Is it better to make $30-$40 / hour on good nights (and bupkis on bad ones...) - OR - get a steady $15/hr with some bennies? I know what I'd take, however, I just have an opinion with no experience to back it up.
Keep the tips. I knew a waiter at a moderate to higher end establishment that pulled down a high 5 figure/low 6 figure income as a waiter working 3 days a week (Fri,Sat,Sun). Key here is that he was GOOD. Take the example for what it is worth.
This is silly. If she is raising their wages to $15, and raising the price of food accordingly, then there should be no 18% surcharge.
In Europe there is no tip, you just pay more for your meal.
Sounds like Americans are trying to be more stupid than Europeans. In Europe they may give you free education, but you have to pass your A-Levels and O-Levels or the equivalent to prove you're worth the investment. In America there are idiots planning on giving free college to anyone who barely scrapes through high school.
Idiocracy here we come!
progressive thinking: i take away your incentives and pay you less than you would have made, then i charge the customers the same as with the tip, and pocket the difference. i get richer, tell YOU that you are getting richer, even when you aren’t. i feel good, and the worker gets buffaloed...progressive thinking...
Been there, done that. I used to part-time bartend at a golf/country club, earning a couple of bucks more than minimum wage hourly and relying on tips. I kept a tip ledger. At the start of a new season the Japanese management held a meeting, telling us what great news they had for us. We would all be getting a huge raise in pay, but no tipping would be policy. The members would pay a 17% service charge, and notices were placed in plastic holders on the bar and tables to inform them. But the wording was such that that they would conclude that the 17% went to us. I explained to my bar customers that it was not the case, and some started paying cash for drinks, and tipping cash instead of house charging them.
I went back through my tip ledgers for a couple of years and my W-2s for pay and calculated an average of $22-23 an hour. I compared that with the new pay scale plus the tips I was receiving and it came out to less than $16 an hour.
I subsequently printed up and added the explanation of the new policy’s effect on the employees’ incomes to the policy notices, and shortly thereafter was terminated. BTW, the club is now a 40 lot luxury subdivision...
Pay is taxed, cash tips... well.. you can fudge that on your taxes now can’t you?
I will always pick a job that puts cash in my hand daily over one where I am waiting 2 weeks for a taxed check to show up, at least for these types of jobs.
I never worked in a restaurant, but I did work other jobs in my youth that were tip based.. Car Wash, Pizza Delivery, etc.. I loved them... if I worked that day I knew I would have some cash in my pocket that night. The amount might vary from day to day... but I never ever found myself in the old... have to wait til payday to have $$ to do something if I wanted.
The problem with this sort of system, is you remove the motivation from the server, and you are socializing the income... a great server who’s worked hard and has earned the better higher paying busier shift is now making no more money than someone who’s half arsed and phoning it in working tuesday afternoon because they aren’t good enough to work the busier times.. but both are making the same amount per hour.
Houseguests took us out for dinner on Tuesday.....I could see the waiter got a very nice tip, then because he said he had worked there for 28 years, the lady pulled out an extra $20.00 for him!!!
An 18 percent surcharge? Cara you have no right to force people to pay tips in any way.
I will not eat at an establishment where the tip is added on to my bill.
It is my business if i pay a tip and how much and who to.
Also if a waitress is working for tips she will do her best, which is to your advantage.
Good luck but i think you have let the socialists influence you.
Her motive, she says, is to “create stability in the workplace, because there is a disparity in pay.”
So she is going to force a 18 percent tip and take a portion of it.
And now we come to the real reason.
“In some cases a server is making more than the cooks, the bartenders and even me.”
Envy. Not attractive.
Why can’t a wait staff be hired as independent contractors?
Ruining a successful business with improvements
$30 to 40 an hour! The money is in dumplings!
Bao Bao Dumpling House
If she's right...good for her.
If the cafe next to her takes the other path...and they are right...good for them.
Personally....I think what she wants it like the Russian system of old..."Here is what you make, period" No incentive...No reason to be the best server you can be...etc..etc....