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Slats Grabski

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I ran into Slats again after the Christmas holidays, in the bar as usual, hanging out with some of the ski school instructors who rent his condos. They had long faces.

"Sup, guys?"

"They been stiffed," Slats said. "Tips were way down over the holiday."

"The company has jacked the private lesson fee up so high that new clients think we make a lot of money," complained Bruce Bicker, in an Aussie accent.

"We used to count on $100 a day tip," said Erika Dvorak, the Czech bombshell. "That's about 17% of a private lesson now, so you would think it fair."

"But these new people don't realize we only make about $17 an hour, which is $100 for a six-hour day," said Marty Sonnenschein, of San Diego. "The $100 tip was the difference between a good season and going broke. If we can't count on it, we can't afford to live in the Slats Grabski slumlord paradise."

"You'll have to get honest work, and so will I," Slats commiserated.

"We're basically like every other small business in town," said Marty. "We're being squeezed by the expansion of a public company."

"Yup," Slats agreed. "The lift company needs to keep increasing margins. So prices go up and wages get tight. The customer thinks you get to keep half the private lesson fee, which would give you $280 a day. That's almost middle-class wages, so some of 'em figure screw you, you don't need more than that."

"If I average $20 an hour, which I can do if I get requests, that's about $720 for a six-day work week," said Bruce. "It's $2880 a month if I don't catch the flu from the microbes. Or $14,000 for a 20-week season if I work six days all season long. That's okay, because I get company housing. It's the equivalent of a $36,000 annual salary. An instructor who has a family can't live on it. We still get tips from the old families. It's the new money people who haven't been educated about how to treat those of us in the working classes."

"When we got good tips I could make $25,000 for the season," said Erika. "That was good money. Now only about half my clients tip, and often not so good, so I might make $18,000 this year. I may not come back next year."

A grumble of consensus circled the table. Bruce stared into his beer. It was a cheap pale draft, not his usual dark brew.

"So, I understand the company nets about $450 each time they rent you out," I said.

"That's an even 80% retail margin," Slats said. "Not bad."

"Haven't you had a raise recently?"

"There was a 3% merit raise last year, but then they rolled back our employee lunch discount from 50% to 40%, which is worth about half the raise in real dollars."

"What also hurts is that the clients used to buy us lunch," Bruce said. "Half of them don't even do that anymore."

"Which means an 8% drop in real earnings each day you buy your own," Marty said. "We're sliding backward."

"Into the sea," said Bruce.

"Doesn't the price increase mean fewer clients?" I asked.

"Hah," said Marty. "Holiday bookings are up 30% each year for the past three winters. It's amazing. You'd think they'd pass some of the cash on to us, to keep their inventory of instructors growing."

"But in fact it's harder and harder every year to find qualified instructors," said Bruce.

"I had a job offer in New Mexico last week. And one in Idaho," said Marty. "Maybe I'll go there next year. The tips were what made working here worthwhile."

Slats' eyes narrowed. "You guys need to unionize, like the patrollers. You don't turn this around, who's going to rent my condos?"

"Who's going to look after the rich kids?" said Erika.

"Yeah, you want to see economic chaos around here?" said Bruce. "Watch what happens when the customers find out their kids' favorite guide has left the state, and there's no replacement."

"Ah," said Slats. "You better organize. I don't want to run a day care, no way."