Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been a bit busy in Washington, D.C. lately. Just this week, the representative from the Bronx struck a deal with none other than Texas Senator Ted Cruz based on a stance that both Capitol Hill denizens share: Members of congress shouldn’t be allowed to become corporate lobbyists. Somehow, though, Ocasio-Cortez has found time this Friday evening to make an appearance on behalf of the organization Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United, a group which works to improve working conditions and wages for restaurant employees nationwide.
Ocasio-Cortez, you’ll remember, famously worked as a bartender in a taqueria close to Union Square in Manhattan called Flats Fix; this was both before and during her campaign for office. On Friday night, Ocasio-Cortez will dust off her bartending skills to sling drinks somewhere in New York’s 14th district on behalf of ROC United. The specific restaurant location in which the congresswoman will be mixing cocktails won’t be released until later this evening due to safety concerns, but Observer will update this story as soon as we’re granted the opportunity to do so.
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One of the most frustrating things about sexism in any industry is that it’s impossible to do anything but deal with it however you’re able, because there’s no way (as it stands currently) for sexism simply to not exist. Ocasio-Cortez dealt with this exhausting problem head-on, according to a series of stories in a new book by Ryan Grim called We’ve Got People. Back in 2015, a restaurant manager ranked a group of servers, which included Ocasio-Cortez, based on how hot they were and attempted to give them table assignments accordingly, Jezebel reported. Indignant, the future-congresswoman then walked out.
Hopefully, we’re all working towards a collective existence in which discrimination will be but a footnote in the past. Until then, we can only act upon our ideas about how to improve society, as well as wonder what kind of aromatic bitters Ocasio-Cortez will be using tonight.
