General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: $2.13 Minimum Wage - are you fucking kidding me [View all]Ghost in the Machine
(14,912 posts)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