$$How much is a server worth? $$

10 Jobs With High Pay and Minimal Schooling Required!

1. Air Traffic Controllers: $117,200
2. Industrial Production Managers: $77,670
3. First-Line Police and Detective Supervisors: $69,300
4. Funeral Director: $49,620
5. Police and Sheriff Patrol Officers: $47,460

Servers are worth more than all of these jobs? I don't think so.



http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/ar ... egotiation

NBA players make a fortune....how do you place value on someone?

See my post above. There is a high demand for guys who can put a ball in a basket, but a very low supply of guys able to do it. Ditto for action movie stars and people able to run multi-billion dollar corporations. And, like in any profession, there are lots of overpaid CEOs, actors and basketball players because the guys doing the hiring made poor decisions.

In my personal opinion, some people are putting far too much importance into a Server's importance in terms of careers.

[150'000 a year for a "high end" server ?...With all due respect Shawn, I'm thinking you might want to put the ol' hash pipe down and just back away.

I think the use of a hash pipe is elitist. The vast majority of hash smokers cant afford to pack a pipe with hash. I would imagine most end up using the old pin and glass or the European model of rolling it up with a bit of old tobacco. Although if you were pulling in 75 bucks as hour....

Awesome !! Almost choked on that one..

But being serious, the value to me is 5 times their weight in gold !!

I am blessed to work with several people whom make very good wages on a daily basis. Very professional, respect their profession and it shows in their bank accounts and attitude.

You occasionaly come across the " I cant wait to get a real job attitudes ", but those are the ones usually that the staff filters out themselves.

Serving is a very tough, competetive, and sometimes draining profession. But rewards come easy to the right people

I appreciate the apology, Steve. Seems like the servers tend to take a little more heat than the rest of the world regarding their potential to be involved in illicit activity, so i tend to rush to their defense.

No one is devaluing other professions here, except all of you complaining that servers don't deserve to make $75 an hour.

Of course air traffic controllers should be paid more, just as health care professionals should be paid more.

The topic here is - how much is a Server worth? I missed the qualifications that it must be compared to every other occupation.

The trend in this thread seems to be that servers don't deserve to earn a decent living and they certainly don't deserve to earn a better living than anyone in a "career".

These servers handle your food and cater to your needs and wants everyday you choose not to cook for your self and most of them do their jobs very well. Many of them have years of experience, are college educated, are not felons, are not involved in illicit drug use, and genuinely enjoy their jobs. Yet, many of the "foodies" on this board would argue that they are not worth more than $60,000 a year.

I am very disappointed in you.

shawn

Teachers are certainly worth $60,000 per year. Unfortunately, even ones with Master's degrees won't make that much.

No one is saying that servers shouldn't make more than they do, but $75 an hour? That's nuts. Most doctors don't make that much!

Shawn, since you own a restaurant can you see how paying a server $60k might not work? I'd say if you had one server on your payroll for $60k you probably wouldn't be in business very long. But heck, I'd come work for you and be a dedicated server for that pay, just say the word!!!

Shawn owns a restaurant?? I would love to know how he keeps his overheads down to be able to pay a server $60,000. One server mind you, and he would probably need at least 5. So that is $300,000. If the person who takes the food out is paid $60,000, then surely the person who actually cooks it should be paid $80,000. Three chefs(open 12 hours a day 7 days a week), another $240,000. Don't forget the bus boy and dishwasher and prep person. Worth at least $45,000 each. So, that is $675,000 for labor. Add to that electricity, gas, insurance, hood cleaning, telephone, credit card machine, taxes, witholdings for employees, 941 and 940, workmans compensation, vendors, equipment, maintenance, repair bills, advertising. He would have to take millions per year to pay for all that. That is why, the tip system works.

Alison gets it. We obviously can't afford to pay our servers those wages, but we do pay more than the $2.13 minimum.
It is also important to note that none of my 8 servers works more than 30 hours a week.

And hypothetically, if tipping were eliminated as a practice and i had to pay them hourly..... i'd like to pay the best around $18 an hour and the worst around $10 or so. Keep in mind, where we're located, the type of restaurant we are, etc.
And i'd have to raise prices somewhere in the 40% range (hypothetically)
so a $4 beer will cost you $5.60 and a $30 pizza will cost you $42.....but no tip required

My restaurant will obviously appear on the lower end of the scale mainly because of our location, but our servers do ok for themselves in tiny little Charlestown.

I should probably clarify that the high end of this scale ($75) may only appear in large metropolitan areas like NY, Chicago, LA, and the like. And probably only at the high end 5 star establishments.

shawn

The trend in this thread seems to be that servers don't deserve to earn a decent living and they certainly don't deserve to earn a better living than anyone in a "career".

Who mentioned a Server does not deserve to earn a decent living, Shawn?

Kyle, the following quotes imply to me that servers don't deserve to earn a decent living, my thoughts on a decent living are in the $15 range.

"$15-$30 ???? 31k to 62k ??? I disagree. Might agree with $15 at the top end." - Brian Curl

"I'd think the bottom should be lower, maybe $10" - Steve H

"More simply, it's assumed that next to anyone can do it, but those who have something better to do will."
"I'm not willing to wager my farm that the general public would reward servers at much more than a minimum wage rate. Maybe low double digits. Maybe."
- Matthew D

Additionally, the various descriptions used to describe the $75 range as ridiculous, absurd, no one serving should make $75/hr, etc reinforce the view that "serving" is not a valued profession.
When in fact, a server consistently meeting the highest standards of service in a busy high end restaurant should easily be able to earn $150,000 a year.

I haven't even mentioned the fact that we as diners place our well being in the hands of these servers every time we dine out. They check our orders for allergic possibilities, they wash their hands when they handle our food, they send back the salad with the wilted greens (before you even see it), they check the expiration dates on our salad dressings, they throw out the items that have spoiled, they sanitize our tables, and make sure our wine has not gone south. Servers are the last line in defense for your food safety before the plate hits your table.

Just to clarify my statement...

I think everyone deserves to earn a living wage, and such living wages could be reached through needed "salary correction." I also know how hard I worked to make such a wage when I was waiting tables, and I know how much crap I took while doing it.

My statement was more an assessment of what I see to be the popular bias. So, yes, those words came out of my "digital" mouth. But they don't place me within the group that believes that.

Kyle, the following quotes imply to me that servers don't deserve to earn a decent living, my thoughts on a decent living are in the $15 range.

"$15-$30 ???? 31k to 62k ??? I disagree. Might agree with $15 at the top end." - Brian Curl

"I'd think the bottom should be lower, maybe $10" - Steve H

"More simply, it's assumed that next to anyone can do it, but those who have something better to do will."
"I'm not willing to wager my farm that the general public would reward servers at much more than a minimum wage rate. Maybe low double digits. Maybe."
- Matthew D

I hate to burst your bubble, but you didn't really prove your point that the "trend in this thread seems to be that servers don't deserve to earn a decent living." In fact, asserting that has only decreased the credibility of your other statements.

First of all, I will give you that Brian's $15 top end is low. But that's one statement, and that hardly constitutes a trend.

As Matthew pointed out, you totally took his quotes completely out of context. His views are consistently in support of the proletariat (he has a shirt with Marx on it! ), and he's consistently agreed with you in principle, if not on an actual dollar amount. How that could have been missed is beyond me.

As for Steve's comment about how the bottom should be around $10 an hour, what's wrong with that? You're making the false assumption that every server is in it for a career and providing for a family. Many servers are high school and college students who are just trying to make money on the side. I know lots of students who would love to make $10 an hour. I certainly didn’t make that working for the university when I was in undergrad. $10 an hour as a minimum in no way, shape, or firm backs up your assertion that we as a forum want servers to starve. To imply so is ludicrous.

When in fact, a server consistently meeting the highest standards of service in a busy high end restaurant should easily be able to earn $150,000 a year.

Did you miss the part about Charlie Trotter paying his best server in the low six figures? If he can’t do it, then how can you assume that it should be “easy?”

I haven't even mentioned the fact that we as diners place our well being in the hands of these servers every time we dine out. They check our orders for allergic possibilities, they wash their hands when they handle our food, they send back the salad with the wilted greens (before you even see it), they check the expiration dates on our salad dressings, they throw out the items that have spoiled, they sanitize our tables, and make sure our wine has not gone south. Servers are the last line in defense for your food safety before the plate hits your table.

Once again, I’m not knocking the serving profession at all (how many times am I going to have to say that!) but when you start throwing out arguments like “they have to wash their hands,” your argument becomes a farce. Kindergarteners know to wash their hands before they handle food. “Check expiration dates?” “Throw out spoiled food?” If that’s your argument for servers making $150k, then you’ve gone far, far awry of the points you should be making.

You should be arguing the same points that everyone else on this forum (which obviously wants servers to starve) has been making. Talk about the difficulty in multitasking while you’re remembering orders, refilling drinks, running food, and turning tables. Talk about dealing with unruly customers who don’t appreciate your hard work. Talk about the long hours, working holidays, and the time spent on your feet. Just please don’t complain about washing your hands!

I for one find it fascinating that I mentioned that cooks take home around a third to half of what servers take home, and not even one person has commented on that.

Interesting.