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> Restaurant-workers/servers/bartenders make $2.15/hr plus tips. If that amount < minimum wage, the employer has to make up the difference. If they don't, they'

> Restaurant-workers/servers/bartenders make $2.15/hr plus tips. If that amount < minimum wage, the employer has to make up the difference. If they don't, they're breaking the law and any server with two brain cells to rub together can and shoukd report them. > Unless you're a really crappy server, you make more than minimum wage. Most bartenders make well more than minimum wage. Well, restaurant work is rife with tax fraud and misclassification of tips everywhere. So yeah, the servers get paid $2.15/hr and hope that tips covers it the rest of the way. Then again, ive seen sleazy shit, like "averaging out over 2 weeks" to make $7.35/hr, rather than the fact the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday they got a wage equal to $5.00/hr. Or restaurant managers will also demand servers do cleaning and other duties... which would be under $7.35/hr . How do you account for this time if the company/manager is cheating in this way? (Ive never seen a restaurant job switch the person's labor classification to do this.) That's right, you file a grievance with the Dept of Labor. I've been there, and done that. If you want a lawyer, you'll likely be denied since you make peanuts, so the case will be for peanuts. But when the DoL responds, like usually months later, it's likely a moot point. You MIGHT, at the end of a yearlong investigation, MIGHT get paid back for the time. Then again, maybe not. The company can afford lawyers. You cannot, getting paid $2.35/hr

bena 4y ago
That's not "sleazy shit". That's how it works. If you got a $500 in tips one 8 hour shift and $20 the next 8 hour shift, you didn't work for $64.65/hr one night and $4.65/h4 the next. No, you worked for an average of $22.15/hr over both days. It's supposed to be averaged over the pay period because the bookkeeping would be murder. And that includes the side work as well. Servers are either really fucking stupid or like to think we are. I understand it's a hustle and we're all trying to get our piece of the pie. But if you really, really, really hate being "underpaid" for specific hours you didn't collect enough in tips. Advocate to remove the tipping system entirely. Push to work under the normal minimum wage laws with no tipping. But no, that's a non-starter with servers. No, their solution is to keep increasing the "suggested minimum tip". It used to be 10%, now it's 20% and climbing. And fuck that noise, "If you can't tip, you can't afford to eat out". When you start asking someone to pay a quarter of the listed price in this weird hidden fee, maybe your entire industry needs an overhaul. End of the day, you need customers just as much as you need employees and being combative with the customers is not going to end well for anyone.
- true_religion 4y ago
  Servers ought to realize that no one is forcing their restaurants to only pay them the minimum wage (~$2 plus tips). That's a choice their bosses' make. They could pay $15 and still let the servers take tips. They could pay $30 per hour, and mandate no tipping or less tipping. All of these options are fine. It doesn't even have to be done on the federal level, state and local governments can increase the minimum wage. The failure to pay employees isn't a failure from the customers.

bena 4y ago

That's not "sleazy shit". That's how it works. If you got a $500 in tips one 8 hour shift and $20 the next 8 hour shift, you didn't work for $64.65/hr one night and $4.65/h4 the next. No, you worked for an average of $22.15/hr over both days. It's supposed to be averaged over the pay period because the bookkeeping would be murder. And that includes the side work as well. Servers are either really fucking stupid or like to think we are. I understand it's a hustle and we're all trying to get our piece of the pie. But if you really, really, really hate being "underpaid" for specific hours you didn't collect enough in tips. Advocate to remove the tipping system entirely. Push to work under the normal minimum wage laws with no tipping. But no, that's a non-starter with servers. No, their solution is to keep increasing the "suggested minimum tip". It used to be 10%, now it's 20% and climbing. And fuck that noise, "If you can't tip, you can't afford to eat out". When you start asking someone to pay a quarter of the listed price in this weird hidden fee, maybe your entire industry needs an overhaul. End of the day, you need customers just as much as you need employees and being combative with the customers is not going to end well for anyone.

true_religion 4y ago
Servers ought to realize that no one is forcing their restaurants to only pay them the minimum wage (~$2 plus tips). That's a choice their bosses' make. They could pay $15 and still let the servers take tips. They could pay $30 per hour, and mandate no tipping or less tipping. All of these options are fine. It doesn't even have to be done on the federal level, state and local governments can increase the minimum wage. The failure to pay employees isn't a failure from the customers.