Minimum wage should be minimum wage, period.

The same for all workers.

You can make so much more getting tips even with 2 dollars an hour. However, I am sure someone will mess with it and destroy the way tips are given. If it is 7.50 and you can still tip.....that'd be alright.

They just want to abolish the provision that allows the $2.13 minimum wage - not the tips

I went to a restaurant in Maryland "Noodles and Company" and they refused to take my tip. I tried to give it to the server secretly but he refused. I hate that so much. I think if I want to give a tip, I should be able to regardless of what a Manager says.

They won't say how much they pay them though.
http://www.businessinsider.com/noodles-and-co-ceo-explains-why-they-have-a-no-tipping-policy-2014-3

From your article :

"He also mentioned that some customers insist on tipping despite the policy, which workers will then accept."

Perhaps he did not understand.

People can barely get by with the current minimum wage these days. It has to be raised significantly.

People who eat out without tipping are stealing labor from people who are probably poor to begin with. I personally think we should do away with tips all together (and just pay currently tipped labor an actual livable wage instead) because all studies show people tip based on race, looks, etc, than based on actual service quality. So tipping is one of the biggest forms of discrimination currently in use. However, until tipping is done away with, anyone who doesn't tip tipped labor is a scumbag. And so is anyone who tips based on the race, looks, age, etc of the tipped staff (which unfortunately is a lot of people).

Tipping is a relic of America's 250 yrs of slavery.

I don't how it is with each specific buffet, but you should find out if you plan on eating there. If you don't tip at a buffet where the wait staff makes less than minimum, you are stealing their labor.

In my state they are paid the going min wage anyway $9.25/hr. like any other min wage worker.

Someone's cleaning up after you, someone's bringing you drinks, someone is seating you. Giving people money isn't an insult, it's a livelihood. The people with those shitty buffet jobs are supporting themselves and their families with honest, hard work: NOT leaving a couple of bucks on the table is definitely an insult.

She works at a low end restaurant. She averages about $15 after tips. I would disagree.

She makes about $2.50 an hour. She averages $15/hour after tips. She would quit and find something else to do if she was pushed back down to a flat rate of $10/hour. It would reduce her earning potential.

Also, the statistics you are citing of "average" wage are likely reported wages. Cash tips often are not or under reported.

Certainly nothing in the linked articles was proposing that.

Nothing in my reply hinted at that

Are we depicting some ..... RATpubliCON talking points

If you move wait staff to minimum wage or above, many restaurants, specifically inexpensive restaurants, will dispense with tipping as something they encourage.

Where in the hell does this logic come from

But it is starting to happen


https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/why-some-restaurants-are-doing-away-with-tipping/2015/04/13/cb1b5a86-c299-11e4-9271-610273846239_story.html

http://www.grubstreet.com/2015/11/joes-crab-shack-no-tips.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/dining/index.ssf/2016/01/northwest_portlands_park_kitch.html

Yeah, Scalia was pretty good on search and seizure if you hold that as a liberal sacred. He was a shitbag on so much else.

After the Republicans de-coupled the tipped minimum from the actual minimum wage at the behest of the restaurant industry, it's fallen (like wages overall) in terms of its effective value. That's probably part of why tipped workers are more likely to be in poverty and using social services to survive at a much higher rate.

?5

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/17/abolish-tipping_n_5991796.html

Beyond that, though, philosophically it just seems like garbage. Why in the world should random restaurant customers get to decide how much or how little (down to the egregiously low tipped minimum) a server should make?

We already know there is no shortage of horror stories of food service customers abusing servers, and using tipping practices to enact various kinds of petty revenge or simple skin-flintiness, after all.

http://kitchenette.jezebel.com/more-of-the-worlds-worst-restaurant-customers-part-2-1738471431

People were making some good money.

the mask is slipping.

Clearly its not. Go ahead. Find a competent waiter or waitress and ask if they'd rather get a salary close to or at minimum wage, or instead get tips. Let me know what you find out.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/08/20/theres-a-serious-problem-with-how-restaurants-pay-their-staff/

Its the cooks who are getting screwed, not the wait staff.

They are taxed on tips they never receive, the code makes an assumption that they are tipped at the set rate % (not sure exactly what that is) based on the bill for every meal they serve regardless they were tipped or not...

And don't give me that crap how the price of food goes up / so tips get higher bull shit.

for nontipped employees also, $2.13/hour if you're rolling in the dough in tips. Or not.

supersedes state law. Note that both state and federal law provide other exemptions besides tipped employees. You can screw kids under 20 for a limited time, full-time students and 16-year-olds in vocational schools for longer.


But if conservatives have their way, there absolutely will be no federal minimum wage and the states will do whatever they want.

How many Repubs want to eliminate minimum wage all together?

they'll go along with the ideologues pulling the strings from behind the scenes until it's too late. Of course past doesn't predict future. I've been waiting 30 years for sensible people to "come to their senses." They're not dead yet, so...

It tips do not put them above minimum wage ttheir employer pays the difference.

That was my base pay waiting tables in 1993. I think minimum at the time was 3.35

My math was wrong... I haven't waited tables since '91... '91 was 15 years ago.... right? It couldn't have been 25 years ago... Cause that would make me 10 years older...

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

And when people complain that it would somehow ruin business, ask them the last time they heard about Las Vegas restaurants closing their doors because they have to pay their employees minimum wages instead of $2.13 per hour.

*note: The green states do not pay more than minimum wage, they pay somewhere between $2.13 and minimum wage per hour

I have a son who earns his living delivering pizza. He was living in Kansas when he first started, and while he was in the store his wage was one amount (possibly the federal minimum, but I'm not sure), and a lower amount when he was out on delivery, because of the assumption of tips.

A few years ago he moved to Portland, OR, where he's paid the state minimum wage the entire time he's on the clock. And recently he started working out of a store in a better location, meaning a smaller delivery area and customers who tipped better. And apparently the IRS doesn't stick it to pizza delivery folks by assuming some level of tips.

He loves pizza delivery, only works four days a week, Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri, and occasionally other days like Super Bowl Sunday. And he supports himself, which is crucial. Every job should pay a living wage, and in his case, his job does.

^^^This. We need to keep repeating this every time the question of wages comes up.

Tipping is basically a hidden cost of eating out.

What I don't like about it is that the tip is too dependent of the cost of the food. Why should a waitress at Denny's who works her ass off get a maybe 3-4 dollar tip while some guy at a high end restaurant get a $50 tip for the same effort?

Pay people what they are worth.

Because the servers work just as hard even though the food costs less.

My usual tipping rate is 25-30%. When I've eaten at Waffle House (my favorite place for BLTs) I tip 30-50%.

One of the things I found odd was that when I used a coupon or gift card to eat out the server seemed surprised that I figured the tip for the full cost of the meal. For instance, one place I go sends out coupons for free appetizers for anniversaries and free desserts for birthdays. Since my birthday and our anniversary are the same day my husband and I went out and used both coupons. Those two items would have added about 50% to the total cost and I tipped the server 30% of the total without the coupons - he was very appreciative and seemed very surprised that I tipped that much.

Same thing happened when we ate out for my husband's birthday using a gift card we had gotten for Christmas. The server took off the meal total and was surprised that I left him cash for the tip on top. He said much of the time when people use gift cards they don't tip at all.

I have a minimum tip regardless of the bill, I often eat breakfast by myself so the check is pretty small. The wait staff always seem surprised when I tip 5-6 bucks on an 8 dollar bill but it's only fair. What I can't bring myself to do is tip below 15% when I'm picking up the check for a large group in a relatively expensive restaurant. I took my MIL out to eat last year for Mothers Day at Seasons 52, along with two SILs and kids. Everyone had drinks with their food and I think I ended up tipping about 85 dollars. The server didn't deserve that frankly.

It's standard practice to tip based on the full price of the meal but I wonder how many people do that.

She was an excellent server and made enough to finish school not only with no debts but with some savings. She taught me the importance of decent tipping.

My parents were horrible tippers - so usually my sister or I would sneak back and add money to the couple of dollars Dad would leave on the table.

Of course one of the benefits of tipping generously is that on later visits you get even better service.

I actually made out better working at Perkins than I did at a higher end place.

At the Perkins, I could turn over a table about once an hour for dinner, at the higher end place, I would only turn each table once, to maybe 2 times in a shift. Also at the higher end place you have fewer tables in your section (at least my experience), so the opportunities for tips were fewer. So at the Perkins, I had 10 tables turning over 4 to 5 times in a shift, but at the higher end place, I had 6 tables only turning over once, maybe twice for dinner service.

My best experience was between the two. A sports bar. I could clear about $500 an evening on Fridays and Saturdays. Mondays were also great during football season.

Also, getting the shaft at a Perkins was not as painful as getting the shaft at a higher end place. Maybe 1 in 10 would stiff you on the tip. This held pretty true for both places.

At the sports bar, tips would flow all night, and I cannot recall but a handful of times that I got stiffed.

I've never made as much money as I did on tips at a sports bar. I was young and cute and the tips got bigger as the night when on.

Tips were still awesome.

and a short skirt. Tips were incredible.

You get a busy enough bar, and you'll make a decent paycheck. I'm going back more than 20 years, but the year I worked at the sports bar, I was bringing in over 50K a year before taxes. Since our paychecks were at 2.13 an hour, and they would take taxes out of that paycheck, I'd have negative paychecks. I'd have to cut the bar a check every week.

In 1977, for a six week Xmas gig between semesters on college. II remember at the time my pay was something like $2.30 an hour. I wasn't gettting tips, but still...the minimum wage in 1977 is what these people are barely getting now. They might as well give them a penny an hour.

And by the way I always tip at least 20%, and I'm a pretty lower income musician.

I worked in a department store in downtown Miami, and my salary was the minimum wage of $1.00 per hour.

I'm afraid I don't understand the relevance of your question vis-a-vis the OP, as anecdotal evidence rarely (if ever) invalidates a rather more valid statistical sample...

the fact that relying on tips to provide workers a living wage isn't the way to do it.

I think I earned an average of $20-$25 an hour doing it, working for Blockheads Burritos on 3rd ave in the low 30 streets back around 2004.

I worked two other jobs at the same time.

I don't.

Raise the price of the food 20% to take into account tip earnings and then make it straight wage.

Straight wage would be a good choice for poor servers though.

These workers are SO DEPENDENT on the generosity of customers. My father-in-law RARELY tips more then 10%, and often less than that.

If the waitstaff does a good job for me, I try to tip 20%. I typically tip 25% at my regular places, and it HAS meant that we get truly excellent service every time we go.

I'd prefer they actually make a living wage, and have that reflected in the price, but untill then, I'll try to help them out as I can.

This is unbelievable and unacceptable.

The tipped worker is making at least $7.25 an hour, sometimes much more.

A higher minimum wage would help them, yes, but they are already generally making more than other minimum wage workers - so why help them and not the others? Raising the minimum wage to $8 an hour would help ALL minimum wage workers, even though tipped workers are probably already making more than $8 an hour.

Back in the day when I had a factory job making $5.40 an hour a woman who already had a job making $24,000 a year (I know that is peanuts now, but remember I was making $11,000 a year) said she was waitressing on the weekends and expected to make $12,000 - just working weekends.

Even as the Federal Minimum Wage increases to $10 per hr these people are averaging $8.75 - that's a fucking Rip Off

I don't work serving tables - actually my income is in the upper 5% of this country. I don't like subsidizing Restaurant Wages with my tax dollars and I don't want to be additionally suppressing these workers by frequenting an establishment that does that to them

But nice Right Wing talking points none the less

What $10 an hour and $8.75?

Where the heck is that?

The law says they have to make as much as the Federal minimum. I have no stats, but my guess is that they are generally making more, sometimes quite a bit more.

But what the heck, let's give THEM a raise.

"Nice right wing talking points..."

Are you trying to make me regret giving you a heart?

15-20% on $200 tabs adds up quickly. And the ladies at fine establishments like "Hooters", "Twin Peaks", and "Tilted Kilt" pull down nice money because -- well, members of my gender can be silly.

Here's the thing -- the lady putting the $2.99 breakfast special on the table is often working just as hard, and she's lucky to make $4 an hour in tips -- and don't delude yourself for a minute that all employers are "making up the difference." There's an unwritten "I don't know/you don't know" culture when it comes to cash tips because the workers don't want to report the tips for tax purposes.

if it went away and was known to have done so (we don't have the tip credit in CA, but I'm not sure how widely known that is).

I did find one interesting comparison of tipping rates: http://qz.com/189458/the-united-states-of-tipping/

There are questions with the methodology and I don't know how statistically significant the differences are, but I notice that 5 of the 7 states that require servers be paid the state minimum wage (cf. post 7) are in the lower half of the tipping rate and one is just above the midpoint. And the state with the very highest tip rate is the magnificent seventh...

My daughter is currently a waitress at a nice restaurant, she makes around $200/night during the weekends.

There is no way a HS student saving up for college is going to make that money on an hourly wage.

Most of the students around here in tourist focused Florida fight for the tipping jobs as they will make many times the money.

No, not that one, the National Restaurant Association.

Even though I did tip 15%, I'm pretty sure the $103 tab for grilled chicken and steak could very easily cover the price of the product, a very good wage for the waiter, the cost of their electricity, and a very good profit for the manager. Adding in that extra $15 tip felt like a kick in the nuts, even though I know how the wait staff needs it. Bottom line, just pay your wait staff better, assholes.

Prices of the food at some places you bet but never the tip.

Considering the food could have been bought for $20 at the store, it was a little hard to cough up over $120 for it

I'm not sure what to make of the rest. I tip 20% if it's good. The cost of making it at home isn't really relevant.

The owner is making enough cash off that transaction that they should be paying their wait staff more than $2.13, instead of making the customer pay an extra 15%...

You don't think the profit margin was high enough? Should I pay $100 each per chicken thigh and steak so the owner can make enough profit? We talk about $15min wage... I was there an hour, tipped the waiter $15, which happened to be 15%. I have no idea why you think the owner needs to make more profit than he did in order to pay the waiter $15/hour.

The prices would not go up 15%, although most servers would see a pay cut. If a sever at a high end place has multiple tables an hour tipping 15 bucks, they likely make decent money.

Im sure the place could get somebody equally qualified for 15 bucks an hour.

started when the Ma & Pa places got eaten by big dumbth .Why do I do this ? It feels good keeping a dream of justice alive .

buying $3 cups of coffee. Too rich for my blood.

And yet you did not even get a $5 star this week and give 5 hearts away?

I feel bad now though, because I just remembered I did not leave a tip when we went out for pizza, even after dad paid for the pizza.

My sister in law did not think of it either, and as a former waitress she is normally on top of that. But since you order from the counter and also get your own pop and refills, they aren't traditional servers. Still, they bring the pizza and clear the table. I should have thrown a couple of dollars since I got $20 worth of pizza paid by my sugar daddy.

Restaurant Association.

You know...same old, same old - EVERYTHING to eke out the uttermost farthing of profit and fuck the workers.

They made damned good tips, too! 2 of them were well known in the area that I live in and had a following.... if they left one restaurant, they clientele would follow them. They BOTH said that if they "didn't make at least $125.00/shift, they weren't doing something right". I never had a "tip sharing" policy, either. YOU kept what YOU earned, period. I even had customers that would walk up and give the cook a tip, separate from what they gave the server. All of my food was "cooked to order", except for a few basics, like the biscuits, gravy and my home made chili. I never served a frozen hamburger patty, either! ALL of my burgers were 6 oz, hand-pattied, except for the childs burgers. *That*, and my "Breakfast Any Time" were my biggest draw, along with my home made chili. We got voted "Best Burger in Town", "Best Chili in Town" and "Best Breakfast in Town" by the local newspaper once.

I dated one of my servers after I closed my place down and she went to a different restaurant... a buffet.... and she used to bring home $150-$200/day... more when they had tour buses come in. The place had a private banquet room for parties/meetings, and a lot of people would request her, by name, to be their server for the event. She would make between $200-$300 in tips for a party or meeting that lasted 3 to 4 hours!

I can also remember back from '97 to '02 when I was doing commercial roofing, working 6 & 7 days a week, daylight to dark, making $1500 - $2000/week. At the same time, my younger sister was a server in a sports bar and she was making $1000, or more, in tips working Fri. night, Sat. night and Sunday afternoon.

Neither my sister nor the woman I dated EVER flirted with customers, and they would speak up LOUDLY, lay the law down, and have someone bounced out if someone decided to play "grab-ass" with them. They were just very good at their jobs, didn't mess up orders, and customers never had to ask for a refill on their drinks... they always had things they needed, BEFORE they needed them.

The pay *should* be a little higher for tipped employees, as I know firsthand that some get stiffed sometimes, too. I watched the server that worked for me handle a party of 12 one day, that took up 3 tables. She worked her ass off for them, and they didn't even leave a tip! I felt so bad for her that I gave her $25 out of MY pocket. I don't remember how much the bill was because there were a few on separate checks, but I figured that they should have, at the very least, left $2 per person. I don't really know the right answer to address the problem, other than paying the Federal Minimum wage and having a "No Tipping" Policy, but that cheats the really good servers, many of whom depend on those daily cash tips to live on.

Peace,

Ghost

added to MY bill. I tip what I WANT to tip, period. I have been in places where I would never eat again because the food was just that bad, but I *did* get excellent service, and I have been in places with excellent food, but had bad service.... like waiting 15 minutes for a drink refill, while I can see the server over in the corner texting on her phone, or gabbing with other servers. In a case like that, I still leave a tip, but it might only be a dollar. I was well known in one restaurant for coming in for lunch every day. Always ordered the same thing.. a bowl of clam chowder and a glass of sweet tea. This was back in the early 80's, and the bill was right around $4. I always just left a $10 bill on the table with my check and left... a few of the servers used to fight over me, and there were a couple that saw me pull in, and would have my order sitting on the table by the time I got into the place. I have also gone into places when I was hot & thirsty just to get a glass of tea, and left a $5 bill on the table... Like I said, I KNOW how hard servers work for their money, and how much they depend on those tips each day.

Those were the good ol' days! These days, I'm lucky if I get to eat at home every day, much less go out to eat. I hit some rough times a few years ago that wiped me out, and have been living from check to check since... disability checks, at that! I eat a lot of ramen noodles. I got hit with another rough hit back in June, and still have not recovered from it. I got paid on Feb. 3rd, paid all of my bills, and had less than $20 left to last for the month. To top it off, I wrecked my car last month and don't have the money to fix or replace it, so I am having to bum rides from friends and family to get to my doctor's appointmments and to even get a few groceries. I'll be 53 this friday, and this is the first time I haven't had a car since I was 16 years old. This certainly isn't the life I had planned for right now, but I just have to play the cards that I was dealt...

Sorry to dump that last part on you, but I really don't have anyone to talk to and sometimes just have to get it out of my system so I can keep trying to move forward...

Peace,

Ghost

I recently opened up my own business and it has been a huge personal growth journey for me. Little did I know. Ha!! It has forced me to grow in ways I never knew I needed to develop. I mean, I thought I was doing well. Professionally, I was at the top of my game. Still am. I can get whatever job I want. Recruiters calling me all the time. I can command six figure incomes. Personally, i have a beautiful life. But life isn't about beautiful. It is about growth. And that's not always pretty. It can be devastating and quite painful. I am learning about facing fears, and trusting that the net will appear. I am a plotter and planner for everything in my life. I was raised to make goals and develop plans to achieve those goals. It was very methodical and I was taught the basic structures of success. And to suddenly rely on faith has been a huge undertaking. Letting go and having faith is not easy, at least for someone like me. But it is there. I know it. I feel it. I have seen it. I truly believe in the theory of abundance & I work in that now. I build my business on that. ....that and a shit ton of work still. But you know what? IT WORKS. Believe in abundance. Create your reality. Change your reality by believing in a new one. Fear is one of the biggest, most difficult and dangerous illusions to overcome. Anyways. I don't mean to ramble. I wish you a splendid journey, ghost. I know your situation will change because change is inevitable and you will be on top of your game once again. Blessings, my friend.

my head, electricity and internet, but those are the first 3 bills I pay on payday, too.

I know what struggle is all about after clawing my way out of the pits of hell of addiction and making it to the top of the world, where I stayed for several years, also commanding 6 figure incomes and having companies coming to ME wanting me to work for them, then having it ripped away from me in split second due to an accident that left me disabled.

I always keep a positive outlook on life. There are just times that I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, and since last August have felt like I was drowning, just barely keeping my head above water. Since I wrecked my car though, I feel like my head is being held under water. I've lost the one thing I enjoyed the most: My own independence to come and go as I please. Not that I go many places, besides the doctors and the grocery store, but the option was there if I WANTED to go somewhere. One of my greatest pleasures was driving to the lake 5 miles from my house and watching the sun set over the lake, while the deer came out to feed in the fields of the adjacent wildlife sanctuary. I live out in the middle of nowhere, 15 miles from town in 3 different directions, almost 25 in the 4th direction. We have no mass transit, either.

Oddly enough, my recent troubles started with my car. I had a '94 Dodge Ram 1500 4X4 that got about 12 mpg on it's best day. I could hardly afford to drive it! A mechanic friend of mine had a '94 Acura Integra that was all tricked out but he needed a work truck and asked if I wanted to trade. Since the "TEG" got almost 35 miles/gallon, I jumped on it.. even trade!

I hadn't had it long when some kids stole it and took it joy riding. It was found 2 days later in the next town over, sitting in a convienience store/gas station parking lot. The clutch was burned out and ignition broken. Not having the best credit in the world, and needing to get my car fixed, I went online trying to find a loan. I had one company that offered me a $650 line of credit. I misread the terms, and thought the interest rate was 27.8% APR, but it was 278%! Since the beginning of August, I have paid back over $1,000 on a $650 loan.... and still owe $511 (as of this writing), and it goes up daily. I make that payment every month, too, but I am getting nowhere with it. I feel like I will NEVER get it paid off and thus, won't have the money to fix my car, or buy a new one. I have ALWAYS gotten myself out of jams that I have gotten myself into before, but right now I think the light at the end of the tunnel is a train speeding towards me. It's going to cost me between $600-$700 for parts & labor to fix my car, but I won't have it until I get that loan paid off. It's a vicious circle that just adds more stress to me, which in turn affects my health.

Sorry to dump again... but the Old Hippie Soul in me helps me keep a positive outlook as much as possible, and I try to follow the tenet of "Conceive it, Believe it, Achieve it!", but I'm just not *feeling* it right now. I am living my reality right now, thinking only a miracle is going to change it.

Sincere congratulations on your sucesses, and may you continue to be Blessed.

Peace,

Ghost

Consciously work on my fears and anxiety everyday. Sometimes, it is overwhelming. I work a lot. Every couple weeks, I get a day off to do laundry. I know some people don't even get that so I am not going to complain. I like what I do. But I struggle with finding a good balance. You have to do what you have to do and then you get to reap the rewards, I suppose. Sounds like we are in similar boats with addiction. I have mine with anxiety and negative thoughts. I have work to do and it is not external.

I am sorry to hear of your circumstances. It must be really hard to accept. I know it would take the wind out of my sails. Sometimes, when I am in darkness and not sure where to go, I pray because I know I am always heard. And then, I refocus. My springboard to getting out of jams is gratitude. I focus on gratitude. I mean, REAL GRATITUDE. The kind that changes you emotionally and gives you a warm fuzzy feeling in your gut and brings a tear to your eye. Our brain is a muscle and like any muscle, it has memory. It gets used to operating with negativity. That doesn't just go away. It requires conscious and active work. Be aware of the negative thoughts when they arise. For every negative thought, that comes up, replace it with a good one. Baby steps. This is what I work on.

You had your own business and I know the kind of skill set that requires. You have to have balls of steel to manage something like that! And you have to wear so many hats! 😃 You will get through this. You already are from the sound of things and that doesn't surprise me. Keep going, ghost. You are doing great! Sometimes we are our worst critics. The focus is so much on success and the ingredients of obtaining success, but there is little focus on coping in our society. Because that is weakness and we don't deal with that well. That is why I am teaching my daughter not just HOW to be successful, but also coping mechanisms. Life happens. And we have to learn how to deal with ourselves. Thank you for your kind words. Love and light to you, ghost!

Far more than my colleagues working in an office with slightly above minimum wage. Now, if you suck as a waiter or have a resting bitch face, yeaaa. You may not make very much. But hell, I ALWAYS average > $20/hr. And that was 20 some years ago. And yes, tips are unreliable but every one has an idea when the peak times are, good sections, or when the good days are to work.

On some crazy weekend nights we bartenders would walk out with over $300 in tips and that's early 1980's dollars.

Students used to fight for the tip based jobs vs. hourly wage jobs. Far more money per hour easily.

I know someone who chooses to wait tables because he would make more money than a professional job. And this is NOW. Granted, he works in upscale dining.

Stress was always high for us during peak earning hours. Some servers weren't up to it and would take Monday nights and lunch shifts instead. Taking that extra table, when you're already in the weeds, is something that not every server can pull off. The ones that do earn their extra $$.

I waited tables as a summer job for 3 years in diner-type restaurants in a small town. Yeah, it averaged out a bit more than any other type of summer job I could have found in that town, and it put some money in my bank account for heading back to college in the fall, but it would have been tough to try and live on what I earned. I worked with several women who were nearing retirement age and that was how they paid the bills. It was hard physical work and I don't know how they did it.

"We would pay you even less if we legally could."

Worked hard and made sick from never getting breaks or time off.

Working as a server in a college town or upscale/touristy part of town can easily net a good server on average $600 - $1K (or more) in tips for four days/nights work at a typical bar or restaurant. At the good restaurants or popular sports bars, they will typically receive twice that. In the late 80's, I knew someone who worked service at a catering supplier for the local convention sites in his spare time; he'd regularly get an average of $700 in tips the nights he worked large convention dinners - basically, a four hour job. He said there was a huge waiting list to get on the staff for any convention that wasn't associated with a church or charity, and he usually could only get one or two a month.

However, working as a server in the same sized town as aforementioned college town out in the middle of BFE may net a good server $200 - $400 a week in tips for the same amount of work, no matter if it's a "good" restaurant or a local diner. I've met too many people in the military who joined simply because even six eight-hour shifts working tables or a counter at a bar or restaurant every week in a small drive-by town near the highway in rural America just wouldn't pay the basic bills, never mind any student loans or other frills.

Haele

wage before tips. Thus, waitresses in California get paid $10 before tips, Washington: $9.47 before tips, etc...

but someone up-thread asked if any current servers would actually accept an hourly wage over minimum wage/$2.13 + tips and you're damn Skippy I certainly would IF we had a LIVABLE minimum wage (say $15/hour...). It is absolutely ridiculous to have to depend on the kindness of strangers to pay your bills every month. Month to month income varies widely in cases such as mine and other tipped employees...

In my case I'm paid more than $2.13/hour + tips + gas reimbursement and my monthly income STILL only runs from $800 - $1200/GROSS PER MONTH. People that don't tip at all or tip less than 10% (I'm a delivery driver and I do NOT expect 15 - 20% for good service as its not nearly as much work as waiting tables) are essentially expecting tipped employees to work for free or almost free and it's a really crappy attitude on their part. Did I mention I work in one of the RICHEST counties in Texas 30+ hours/week and STILL make the above shitty wages? And please do NOT advise me to "work harder" or "get a second job" - my second job right now is looking for a job in my actual chosen profession that actually PAYS a VERY livable wage WITH benefits - and when I did work in that field I worked a HELL of a lot LESS for a HELL of a lot MORE $$$. So spare me any sanctimonious attitudes or responses.

Let me ask you hourly/salaried people a legitimate question: do you like working for free???? Well, neither do we and to EXPECT a tipped employee to work for you when you eat out or order in FOR FREE IS WAGE THEFT, pure and simple. If you can't afford/don't want to tip then you have two choices - cook at home or hit a drive-thru FFS. It is NOT a legitimate justification for you to not tip a tipped employee because "Oh, their employer should pay them a minimum/livable wage". We work our asses off, and YES our employers SHOULD pay us ALL a livable wage but that is not the case in the restaurant industry at this time and tipping right now in most areas is customary. So if you can't or won't tip properly for good service then DON'T EAT WHERE TIPPING IS EXPECTED FOR GOOD SERVICE. There are other places to eat where it's not expected so do us tipped employees all a favor and patronize those venues.