I was pretty friendly with the servers at Waffle House - they all told me that their gross wages including tips were ~$25 an hour and they would often go home (

I was pretty friendly with the servers at Waffle House - they all told me that their gross wages including tips were ~$25 an hour and they would often go home (of their own choice) if it was sufficiently slow. The servers who worked first shift at Waffle usually made good money - good enough money to pay for a house or an apartment to rent in DFW, which by my estimation takes around 20 dollars an hour. None of this is really a defense of the server wage - but seeing other customers and what they'd leave for tip, a 50% tip was not abnormal - in part because food at Waffle House is so cheap.