Vendors who usually sling hot dogs and beers at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia have been shuttled on an hours-long bus ride to Citi Field to serve unsuspecting Mets diehards at some recent home games, according to employees and a union leader.
Food service firm Aramark, which hires vendors at both ballparks, is so desperate to fill positions amid the coronavirus crisis and its related economic downturn, it’s paying Philly-based workers to undertake the sometimes three-hour commute into enemy territory, said Ryan Nissim-Sabat, director of Union 174 in Philadelphia.“My guess is they’re struggling to fill positions because they don’t pay a high enough wage,” he said, adding that concessions workers make roughly $15 an hour. “At the end of [the] day we’re still in a pandemic, and asking workers to be in front of 10,000 strangers at a stadium is still somewhat risky.“They should be paying more.”
“I saw buses full of workers in the parking lot and saw they came from Philly,” said longtime Citi Field food vendor Bobby Lee.
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Bobby Lee if you are wondering is a vendor that lives in KC and have been working as a vendor for years. I worked as a vendor back in the day for Harry M Stevens and can I tell you that it sucked. I hated it and you can make good money if you hustle but with the new cashless ballpark it is harder to get tips. It took few weeks for them Aramark to get a tip button on their handheld devices but they still haven't added it to the concession stands yet. I was told it wasn't done because they don't want fans to feel like they are being pressured to tip. I don't care where the vendors come from as long as they can make a living and aren't taking jobs from locals who can't get one which right now is not the case.
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