![\"WheresMyFood](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/WheresMyFood_02.jpg\")
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Bad tippers. Unreasonable requests. A complete lack of respect or courtesy. These are just a few of the realities that a food server faces daily\u2014and a documentary exploring the darker side of the industry, called Where\u2019s My Food!?,<\/em> will have its premiere in Long Beach on July 8.<\/p>\n Director Lee Godden\u2019s inspiration behind looking into the powerful restaurant industry and its often-marginalized workers stemmed from his two 20-something daughters who worked as servers to earn extra cash during college.<\/p>\n The filmmaker is not new to telling stories: his background in business writing and video production had him working for everyone from the Long Beach Business Journal<\/em> to the Los Angeles Times<\/em>. With his research chops well-oiled, he began gathering lifetime servers while examining a major question\u2014Who benefits from the tipping process?\u2014that he found to be important but widely ignored.<\/p>\n After all, we are talking about an industry\u2014food\u2014that employs one in every ten Americans, but an industry that Godden believes vastly abuses its workforce. He does not mince his words, referring to the restaurant industry as the \u201cother NRA\u201d which mainly consists of wealthy lobbyist-backers.<\/p>\n![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Screen_Shot_2014-06-18_at_12.27.12_PM.png\")
\u201cThey\u2019d often come home in tears, recounting stories of male shift managers touching them inappropriately or making lewd suggestions,\u201d Godden said. \u201cI would see their minimum wage paychecks that were reduced to nearly zero dollars after tax deductions that (often over-) estimated their tipped income. I\u2019d see small cuts and burn marks on their hands from kitchen knives and hot plates.\u201d<\/p>\n