The past four years working as a bartender and server at Doc’s Seafood Shack in Orange Beach has been good to 47-year-old Donnie Watkins.

“I love working here,” he said. “I love living at the beach, but if I can’t make a living, I’ll have to move.”

Dwindling income has tightened Watkins budget as he tries to help support his three sons and daughter.

“The money is virtually going away,” he said Monday night. “Normally, right now, we’d be on an hour-and-a-half wait. This time of year between June and August is when I make my money for the year.”

Monday night at Doc’s, during what is usually rush hour, there was no wait for the restaurant’s delicious fare.

“I’ll probably end up moving,” he said. “We don’t know yet. I can’t sit here and wait for my money to whittle away while waiting on a shot in the arm from (BP). I just got a claim number today and they said it would be three or four days before I was contacted.”