[absolootezer0]

Every wait staff person I ever knew was a registered Democrat.

come to my restaurant. we don't have a single democrat.
as far as paying full salary to everyone.. ask your insurance agent what his base salary is. your car salesman, 90% of contractors, mechanics, repairmen, hairstylists/ barber, etc. granted, you don't tip these all these guys, but they, like servers, work for comission. the better, faster, more accurate job they do, the more upsells they make.. the more money they make.
yes, tipping a server is a more direct comission, but it amounts to the same thing. its incentive to make sure your table is clean and set before you sit down, your order is right, timely, that you don't lack for anything, to offer suggestions, to know the ingredients of the food in case of allergies, to make you happy.. basically, they're trying to make your dinner as enjoyable as if your mother was making you your favourite birthday meal.

[OldDeckHand]

"come to my restaurant. we don't have a single democrat. "

Several years ago, right during the Invasion of Iraq, my wife and I were dining at very upscale restaurant in Atlanta. Our waiter happened to be an mature Iranian immigrant, who fled Iran after the Shah was deposed. The subject of Iraq came up, and some other political questions and it became apparent that he was a very conservative guy. And I commented to him that I presumed that to be unusual. I was always under the impression that restaurants were a traditional bastion of liberalism. He surprised me even further by saying virtually all the wait staff were Republicans - remember, it's an upscale restaurant - but, most of the kitchen staff were liberal, to especially include the chef de cuisine.

I have often wondered if that's typical in restaurants that tend to employee the mature, professional waiter, and not just the "kids" working themselves through college or waiting for their big "breaks".