Posted on 01/07/2009 9:58:14 AM PST by ex-Texan
Servers suffer as gratuities, and their incomes, plummet with the economy
Nobody is sitting at the rack at Mary’s Club on a Friday afternoon.
The rack is the counter that lines the stage at Mary’s, an institution among Portland strip clubs, at 129 S.W. Broadway Ave. Customers who sit at the rack, up close to the dancers, are expected to tip dollar bills or more throughout the performances.
In fact, there’s a sign in Mary’s Club that reads, “If you’re watching and not tipping, you’re stealing.”
But it’s easier to watch and not tip from seats further back or at the bar off to the side. Same view, not as close, and customers don’t feel quite as guilty about ignoring the sign.
And that, the dancers at Mary’s Club and other dancers say, is what is increasingly happening as the recession deepens.
In fact, as money gets tighter, all sorts of workers who are dependent on tips to pay their rents and put groceries on the table are suffering, big time.
At Joe’s Cellar, at 1332 N.W. 21st Ave., a decidedly neighborhood diner, waitress Dianna Johs is just barely scraping by on her minimum wage and tips. On a recent Monday, she tallied her sales at the end of the shift, $143, and said her take-home pay from tips would amount to $15 for the day.
Two years ago, Johs says, her average tip was 15 percent to 20 percent of the bill. Today it’s closer to 10 percent, she says, and she’s thankful that she’s got neighborhood regulars as customers, who she knows are tipping as much as they can.
But even the regulars are more frequently ordering dinner without a drink, saving money and cutting down on the overall bill — and on Johs’ tip. The people we don’t know
Waiters at other restaurants report that lower tips are the least of their problems; the recession has meant a cut in shifts for many, and fewer customers once they do get a shift.
Dancers don’t have it much better. In fact, they may have it worse. Dancers at Mary’s Club and other clubs report that their tips are about half what they were a year or two ago. And tips are the only income the dancers receive. Because they are hired as independent contractors, dancers don’t receive the minimum wage waiters and waitresses get.
“I could almost collect food stamps,” says dark-haired dancer Satori, adding that just a year ago she made a much better living. Some dancers, especially at neighborhood strip clubs, which appear to be losing business faster than downtown venues that can still rely on hotel customers, report they are heading home with as little as $20 for a night’s work.
Beth Hansen says that, until this year, men sitting at the rack on average would give her two or three dollars for each song to which she danced. Now, even when she can get customers to sit up close, the tip is usually a dollar a song.
“You hear a lot more people say, ‘I’m really broke now,’ ” Hansen says.
Kit Yarrow, a professor of consumer psychology at Golden Gate University in San Francisco who studies the psychology of tipping, keeps a database of people in the service industries. She says that service providers nationwide are reporting a steep decline in their incomes.
“I was wondering if wealthy people that have that extra little income would maybe feel a little extra compassion and leave even bigger tips,” Yarrow says. “It’s not happening.”
The only servers who appear to be still getting the tips they once did are those who have established personal relationships with their customers, according to Yarrow. A housekeeper who comes into clean a house weekly, or the family dog walker, are examples, Yarrow says.
The ones suffering the worst, Yarrow says, are “the people we don’t know.” The best example, she says, is hotel housekeepers. Most people know they are supposed to leave money in a hotel room on checkout, but it’s so easily skipped when the service provider is anonymous.
“The psychology of tipping requires that you feel a connection to the server,” Yarrow says. “We like to think elves made up the room.”
Bartenders appear able to establish the type of relationship that makes it hard for customers to eliminate tips. A number of local bartenders report that their tips appear to be holding steady, and a few are reporting an increase in business.
Of course, there is another factor at work in bars. “Any time people are under the influence, that usually works in favor of the server,” Yarrow notes. A ‘little bit of recognition’
At Bishops Barbershop on Northwest 21st Avenue, Veronica Green and most of her coworkers agree that tips are about half of what they were a year ago.
A $21 haircut used to yield a $4 tip on average for an even $25, Green says. Sometimes it still does, but not always.
Some customers, Green reports, have been walking away without tipping at all. “Sometimes they’ll say, ‘Oh, did your prices go up?’ A lot of people are acting apologetic; they’ll act a little squeamish. Almost embarrassed.”
A number of downtown hotel doormen report lower tips. But Marshall Tipton, who has served as a doorman at the Benson Hotel on Southwest Broadway Avenue for eight years, says his income is holding steady, Tipton says he often will receive a five dollar bill for getting a cab and taking bags to a car.
But there’s more to it than that, Tipton says. A number of the people checking in and out of the Benson, he says, are weekly or monthly regulars. They’ve come to know him, and Tipton makes sure, if possible, he has at least a short conversation with them, and shows he remembers them.
“That little bit of recognition goes a long way, so you don’t feel like a stranger in a strange town,” Tipton says.
Beth Hansen, from Mary’s Club, has learned first hand what Yarrow says about establishing a relationship.
“Right now, it definitely pays more to be chatty with people,” the dancer says. “Before you could get up on stage and just do a big show. Now you need to do a big show and be chatty.”
Maids get paid from tips or an hourly wage?
I dunno. I've left $5 or more, depending upon where and how long I stayed. After watching a supervisor go through the rooms first and siphon off any tips, I made a point, when I saw the girls in the hallway, to tip them then and there.
I usually tip the hotel maids $5-1$10 per day, and the skycap guy at the airport $5 per bag. Maybe it differs on the area in question.
Well, just wait the SEIU will be moving in to organize the topless wait staff, right after they finish with the day care workers and the landscape workers.
I Like It!
I leave my hairdresser 15 per cent except at Christmas, when I give her ten bucks.
ignore the nature of the establishment for a moment Freepers and appreciate the intellectual victory we have in this illustrious (cough, cough) publication:
They are acknowledging that ‘trickle down economics’ not only is true but that it WORKS! This is exactly what Reagan said and exactly what Milton Friedman proved.
When rich people stop going to restaurants or to strip clubs, the non-rich who work at those places don’t make as much money and they are economically harmed. End of story. Like gravity, this is a law of economics which is provable.
“””I’m not even grossing $60K annually, but am expected to subsidize the pensions and salaries of teachers and govenment employees that put in far fewer hours, take far fewer risks and have far fewer skills for far more money. I, and a lot of other workers in private industry just like me, are getting tired of it. “””
That always burns me also- I pay taxes to people that enjoy a better lifestyle than I do.
Looking on the bright side if the economy goes down there will be a possible leveling readjustment
We are all toast anyway
[cue Weezer]
“When I was younger
“I used to tip strippers for fun, yeah
“Actually I didn’t do that
“’Cause I didn’t want the stripper to be sad...”
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