No Love From South Side Worker For Mayor 1 Percent And His 5% Tip
By aaroncynic in News on Mar 26, 2015 3:30PM
Despite Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s best efforts lately to seem more warm and cuddly, not many Chicagoans are feeling the #RahmLove. Yesterday, a photo taken and posted to Instagram two months ago of a grinning Rahm standing next to a stone-faced African American man in a health food store on Chicago’s south side started making the rounds swiftly on social media. The man, who asked to be identified as “GQ,” posted the caption “The Mayor of Chicago Rahm Emanuel came by my job, still can't stand this muthafucka tho.”
Micah Uetricht at In These Times tracked down to GQ to ask him about the photo. GQ, a man in his 40s from Back of the Yards, said Emanuel has dropped into the store a few times and on his last visit, someone suggested he pose for a photo:
“He was smilin’ and cheesin’ and stuff. I’m like, dude, come on: you’re only doing that because you’re trying to get elected. You’re trying to make it look like you’re a man of the people. But you’re not.”
With the April 7 runoff date against opponent Jesus "Chuy" Garcia looming, Rahm has tried to shake his “Mayor 1 percent” moniker. Last night, ABC 7’s Charles Thomas asked Emanuel directly about the public’s perception of him as a “disconnected millionaire who only cares about hedge fund managers,” to which the mayor responded by mentioning closing a loophole that made skyboxes tax deductible and his bumping Chicago’s minimum wage up to $13 an hour by 2019. “I know what my record is and I know who I’m helping,” said Emanuel.
GQ levied similar criticisms at the mayor, saying that he only sees Rahm during election season and that otherwise, he ignores communities of color on the South and West sides. “So many people have been killed. … 50 schools got closed—and most of them on the South Side and West Side. But you cater to the people in Gold Coast. Why don’t you [cater to] the South Side?”
GQ also made note that Rahm isn’t the greatest customer either. A coworker of his said he’s served the mayor multiple drinks like the one featured in the photo, which reportedly cost $7, but was only tipped .37 cents in that instance. “He’s real cheap,” GQ told Uetricht, though his coworker did add that Rahm’s security guards have left good tips.