Drunk and Cheap. Bad Date? Nope. Chamber of Commerce Staff

AFL CIO for AFL-CIO August 05, 2008

Posted by Tula Connell to AFL-CIO NOW

They may be party animals when chugging $8,204 worth of booze, but after the hangover is over, the staff at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce goes back to being their ugly anti-worker selves.

Seems that some 100 or so Chamber of Commerce staff recently ran up an $8,204 tab at The Exchange, a sports bar within staggering distance from the Chamber’s architecturally ever-so ponderous Washington, D.C., headquarters.

And when the bosses got the tab, they weren’t happy. After all, the image of Chamber staffers soaking in thousands of dollars worth of Red Bull and pitchers of vodka that sources say the party-goers ordered, strays a bit from the pinstriped image the Chamber sells its members. And then there’s that problem of justifying such a large, booze-soaked expense to its frugal members out in DeKalb, Ill., or Anaheim, Calif.

So, when confronted with the bill, the staff did what the Chamber always does—blame workers. That’s right. The Chamber now is saying The Exchange waitstaff was tipped too much.

Should have thought of it. The problem is not the thousands of dollars the Chamber of Commerce staff wasted on getting wasted, it’s the 18 percent tip for the waiters and waitresses that’s the real crime.

If the Chamber had its way, the waitstaff who put up with a mass of drunken fools should do it for free. And be happy about it.

Just like the rest of America’s workers.