sirjamesp: it is possible to get a zero paycheck but not, I think, if the ONLY tips reported are the assumed 8% (which is still the Federal guideline, I believe). You can get a zero paycheck and owe taxes if your declared tips or credit-card tips are high enough that the lowly paycheck doesn’t cover them.
However, if the restaurant’s records are reviewed by the IRS and there are people who consistently report only 8% of sales as tips, they are probably going to be in for an unpleasant surprise.
missbunny: Ahhh… I see the light! A waiter might get a zero paycheck not including tips. That is the small (some might say obvious) point I had missed.
Of course, to do this, the waiter would have to be earning roughly three times his wages in tips - what’s that, almost 10 dollars an hour total pay, or about seven dollars an hour take-home? Seven dollars an hour take-home pay really isn’t that bad, I reckon - so a zero pay check is something to cheer. In fact, the more tax owed, the better the shift has been.
I wanna live where you live. Our garbage men can get pretty petty about what they will carry out to the truck if you don’t give them a christmas gift.
What Green Bean said. So if you pull down $100 on a double (Which is a 13 hour good day for a great server) you are expected to tip out to the bartender and busboys 10%. So you are walking home with $80.
$2.40 is NOT the lowest you can be paid per hour. At one diner, they paid us $1.90 per hour and then took out a percentage for food/soda you might have eaten while on your shift.
In many, many places, a server’s job is not just to keep you happy, bring you your food correctly, hot in a good amount of time with a smile on her face. They are also expected to put all of the side dishes together & garnish your plate. They (hopefully) keep their side station clean & full of cups, silverware, condiments, etc. They have to completely wipe down all items on the tables in their section at the end of the night. They also have to wipe down (in and out) various refrigerators and the lips of the vats of mayo, honey-mustard, etc. After they are done with that they can beg their manager to “run their number” (their sales for the night) then wait in line to be counted out, hoping that they didn’t give a guest out too much change in the rush of the day, and thus cheating themselves.
Any wonder that I don’t miss it?
sirjamesp: you also have to remember that depending on how the tips were received, the server pays taxes on 100% of them even though he didn’t take home 100% of the tip. For example, if I have $100 of tips on credit cards, I am taxed on the $100 even though I had to tip out 25% and so really only kept $75 for myself. The people who were tipped out are almost always getting paid over minimum wage (except for bartenders). Thus, I am essentially paying taxes on other people’s wages and they already make a higher hourly rate than me to boot. I think that sucks more than any other bad thing anyone can say about working in a restaurant.
I’m a bartender at a pretty fancy hotel and if some one gives me extra change over the 20%, I’ll be a happy, happy bartender (and that’s 2 happy’s).
The worst is when you get your paycheck and it says that you owe them money. “Now I got to pay YOU!” taxes suck. The IRS audited my hotel before I started working there, so now they say we have to declare 13% of total cash sales instead of the 8%. The old timers always tell me of when they didn’t have to declare anything “back in the good ol’days”.
I don’t know if 20% is the standard now (and I’m a bartender saying this). At my hotel if your party is over 6 people we have the option of adding the gratuity of 18%. I assume that this is the standard in the Dupont world (the hotel I work for). Now if I have given good service to a group of 6 or more, I always add gratuity. 18% is pretty a damn good tip and unless the guest is a dick and demands that it be removed, it’s almost guaranteed.
Now don’t get me wrong, if people want to tip me 20% I’m not going to stop them. And if everyone does it then I guess that means it’s now the new standard. But I’m sure as hell not getting 20% from the majority of my guests and if my hotel is telling me that they think 18% is standard, I’ll go with that.
And for all those who are going to complain about not being able to or not wanting to figure out 18%, there’s a simple solution. Give me 20% (and if your still to stupid to figure that one out, just give me double of what the check is and we’ll be all set).
This thread is eerily reminiscent of a scene from Reservoir Dogs!
As an ex-waitperson, I have to say that there’s a vast difference in tip money between upscale places and lower-end restaurants.
The other big difference: whether or not the restaurant serves alcohol. Not only does the purchase of alcoholic beverages boost the total tab, it also loosens people’s pursestrings.
In the two café-type (non-alcohol-serving) places where I worked, the flat hourly rate was $2.10 and I pulled in about $15K a year. However, when I worked in an upscale (with alcohol)place, the flat rate was $5.00 and I was making about $23K.
No objection to change, as long as it’s not just change. Another point I didn’t see mentioned: You shouldn’t base your tip solely on the bill. If you order a muffin and juice, but spend 2 hours at the table poring over a magazine, you should leave a little extra.
I thought I’d chime in for one more industry where tips are expected: pizza delivery.
A lot of people don’t seem to know that tips are expected. (They are.) However, we don’t expect 20% or anything – we just bring the food to you. The important thing to remember is how much labor is involved. If you buy $5 in toppings, that’s no more work. However, if there’s free delivery and you’re at the far end of the delivery area, that is more work (the unfortunate soul who brings you your order can’t do as many runs as others could), so it should mean more tip. I’d say minimum $1, max $5, unless you’re getting multiple pizzas for a meeting or party, or if you live in somewhere that is a big pain in the ass (like a non-air-conditioned building in summertime that has no elevator and you’re on the top floor). Remember to tip for weather, too! Rain and snow are delivery banes.
I never minded change too much – our system was to borrow cash, and count it out at the end of the day, and we kept the extra, so I usually passed the coins to the store (and that meant fewer runs to the bank, too). I know a few times people forgot to have enough for a tip, so they gave me a big handful of change, and that was OK – better than no tip! However, politely hand the change to the driver. Do not throw it on the ground for them to pick it up.
I live on the far north side of a town where all the restaurants that deliver are on the south side. I always try to tip at least $3, regardless of the size of the order, because it’s such a pain to come all the way up here (we’re also well outside the apartment building / college area, so we are less dense for orders, too, so I know they’re coming all this way for me). From some restaurants, it’s a 15 minute trip each way because of traffic and construction!
I leave coinage on occasion for other tips, but generally only quarters unless I simply have no other cash. I don’t generally leave pennies except for extraordinarily bad service, though.
Im not sure if this i the right topic for this question
but everyone seems to know enough about this subject maybe i can get some good feed back. When i go out to the bar/cluds
sometimes i only have enough money to buy drinks and not enough to spare for tips … Most bartenders that i know have told me that they dont mind cause if i dont have enough money to tip them its ok cause they still like me and want me to be there as a customer and that i am a valued customer where ever i go, My fav bartender told me that she would rather have me ther than a man who tips alot and is rude to her and the cutomers. I think bad sometimes, but i only have what i have.
Some ppl have given me attitude about this cause they think that if i cant tip then i should just stay home and not come out at all. I don’t think thats right at all i have just as much right to be there as they do. I hope someone can give me ther opinion on this…thanks baltotop:) 