In my neck of the woods, if you work fast food..ie Burger King, Wendy’s etc. you get paid regular minimum wage because these places are not traditionally the kind of places where people tip.
If you work at a regular restaurant where people sit to eat, and a wait person takes orders, brings food/drinks etc (not the cafeteria type places), you only get paid $2.19/hr. That’s IT. If it’s Joe’s greasy spoon upchuck, Texas Road House or a place with a chef, the hourly start rate is the same. Naturally, your tips are commiserate with the kind of place you work at, as well as your expertise. Joe’s upchuck isn’t going to see the kind of tips that Texas Roadhouse sees.
I once worked waitressing at a resort type place which paid me full minimum wage AND tips. I worked nearly 40 hrs./week and I was able to make a living as in, I was able to pay all of my bills and purchase food and not have to depend on any sort of government assistance. That is until one evening when I began my shift and the lights went out. Electric company pulled the power plug. Day before pay day, none of us ever received our wages, but the owner showed up at my new job waving hundred dollar bills around by the hand full. I threw him out of my dining room, and his friends too.
I should have grabbed the money from his hand and put it in my pocket. He was actually propositioning me. But, he wasn’t hurting financially as my children and I went hungry and my credit was destroyed during the interval between jobs.
Some places do struggle, but the better places will pick up the difference as lousy places go broke. That’s competition and it’s healthy as it weeds out poorly managed places.
Restaurants tend to under pay hourly wages to wait persons while bus persons get paid min wage AND take home $20% of the wait person’s tips. Business have been depending on the public to pay the wages of their employees for far too long. As a wait person, YOU don’t even get a tax break for paying out that 20% as your cost of doing business!
You can’t depend on tips for a living in a lot of places, because they’re too variable. Gone are the days when a quarter was a sufficient tip for a cup of coffee and piece of pie. But people still want to tip like that even with the pitiful wages that wait person’s receive.
Then, there are the places where as a wait person you PAY to work there! Places like that do exist. I had a friend in Florida who was awaiting a placement in one such place. Yep, there’s a line!
As a unionised wait person, my wage was 10% higher than the standard min wage for wait persons. That’s IT. For that, I got to turn over 2 hours pay per month, and I got to pay for medical insurance. There went the 10% difference. Restaurant unions in the state I worked in weren’t very good.
Sunday afternoons were the absolute WORST day of the week to be on shift, no matter which state I worked in. Sorry folks, but the after church crowd is the most demanding, and chinchi (stingy) customers of all. They don’t order cheap, they run you around while their kids are throwing garbage everywhere, and IF you get even a portion of the standard tipping amount, you’re doing well. You can count on 1/4 or less of the standard amount. Once in a RARE while wait persons actually receive the full amount. Nobody wants to be scheduled for sunday afternoons :(
If you can’t afford to budget in the tip, don’t eat there. Go to a fast food place. Some place you CAN afford.