The unprecedented snowfall the New Orleans area is experiencing has affected everyone. In a city known for its hospitality and service industry … those workers may feel the brunt of the snow-in especially hard. Tips are, of course, a tremendous part of most service industry workers’ paychecks.
UNO Business Professor Mark Rosa explains the fragility the industry deals with in many aspects. “We saw it when COVID hit. Countless people saying they live paycheck to paycheck and if their paycheck is fifteen minutes late, they’re nervous,” Rosa says. “It just goes to emphasize that everyone needs to have a budget with reasonable parameters and have some sort of savings on the side. Things happen, and they won’t stop. Especially this city being a service-driven economy, you need to have savings built up or you’re going to get really good at being in a bind all the time,” Rosa goes on to explain.
Preparedness and consistently building your savings for events such as this one are things Rosa specifically emphasizes. “If an event strikes one time, that’s one thing. But, you never want to live through that again. Treat yourself and have some financial wherewithal,” Rosa says. “Your finances are nobody’s business but your own. Just make sure you’ve got some money put away so that events beyond your control don’t end up in financial catastrophe,” stresses Rosa.
