Bars shut down around America are finding creative ways to pay their out-of-work staff, including some stripping the dollar bills stapled to the walls down and paying them forward.
One bar and restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Hott Leggz, pulled down a roughly $10,000 in stapled bills and gave it to their workers, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.
"We were like, there's literally money on the walls, so let's donate it all to the employees,” co-owner Juliana Sodre told the paper. "We always had a running joke that if something went wrong with the bar, at least we had worst-case-scenario money. Well, this is a worst-case scenario."
Sand Bar on Georgia's Tybee Island took down $3,714, according to Garden&Gun.
"We literally had money on our walls, and time on our hands, and we knew we had to get this cash to people who need it," Sand Bar owner Jennifer Knox told Garden&Gun.
"Workers in the service industry haven't received unemployment or stimulus checks," she added, saying each of her employees received $600. "This money is a game-changer for my people, and I'm forever grateful to the volunteers who helped get the money off the walls."
More than 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment amid the social distancing protocols, including workers who serve drinks and wait tables as restaurants have been ordered to limit business to takeout and delivery.
"It's important for us to take care of our employees," co-owner Ky Novak told the paper. "At the end of the day, it's not life-changing money, but it can get them through the next week or two."
Hott Leggz's walls are undergoing a makeover with the dollars stripped off, but the practice of leaving a memento will return once South Florida permits businesses to serve customers again.
"Then we'll start the dollar bills all over again," Novak told the paper. "Everyone should leave their mark."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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