America rushing back to eat in enclosed spaces with a bunch of strangers--1/3 of which refuse to mask up (which is tough to do when you're eating).

[LakeArenal]

22. One minute they say we all want work or we will go nuts with depression

Then they say we won’t work cuz we are grifters

Food servers can make a decent living in some places. But you do need customers

[ret5hd]

23. Little prick can't even fix a sandwich, much less an economy!

[Bengus81]

25. Says an asshat who gets the entire month of August off with pay.........

Then pretty close to another around Dec into January. But...Ted does "important" work, unlike the serfs who serve you food.

[pwb]

26. People like Cruz must eat a lot of spit when

they eat out. Or worse.

[Dave Starsky]

52. He's probably ingested more semen than Lindsey Graham.

And he didn't even know it.

[paleotn]

27. Regardless of them risking their lives by simply coming back to work........

Lets focus on his half comment with a little math. Apparently, Ted of Scumbag is a math challenged or he's a fucking ass. I opt for the later since he did attend Princeton and Harvard, much to their chagrin.

$300 per week = $15,600 per year or $7.50 per hour. Slightly over the federal minimum wage. That's also slightly above the federal poverty line of $12,760 per individual. And includes in most cases no vacation, no paid sick time, no holiday pay, no health insurance, no pension, no 401K, which is good since you'd need every thin dime just to stay off the street. Oh, but you might get a meal or two at reduced price. Gee, thanks. You can eat the same swill you've been serving all day. For some, this is part time and they have other means, parents, etc. For many this is their only means of subsistence. Doesn't even Ted of Scumbag see a problem? Add to this bleak picture the fact that many of these folks are tipped employees, with zero guarantee of making anywhere near $300 per week. Plus risking their lives during a deadly pandemic to make such Dickensian wages.

Lets change the numbers a bit by increasing the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour, including tipped employees. Our modest proposal of a living wage...depending on one's definition of living. Not starving to death I guess. That equals $600 per week (current Covid-19 unemployment. Well, what do you know?) or $31,200 per year. But still with no vacation, no paid sick time, no health insurance and on and on. An improvement, but still only slightly above 200% of the federal poverty line.

Not to go to far on a tangent from the original OP, but we're not asking that we make these people independently wealthy. Just a fairer wage for jobs that are tough and in some cases horrible, but work that has to be done. While Ted only gives a shit about business owners, if said business owners would share a little more with the people who actually make their goddamn businesses possible, we might not even be having this conversation.

[Mr.Bill]

28. It should be pointed out that Texas has the highest % of minimum wage jobs of any state.

I've posted this joke here before, but it bears repeating:

A travelling businessman was having breakfast at a diner in Dallas while reading the newspaper He tells his waitress "It says here that the governor of Texas has created more jobs than any other state." The waitress says "I know. I've got three of them."

[cstanleytech]

29. I think the term we should start using is poverty level wage jobs.

[Mr.Bill]

30. Especially in states like Texas where they are still at the federal minimum. n/t

[onetexan]

31. Someone spit in this fool's drink please

[KWR65]

32. If you are called back to work by your employer then you must return or forfeit UI

Cruz is a damn liar.

[SeattleVet]

33. "Ted Cruz being a bottom-feeder..."

Yeah, and we all know whose bottom he's been feeding on.

[bucolic_frolic]

34. Never work for someone else if you can avoid it

get your own little side gig and try to grow it. The profits are yours.

It's what Republicans do for themselves.

Or read Kiyosaki's 'Conspiracy of the Rich'. Eye opening.

[Skittles]

35. he will need to take his own advice

trash-talk your food server at your own peril

[NurseJackie]

36. He'll soon be enjoying extra "oysters" in many meals.

[keithbvadu2]

37. So who DOES Rafael support?

[Vinca]

38. They'll be drawing straws to see who gets to spit in Ted's food.

[SergeStorms]

39. I hope you enjoy...

fumunda cheese and smegma on your food, Teddy, because you're going to be getting a steady diet of it from now on.

[vishnura]

41. Extra gravy time!

Whose the bigger grifter?

[yellowcanine]

43. "Oops, so sorry that soup spilled on your silk tie!"

'"That's going to leave a mark.".

[Yeehah]

44. Time to kick Teddie Boy off the public dole

I fail to understand why working people vote against their own interests.

[HotTeaBag]

45. He hasn't spoken to anyone aside from Kudlow, Mnuchin and the rest of the GOP

who are pushing this particular talking point.

If he had talked to actual business owners they would probably say something like "If the enhanced UI isn't extended I won't have any customers at all and I'll be closed for good in a month".

[chriscan64]

47. I live in San Antonio.

The notion that restaurant owners are calling back employees that refuse to return is made up bullshit. I see stories on the local news about restaurant and bar owners that are struggling to get by on take out orders. There isn't work for the workers to come back to. If Cruz thinks the deficit is a problem, then Mortimer Von Richfuck will have to pay more taxes.

[Cha]

48. Retweeted! TY rivers!

[Lock him up.]

49. Cruz's gangster Regime to low-wage workers: Go back to work and if you catch COVID-19...

... who cares if you end up in the external ICUs (if any) and can't pay the bill (if you survive).

Really? Fuck his fucking gangster Regime, and fuck him!

RICO TRUMP$ AND ACCOMPLICE$ ^^^^^^^^^^
ESTABLISH EQUAL JUSTICE FOR ALL!

[beachbumbob]

50. If any worker refuses to go back to work, NO money will be given out to them. Cruz

is an idiot as its NOT a choice between working OR receiving unemployment when you refuse to return to work, you no longer eligible fr a benefit. Of course, people like Cruz never realy had to work or know the struggles to survive when dealing with unemployment

[The Jungle 1]

53. You can bet he would support more corporate welfare

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

55. Kick