Labor day is no holiday for waitress who needs to pay her bills

While a lot of folks are enjoying a holiday with their families, it seems more than ever are working this Labor Day.  For Lisa Akers, Labor Day is just that, a day of work. “No, this is no kind of holiday for any of us, it’s another day and that’s fine, we’re glad to see so many people out today,“ she told me.

Akers works at the popular Savannah restaurant “The Breakfast Place” and her work day exemplifies a great deal about the state of the economy.  She is still working, for which she’s grateful “Oh absolutely, I am,“ she says. Akers knows she’s luckier than some people right now.  Currently nationwide and in Georgia, about ten percent of the working population is not getting a steady paycheck.

Akers is also seeing fewer customers, which correlates with the challenging times.  “Every day, we come in and do the best we can and work hard and hopefully, we’ll be busy, that’s what we hope for,“ Akers says.  “As far as the economy, I think it’s pretty much at a standstill.  But I’m hoping it will get better and that’s proabably all any of us can do is continue to hope it will get better.“

Despite the hardships right now, Akers agrees with the idea that American workers continue to be incredibly productive, more so than anywhere else in the world.  “Absolutley, I think so,“ she says.

But almost as soon as the discussion starts, it must end so she can go back to work.  “I’m just taking it one day at a time, we all are,“ she says.  “We’re just trying to make as much money as we can make to get through this month so we can worry about next month.“

The living paycheck to paycheck may have always been a painful reality for many working Americans.  Perhaps now as Akers says, it’s just a reality that is hitting home to many more of us.