Busboys Are Cut as Restaurants Suffer

As the economy falters, workers are the ones who bear the brunt of it. While Citigroup asserts that the $50 million corporate jet it is purchasing will not be paid for with TARP money, unemployment soars. Not only has Citi received $45 billion in bailout funds, it has also had over $300 billion of its debt guaranteed by the US government. Workers making $6.55 an hour are fired and not being replaced by restaurants that are making waiters who make as little as $2.13 an hour double up on their work.

On a busy Saturday afternoon, waitress Audrey Baker raced to clear the dishes from a table at a Bob Evans restaurant here. For two decades as a Bob Evans waitress, Ms. Baker relied on a busboy to clear syrup-plastered dishes and wipe biscuit crumbs from her tabletops. But with restaurants in a sharp downturn amid the recession, Bob Evans is among a growing number of full-service eateries that are eliminating busboys to cut costs. Instead, servers are primarily responsible for clearing their tables.