May 29 Usually open seven days a week, Gwendolyn Stence has nixed Mondays at her restaurant in Tacoma because she simply does not have enough cooks. "I have offered cash signing bonuses, higher than usual starting pay, and we are getting zero hits," the owner of Rock the Dock Pub told The News Tribune in May. A new hire with some experience would start around $17 an hour, $3.31 above the .