Ilikenakedgirls: you are correct, I suggest everyone work as a waiter, and see the shit most of us deal with. I am not saying other jobs do not have problems, but most do not have the variety of problems that restaurant employees deal with. As you have probably figured out, I do work in the business, and have since I was 14, and I am now 27. In most states in the U.S. servers make $2.13 an hour, and after declaring the bare minimum of tips(8% of your total sales by law), you basically do not receive a paycheck. AT ALL!! So every nickle I make comes from you.
Now lets say I sell 1000 dollars of food that day. Which is alot more than most restaurants are capable of per server, per day. I by law have to declare 80$ in tips. Which means I am taxed on 80 dollars for that day, plus my wage taxes. Now if most of you are tipping 10%, that means I will make 100$ that day. Well after tipping out my busboy 15% of my tips, and my bartender 7 1/2% of my tips, and my food runner 5% of my tips, I am left with $72.50. But I am still being taxed on $80+ dollars of income. Now how does that seem to you?? It sucks, that is why the basic standard is 15%. More if you get really good service.
I am not saying to tip for bad service. I mean a little something, but no more than 10%. The best thing you can do about bad service is to insist on speaking with a manager. 9 times out of 10, the problem will be taken care of. I work in vegas now, and we do make more per hour, but I put up with alot more shit than I used to. I have some funny ass stories about this town.
Oh well, there is my 2 cents for ya!
J
