Staff Photo by Allison Kwesell
Wendy Dalrymple watches activity in the courtyard below her room at Superior Creek Lodge. For the past three months, Ms. Dalrymple has worked at the Waffle House on Ringgold Road for $2.00 an hour, plus tips.
Wendy Dalrymple leans on the iron railing outside room 354, watching cars come and go and the maintenance man blow litter from the grass.
It’s early afternoon and she has just woken up.
With her smooth, pale skin and blonde hair fastened in a twist with a plastic clip, she could be younger than her 41 years, but for the fatigue that seems to situate itself around her pale green eyes.
For the past three months, she has worked second or third shift at the Waffle House on Ringgold Road, serving coffee, eggs and pancakes to night owls for $2 an hour, plus tips.
On a good day, she can make close to $45 a shift, but with the downturn in the economy, she said, tips for an average day are closer $25.
And the motel takes almost every cent.
The one-room efficiency on the third floor costs $171.12 a week, leaving little left over for food or savings to help her move forward.
“I can’t get ahead,” she said. “It’s discouraging.”
It’s especially difficult to get very far without a car. The van she was driving when she moved to Chattanooga from Rock Springs, Ga., a year and half ago lost its transmission three months ago, forcing her to sell the car and move from her apartment building to someplace closer to work. Living at the motel makes it easy for her to walk to work, but it’s a long haul to the Bi-Lo down Ringgold Road when she needs groceries, and it’s almost impossible for her to sign up for food stamps or other social services without a ride to Chattanooga.
Motel living is a challenge for her in other ways, too, she said.
In addition to being noisy after dark, she misses her 9-year-old son, who she was forced to leave behind with his father, her ex-boyfriend of 21 years.
“It’s not that I don’t want him to stay with me. It’s very hard on me,” she said.
She wants to better herself to create a stable place for her son to come visit her, but her managers have cut back on her hours, she said. She has applied at other restaurants and stores in the hope that she can at least make a minimum wage.
“It’s hard,” she said. “(But you’ve got to) just get up and go.”
