Worker Says Increasing Wage Could Help Her Climb Out Of Hole

On weekends, LaDonna Wycoff wheels her baby boy around department store aisles, coveting cheap plastic toys she can’t afford.

For Wycoff, a cashier at Topper Too - an old-style burger joint on Government Way - money is nearly as out-of-reach.

She’s been there three months, not long enough to be bumped above starting pay. At age 25, Wycoff earns minimum wage - $4.25 an hour, $170 a week before taxes. And that’s when the boss can give her 40 hours.

Wycoff regularly battles with creditors. She has no health insurance, relying instead on Medicaid. She said she couldn’t make it without food stamps.

Many of her 10-month-old son’s playthings are old or busted. His clothes are hand-me-downs or garage-sale deals. Even his carrying seat was a $3 thrift store bargain.

The list of day-to-day expenses seems endless for someone on such a fixed income: car insurance, food, birthdays, day-care.

“It’s hard to make ends meet these days,” she said. “By the time I get my bills paid, I’m flat broke.”

Increasing the minimum wage to $5.15 would give Wycoff an extra $36 a week - almost $1,900 a year.

“That’d be great,” she said. “I’d use it to start a savings account for my son. Or at least to help with buying diapers.”

For now, Wycoff can’t even afford subsidized housing. She lives with her boyfriend in his mother’s home.

He, too, is trying, she said. He’s looking for construction work, but will settle for a restaurant job. He had an interview Thursday, the day after 10-month-old Cory took his first steps.

Wycoff was busy selling french fries.

Trained as a nursing assistant, Wycoff threw out her back a year ago. It forced her to give up a job taking vital signs and monitoring feeding tubes at a convalescent home. She made $4.75 an hour.

Munching a burger at Topper Too one day, she filled out an application and was offered a job immediately.

“I’ve heard people say they won’t lower themselves to work in fast food,” Wycoff said. “But with the cost of living anymore, you do what you have to do. You can’t afford to be picky.”

She doesn’t blame her boss. He’s nice to her, she said. And she knows her job isn’t hard.

She wants to go to college or return to medical work. But school costs thousands of dollars. Wycoff doesn’t even have the few hundred bucks needed to renew her nursing certification.

In fact, she’s searching for a second job, but has had no luck. Wycoff suspects it’s because she’s five months pregnant with her second child.

But despite the pressure, Wycoff rarely finds time for gloom. Someday, she said, she’ll be out of the hole.

“Why get mad?” she said. “You just have go with the flow.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo; Graphic: Working on the minimum wage in Idaho