Miss, Can I Take Your Coat?

My friend Anthony, a fellow reporter at the hanging-on-to-its-last-limb Free Lance, sent me a link to an article lauding his current, far cooler employer, VentureBeat, as one of the 25-most valuable blogs. I'm proud of Anthony for his successful foray into this crazy "new media," a none-too-easy feat. But besides being a nice little bragging piece for Anthony, the rundown of the economically successful blogs was also an interesting read. I do enjoy reading most of the top 25 (Gawker and The Huffington Post, No.1 and No.2, respectively, are both on my quick links tool bar at the top of my screen.)

Still, reading the article was also incredibly depressing. For one thing, the supposedly "most profitable blog" has a listed staff of 7 on its' editorial team (OK, OK, I know this isn't including the staff at Jezebel, etc., but you get my point.) So its' profitability is partially due to keeping costs, such as employing poor, lowly writers, to a minimum while simultaneously making a lot in page views and advertising revenue. They also just had cuts - folding both Valleywag and Defamer into Gawker. So even the most profitable forms of media are making cutbacks and having layoffs, a depressing idea for any unemployed writer. Also, while Gawker is an entertaining and enlightening round up of the day's news with some insightful analysis to boot, there is pretty much zilch original reporting. The Huffington Post, which does have quite a bit of actual reporting, still only has 50 full-time employees. It's hard to imagine, once all is settled with this new media that there will be many jobs for the overabundance of j-schoolers. In the epic game of media musical chairs, we'll be left with hundreds of players and only a handful of chairs when the song ends. Perhaps a friendly reminder that I should get out of the game now. Did you come with me on that metaphor? I'm thinking no, but ah well.

On a completely different note - one that more directly relates to what is paying for my second cup of coffee today. Last week, the New York Times had an article about my second form of income - coat checking. I've been supplementing my shrinking office managing hours at Vento with two weekend shifts where I run up and down stairs (in heels, no less!) carrying piles of perfumed furs and Burberry jackets, praying for $2 in exchange for my efforts. The article notes wealthy New Yorkers' hesitance to part with their precious dollars for someone to hold onto their coats even after eating a $180 dinner. A true and frustrating observation. On an average Saturday night, when I check about 225 coats (450 times up and down the stairs) I usually average about $100 - 45 cents a coat. Keep in mind, there are some people who tip $5 and large groups who tip nothin' (French tourists! I'm looking to you, here.) I find coat checking to be a really interesting experience, mainly because - try as I might to find a rhyme or reason behind who tips me what - there are really no trends. For one thing, I think many people don't realize that that's my job: taking, holding and then retrieving his or her coat. They don't realize that their tips are essentially my only income - I'm not a host making $15 an hour, I'm making $4.85 with the assumption that I'll be making some money for each coat I check. It's interesting how many large, bachelorette-esque parties of girls, each of which checks her name-brand-wool-coat-with-matching-scarf-and-gloves, forget to tip the girl who ran up and down the stairs nine times to fetch each one of their coats individually. Even after they just spent hundreds on carafes of hangover-inducing sugary cocktails.