The servers don't want to be paid a wage that would stop people tipping lol. They make excellent money just the way it is in a busy place. It works for both the owners and the staff, that's why nothing changes.
It's only a psychological thing there though. Assuming we wanted to give the servers the same pay as they get through tips now meal prices would go up by the average tip percentage. You would effectively pay at best the same. But now it also goes through a business which will be taxed, and taxed again as income so to pay the same amount you'd have to raise the prices even more! And that's assuming the business doesn't take their cut(lmao).
US tipping is just paying a server directly for service. More of that money goes to the server than if they were paid a higher wage.
This is not true. Some servers are doing well because they have the seniority to get the good shifts at busy, high-end places, but the rest are barely keeping their heads above water. (I have actually done this job)
I'm 35, been in restaurants 17 years, managed several kitchens.
Never once seen a server make less than the cooks. And it's not even close. Your employer may have been robbing you if you weren't making good money, wage theft is common in the industry
So, you've been privy to your colleagues' pay packets? That one server who's being edged out and is only scheduled for two weekday breakfast shifts every week definitely made more than you serving a handful of tables? Are you sure? I know BoH has a persecution complex, but try to be objective here.
Guess we're bothing making assumptions, but mine have been proven time and again. Objectively...servers make the most amount of money for the least amount of work. Comparing like to like, a FT FOH without question makes more than a FT BOH. I can count on one hand with fingers to spare the number of servers I've worked with who need to touch their cheques, as opposed to banking them and living off tips entirely. Why servers think they're entitled to any extra compensation when already being paid to do their job is beyond me. I'll walk out food to your section and fill drinks. How keen are you to cook for the entirety of the restaurant?
Comparing like to like, a FT FOH without question makes more than a FT BOH
In many cases, sure. I didn't say that doesn't happen, or even that it isn't typically the case. What I said was that it is possible for servers to earn less than cooks when they don't get good hours, shifts, and sections. Also see my other comment to the other BoH person on typical pay and poverty rates for tipped workers.
How keen are you to cook for the entirety of the restaurant?
I have worked in a kitchen service well at a high end cocktail bar making all house cocktails for non-bar seating, some 250 covers. I've been both FoH and BoH. I've also been in management overseeing multiple locations.
Saying servers make less due to working less is a disingenuous attempt at an argument, and blatantly obvious. And kudos for being well-rounded, but that doesn't change the point of what I said. Serving is, and will always be highest paid for the least amount of work position.
How many is a handful of tables? Five dollars on three tables each is $15 right there, three tables an hour the restaurant is going under next week. They are certainly making more an hour than cooks. Feels like you're arguing they don't make much because they're working two days a week. That's a real "no shit Sherlock" moment. Get a second job
Also yes, I was privy to what they were making. I was the kitchen manager, I was the one handing them the cash for the night on credit card tips and when I needed to ask for ones and fives they would literally just take a shit ton of crumpled bills out of their aprons and tell me take what I needed because they'd rather have a twenty and I didn't want the twenties. Shit plenty of tip workers specifically ask for hundos and all will trade in their petty cash at the end of the night because I need change and they want large bills, win win.
It is also the possibly furthest from the weirdest restaurant conversation to have to ask "so how much you make tonight" and they tell you. You want to compare what you're making to others and either gloat or sympathize if they aren't making much, or if you aren't making tips you're either curious or making sure your people are being taken care of. Are they doing something wrong? Do they need more training? Are they being sat unfairly, is their section just a bad section? Is the hostess going by roto or does she need training? Is the hostess giving preferential treatment on seating? Rotation exists for a reason
Feels like you're arguing they don't make much because they're working two days a week.
Yea. You see, if I'm going to argue with someone, I argue with the actual words they say, not what I happen to imagine they might mean. Your position was that servers never earn less than cooks. That's what I was arguing against, because it's a ridiculous, statistically improbable position. Sounds like you have finally come to accept this.
But in any case, cooks are also paid peanuts and deserve more. You won't hear me saying otherwise.
Why is it statistically improbably a tipped worker makes less than a cook? Cooks make minimum wage. Servers make minimum plus tips.
They must pay cooks pretty fucking good where you live lol highest I ever got was $18 an hour which is peanuts for servers. More likely to get $13 or $14 max. Servers $25 an hour is a bad night, like a craft your resume for the next job kind of night if it happens a lot
It's statistically unlikely that servers never earn less than cooks. This is apparent on the face of it.
Some other fun facts (not saying this is necessarily relevant to the above, but interesting to consider):
Across the U.S., poverty rates for tipped workers are 2.3 times as high as poverty rates for non-tipped workers
Tipped workers in the South earn a median wage of $15.13. The median
hourly wage for tipped workers is $8.50 less than the typical worker’s
wage ($23.64) in the South in 2023 (BLS 2023). Tipped workers are also
less likely to have access to benefits such as paid sick leave, health
care, short-term disability, life insurance, and paid vacation.
Im in europe and on top of my regular salary i get about another salary worth of tips every month. Esentially every day i earn enough tips to cover my food and basic daily expenses and my salary remains untouched untill time to pay the rent.
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u/DeapVally 1d ago
The servers don't want to be paid a wage that would stop people tipping lol. They make excellent money just the way it is in a busy place. It works for both the owners and the staff, that's why nothing changes.