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by MrOpinionated from Edwardsville, IL

Last Post 16 days, 8 hours Ago


Tipping
Dec 28, 2007 | 7:19 AM
Category: News
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Every once in a while when I am sitting in a restaurant I wonder why we still tip our wait person.   It just seems odd to me that restaurant owners can get away with paying employees very low wages and they expect that the difference can be made up with tips.

As part of my job, I review the paystubs and income of my customers.   I recently reviewed those of a waitress from another state.   When I calculated her hourly wage, she was making a whopping $3.36 per hour.   But what was even more interesting was when I added in the tips that she reported.   Her gross hourly wage jumped to an amazing $7.77 per hour.  Isn't that pitiful?

Another interesting item appeared on her paystub.   At that point in the year she had "sold" about $36,000 in food items.   So she was making a measley one percent of the gross as wages and the customers were kicking in enough to get her above minimum wage. 

Isn't it about time that the system change.  Let the employers pay a decent wage to the servers and cut out tipping.  The employers would be able to deduct those wages as an expense on their taxes....and it would force the servers to pay taxes on all of their income....not just the tips that they "report".

Tell me what you think about this.

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Member Comments Total Comments: 22
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Speedy62269 read my blog
Dec 28, 2007 | 7:44 AM

It's the nature of the beast - waiting tables. For the most part, the lower hourly wage should motivate one to perform at levels that will grab a 20% plus tip. My friend waits tables and she makes on average about $12.30/hour. She is at a higher end restaurant and also works both Friday and Saturday nights.

Speaking of restaurants and service - please review my prior blog on this issue. Take care.
MrOpinionated read my blog
Dec 28, 2007 | 8:32 AM

Thanks Speedy. I guess my point is that WHY must it be the nature of the beast? Why should restaurant owners get away with paying substandard wages? They certainly make more than enough on the food that they serve.

BTW, I read your prior blog about the service at JBucks. Perhaps we need to resurrect that subject to go along with this one.
rosie read my blog view my photos
Dec 28, 2007 | 8:46 AM

waitreses ion a good restaurant make more then nurses an hour, i used to make around 16 an hour in small town hermann on a fri and sat nite, when no one wanted to work
Speedy62269 read my blog
Dec 28, 2007 | 8:58 AM

I honestly don't know why the serving wage per hour standard is lower except for the fact that a "tip" is available. If someone made Illinois' minimum wage at $7.50 and served 4 tables in one hours time they could make a lot.

Let's assume that each table's bill averaged $40 that's a $6 tip at 15%. So, now the server makes $31.50 per hour on average if the restaurant is full during his/her shift. Let's assume that this person works your normal 2080 per year...that boils down to $65,520 annually - not bad. So, same situation but at $3.00 per hour now. That's $27/hour and about $56,000 per year.

I guess it pays if you work in a restaurant where the average meal runs $40 and the average patron is "AVERAGE". LOL - I tip between NIL and 50%. We had a gal once that was so darn good that she got $15 on a $30 bill - pleasant, professional, and efficient! On the other hand, I have not tipped (per my blog) on poor service, poor management, and average food.
MrOpinionated read my blog
Dec 28, 2007 | 9:06 AM

In theory it sounds like a great way to make a living. But I think most servers are making peanuts. That's why the college kids do it. There is more money in it than fast food.
rosie read my blog view my photos
Dec 28, 2007 | 9:22 AM

my niee worked at ponderosa in the summer 3 days a week, wed, thurs and fri, mostly buffet, lil work for her , brought home 400 in three days, couldnt make that if she was working her ass off 5 days a week in a factory... she said she wishes she would have skipped college and worked there all along
rosie read my blog view my photos
Dec 28, 2007 | 9:23 AM

the better the personality the better the tips i think
MrOpinionated read my blog
Dec 28, 2007 | 10:17 AM

Personality does play into it Rosie, but should it? We eat out alot and most servers are pleasant but not very outgoing in general. We tend to tip the "nicer" ones a little better....but anyone can take an order and bring food to the table...so why should personality play into what a person gets paid?
LadyFireman read my blog
Dec 28, 2007 | 11:04 AM

Anyone know what TIP means? I do!


LadyFireman
MrOpinionated read my blog
Dec 28, 2007 | 11:32 AM

to insure proper service. Gee, but everyone in a service business is expected to give proper service...aren't they? Should I tip the teller at the bank, or the guy who sells me a lottery ticket?
FIGMAN read my blog view my photos
Dec 28, 2007 | 12:07 PM

From online search of word origins..

How did a gratuity given to a serving person come to be called a tip? Tip is underworld meaning to pass on, to hand to, especially to pass on a small sum of money. The ultimate origin of the word is not known.
FIGMAN read my blog view my photos
Dec 28, 2007 | 12:23 PM

In insure some restaurants and in some cases I have found the owner will ask the waiters/waitresses to put the tip money in a jar and then the total will be divided by all. This is one way an owner can use the tip money to offset their cost of wage. I don't agree with this and think it is an underhand way of doing business.

I try to tip from 10 to 20% depending on all the factors. I eat breakfast on Saturdays at a local place and my bill is usually $5.60 so generally I tip the balance of $7.00. When I have one of my customers wait on me or one of their kids we insure, I will generally pay with $10 and tell them to keep the change. Its the you scratch my back and I'll do the same.
FIGMAN read my blog view my photos
Dec 28, 2007 | 12:34 PM

Thought of something else...I have a friend that many of you know about, Mickey Carroll who was in the Wizard of Oz Movie. The first time I went with him to eat as we sat down I noticed he slipped the waitress a $20 bill. This was at Cracker Barrel and the bill came to $60 for he and my family. Mickey insist on always paying and I have found you can't change that. When we left he put another $40 on the table.

At the time I didn't know him that well and I was concerned if he knew what he had done. So when the time was right and we were alone I asked him why he would tip the young lady as much as the bill. He then asked me a question. He said, "did we ever have to ask for anything"? no we didn't.."did she work hard and didn't she make sure our order was right?" she did..he also said, "I once waited tables for a living and it is hard work and you have to put up with a lot of awful people and I know there are people not tipping like they should." The last thing he said was..."guess what I might have made her day and it feels great to be able to make someone's day."
Chickenkiller read my blog
Dec 28, 2007 | 2:05 PM

MrOpiniated - perhaps you live in a sheltered world, but here's how it works.....those tips that are placed on a credit card are recapped and paid by the employer and reported as taxable. The cash tips are simply not reported.

It's a scenario of tax evasion that troubles the IRS bureaucrats, but there is little they can do to control it.
MrOpinionated read my blog
Dec 28, 2007 | 2:27 PM

NO, I am not sheltered Chicken.....I know how it works and I think that if they just paid their servers a living wage and eliminated tipping, the IRS would get their due and there would be no hidden income.
AMOM read my blog
Dec 28, 2007 | 4:18 PM

I put one on here, but it is not there now. Shock, Shock!!!!!

Let's not go after the waitress that is trying to support her family on tips.

There is a lot of people ,who are not paying taxes and getting all kinds of grants, and free-bees
bgbdwlf2000 read my blog
Dec 28, 2007 | 5:24 PM

I agree that employers should meet at least the minimum wage. The tip is not part of the restaurants income, therefore should have nothing to do with the bill. The employer should not be able to use this as part of the wage. My tip is to the employee for a good job. It's a gift. The employer was paid what they asked for their products and any services they provide.
My "Tip" is a gratuity to the server only. I ask when tipping if tips are split, then only tip reasonable and customary. Why is it that employers should think they have any right to money given as a gift to a waitress? I give it for being grateful for the good service.
Uncle Sam has his input too. They look at the sales per employee and want taxes from waitresses based on reasonable and customary tip ratios. That is flat out wrong. Who says the patron gave that tip? So now the employee is responsible for taxes on monies they may or may not have recieved. (guilty before proven?) It should be up to the employee to file taxes on any tips, not the employer. If the employer is to be held accountable for this reporting of taxes, then they should collect all money and only report that, along with a standard wage.
Either way, my tip is a gift, and gifts up to $10,000 are not required to be reported for federal taxes. So leave my tips to my servers alone!
Oh, Figman, I agree with Mickey.
TheShan2007 read my blog
Dec 28, 2007 | 6:40 PM

Personally I never understood why restaurants were the only ones able to pay less than minimum wage. And why does the public at large think it's ok for US to pay THEIR payroll? It makes no sense.

I was a waitress for years.
kurkel read my blog view my photos
Dec 29, 2007 | 10:21 PM

I too was a waitress before I became a nurse. I worked in a restaurant much like a Denny's and I made good tips. I worked in a different restaurant and I made great tips...but it is hard work.

I agree that the restaurant people should have to pay min. wage. Then we wouldnt feel the need to compensate for that part and truely tip as a gift and a thanks for good service. Some folk should not be waitresses and it is more than just a pleasant personality.

If you cant multitask well...if you cant deal with noise...or fast paced or having to remember alot of things...if you react to an angry customer....all reasons to NOT be a waitress.

I have had some waiters and waitresses who absolutely should not be there and I dont tip them or tip them well. If I have a good waitress I tip them 20%. If I have a really good waitress or someone who waits on me reg. with really good service I give them even more.
unocardgirl read my blog view my photos
Dec 30, 2007 | 9:38 PM

it is pitafull that servers make so little, that is why they get tipped. Tipping is a way of telling the server that he/she did a great job. Lots of people work for tips, but what I think is crazy is when the people who work behind a counter for decent wage puts out a cup for tips, come on now you already make $7 to $8 an hour for making my ice cream? When you bust your butt for tips to "make up" for low wages you desrev every penny depending on the job well done or not. So here's to the hard woking people who "hustle" to EARN their tips.
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MrOpinionated

Call me a liberal. Call me a radical. Or call me just plum crazy. OK, so maybe some of my opinions are off the wall but you gotta laugh people!! Life is too short to take things so seriously.

Member Since: 12/18/2006


 

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