Ever wonder about the people who refill the unlimited breadsticks at Olive Garden?

[KamaAina]

They make $2.13 an hour, plus tips -- but who tips at the Olive Garden??

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/darden/?rc=fb_share2&r_by=49276-790315-Aa6Yfwx

We all suffer when the workers who serve our food are living in poverty and unable to take a day off when sick. Yet that is exactly what is taking place in some of the most popular restaurants across America.

Darden Restaurant Group, which owns Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse and countless other chain restaurants, has about 180,000 employees working at its nearly 2,000 restaurants nationwide.

And while the company's CEO makes $8.5 million each year, many of the company's employees are paid just $2.13 per hour, forcing them to live on the tips you voluntarily pay them at the end of your meal.

Workers cannot sustain a safe, decent standard of living in our communities at $2.13 per hour. We stand up against this economic injustice today.

[TwilightGardener]

1. I tip at the Olive Garden. It's a restaurant, like any other.

That said, they should bump up that base wage, it's ridiculous.

[MiddleFingerMom]

2. I even tipped at buffets. Waitstaff brings you plates, drink refills, etc.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

3. Is it customary to tip nurses?

for meals, baths, or the really good drugs?

I think I was neglectful there, but I didn't have any pockets of cash handy.

I haven't been to a buffet in years. Or to an Olive Garden. But I tip at the carryout counters.

[Bertha Venation]

4. A good read on this subject

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America, by Barbara Ehrenreich.

Mrs. V. and I tip generously. Not looking for kudos. We do it because we know waitrons, pizza delivery guys, etc., don't do those jobs for the glamour of it. They need tips. I tip.

[KamaAina]

5. Yes, but as a Lounge lizard, you presumably don't go to Olive Garden.

Mom still has my copy of the Ehrenreich book. Definitely a must-read.

[Bertha Venation]

6. No, I don't go to the Olive Garden

because I don't like boil-in-the-bag alfredo sauce.

[4th law of robotics]

7. It is a peculiar exemption to the minimum wage laws

I think people should tip their waitstaff but I can see no logical reason why they shouldn't be paid the same minimum wage as anyone else.

Perhaps their total tips would go down because people realize they're getting paid at least minimum wage. But I suspect their total pay would go up (and tips would really go back to being a reward for good service rather than an expected additional tax that decent people pay for food).

[UndahCovah]

8. I don't go to out to eat

Resturaunts really don't appeal to me at all. But I wonder, who does tip at olive garden? I'm ashamed to say it probably wouldn't even occur to me. I'll remember from now on though, if I'm ever eating out.

[TwilightGardener]

9. WTF? It's a regular SIT-DOWN restaurant. It may not be the

greatest food evah, and it's a chain, but certainly customers DO TIP there. This is a weird thread.

[UndahCovah]

10. Ur probably right

I just never eat out.

[KamaAina]

13. Olive Garden has been the subject of many past Lounge threads

what it amounts to is that your server has to clear $5.12 in tips every hour just to equal minimum wage. Of course people tip, but that's a lot. Especially with the unlimited soup and breadsticks being $6.99 or whatever.

[TwilightGardener]

14. I think that's their lunch special--they're really not that cheap

for entrees. A family of four adult diners is in for at least $60 before tip. I agree that their base wage should be minimum wage, or at least higher than it is now.

[RobinA]

12. Why Wouldn't One

Tip at the Olive Garden? It's a restaurant.

I tip at Olive Garden. I like Olive Garden. Shoot me. It's a lot better than some of it's peers.

[newcriminal]

11. Hell, I tip the McDonald's workers at the drive thru.

Yes, I go through the McDonald's drive thru.

[HeiressofBickworth]

15. As i understand it

it is more insidious than just miserable hourly wages. According to tax law, presumed tips are added to gross wages and taxes charged on the total. I've also read that tips don't always go to the server but are divided among others, one being the restaurant owner. It must really suck to be a server at a restaurant yet I could count on one hand the number of times I've ever had a problem with a server. Yes, I always tip.