Mzansi’s People: Teen ‘cannot see future’, looks beyond SA for work

Natalie Pedreiro, 19, works at a Linksfield coffee shop as a waitress. She is soft-spoken, friendly to all and seems to always look on the bright side.

During conversation, she always balances negatives with a positive comment. Getting a job in South Africa is extremely difficult, she said.

After knocking on tons of doors and mailing out resumes ad nauseam, the response was always the same. Her lack of experience counted against her.

She said: “I finally managed to get a starter job at a preschool, looking after youngsters. It was an internship, as pay just covered my expenses.”

But it did not last long.

After the first five months, her employer had to let her go as funds had dried up due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

She was back where she started. Pedreiro did not get angry at the system.

Instead, she said it was understandable in today’s economy that less is available to invest in training newbie staff.

She did not want to sit at home so she leveraged her network and landed the waitressing job.

Serving people and learning to respond to different personalities, moods and situations has been her biggest learning curve.

“I now have the utmost respect for my colleagues who have been doing this for a very long time. The long hours on your feet, the constant shuttling around the restaurant and at times unpleasant customers are a lot to deal with.

You must always have your wits about you and nerves of steel.

Pedreiro’s day starts at 6am when the store opens and ends at about 5pm when day trade ends.

She said: “It can be very draining, especially during quiet times when, after everything has been wiped and cleaned a hundred times, you end up just standing around.”

While Pedreiro has the luxury of transport, getting lifts to and from work, she wonders how some of her colleagues can pay their transport bills, support their families and just survive.

“We all depend on tips, pretty much. The average is about 10% on a bill.”

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If the average cup of coffee is R30, that means a R3 gratuity. On a R200 bill, a waiter may net R20.

She said: “But many times people do not tip, or they tip less. Many of my colleagues have children and I really wonder how they manage to make ends meet.”

When she started the job, Pedreiro was worried her colleagues might be antagonistic toward her as she has the backup of family support and is less dependent on tips than other staff members were.

“But they have been so welcoming, showed me the ropes and we quickly became one family of servers, kitchen staff and management.”

Pedreiro’s medium to long term plan is to leave the country, like most of her school friends.

She says it seems to be easier to get employment in other countries, despite having no experience.

She also doubts South Africa’s economy will grow fast enough to accommodate her generation of school-leavers and those to come.

The only reason to stay in SA is her people.

“That sense of belonging that we all had during the 2010 World Cup. That is what I am talking about. But when it comes to mapping out a future here, I can’t see it.”

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