When I waitressed, I made $2.01 an hour. My check deducted health insurance and back then, profit sharing. My bi-weekly check was around $30 dollars. Rightly so? I was going to college, engineering school, raising 3 young daughters, paying all the bills, no child support from a dead beat dad. I depended on tips. I suppose if you’ve never been in that situation, you don’t know.
I wasn’t on welfare.
During my first marriage there was a long period when my wife at that time didn’t work outside the home. My day job was a government position but didn’t come close to covering the bills, so I worked a 2nd job week nights (straight commission telemarketing) and a 3rd weekend job as a bartender ($6/hr + tips)at a busy Western-style steakhouse across the street from the busiest airport in that state. Even after Hurricane Katrina, I didn’t get welfare.
I cocktailed and tended bar for 20 years. I lived off my tips and gave excellent service so I would get them. I had plenty of people who I just figured were not tippers. They still got good service, not excellent but good, and I shrugged and went on. I still made plenty of money off the tippers so never gave the non tippers a second thought. The ones I really didn’t like were the ones who were demanding and left you nothing. I still would have never thought about anything like this.