Working in the restaurant industry is exhausting and often unrewarding. In this small town, several bars on the same street offer their waitresses the chance to earn a very (very) nice salary every month by accepting a funny uniform…
With an average net salary of around 1,500 euros per month, according to data from Hello Workthe job of a waiter is frankly poorly paid in France. And it’s not for nothing that there has been a shortage in the sector for several years now… Abroad, particularly in the United States, waiters earn much more, but mainly thanks to tips. And, in Australia, this small mining town in the southwest of the country also relies on the generosity of its customers to supplement staff salaries. To convince them to put their hands in their wallets, the waitresses must accept a very particular “uniform”…
Indeed, in Kalgoorlie, a town of around 30,000 inhabitants lost in the middle of nowhere – allow around 6 hours by car to reach the big city of Perth – there is a “tradition” known to all locals. A local specificity that comes to life in the bars. The show Forbidden Zoneon M6, recently echoed this. “Born in the 1970s to attract miners to the region”this practice is still today “one of the symbols of the city”. It is embodied by waitresses, called ‘skimpies‘, who put on a uniform that is special to say the least.
Indeed, in these bars like for example at The Kalgoorlie Exchange Or Gold Barno more flocked uniforms or three-piece suits, make way for alluring underwear and fine lingerie chosen especially for working at the counter or in the dining room. And if we could find this degrading, the young women who accept this outfit for work do not complain about it. “That’s part of the attraction! Otherwise, who would want to come and work here, in the middle of the desert?”declared one of the waitresses to the M6 teams.
It must be said that this job, as archaic as it may be, can make them hit the jackpot. This is also their main motivation: money. “In less than ten minutes, Dee (one of the waitresses in the report, editor’s note) collects a hundred dollars. With tips, they can earn up to 10,000 euros per month. assures the documentary. A salary worthy of a doctor while they are paid, at base, the Australian minimum wage which is 980 dollars per week or 3920 Australian dollars per month (around 2400 euros).
And make no mistake, if the clientele is mainly male, local women also frequent these strange bars, the only meeting places in the region. On site, some waitresses take the “experience” to the point of slipping the contactless credit card terminal… into their pants. But the employees are clear: they are protected by their superiors and the slightest slip-up by one of the customers results in their exclusion from the bar for life!
