"Servers make up income with tips" ... HA!

A good friend in another city sent me this rant about her daughter, who recently started working as a server at a Cracker Barrel and has been disillusioned by the tips.

I think this kind of thing is all too true, particularly for servers who work at this and similar "casual" chains, and it really pokes a hole in the theories that servers don't need minimum wage because they make it up with tips. Comments welcome, especially if you've been there and done that.

<i>She said she worked 12 tables last night and got $22 in tips. She said that was for $300 total bill for all the tables. She said she talked to the manager and he told her she's a great waitress, but the kind of people who frequent CB are elderly for the most part and just don't tip. Makes me really mad. If you have enough money to go out to eat, you should factor in the tip when you're looking at menu prices. If you can't afford the tip, stay the hell home or go someplace like McDonalds.</i>

Wow!!! That strikes a chord with me....

I always tip over and above at places like this..Maybe It's just because I'm in the Bizz or I just like to over tip for breakfast or lunch...

However, I don't find this report amazing at all..
I've seen it with my own eyes, watching tables around me at a place like Cracker Barrel, or Steak and Shake and the observing the patrons and how they act.
Sometimes how they ask thier server to"run thru the gauntlet" for them and then when it's time to settle up...Well it's embarrasing
.

Restaurants are highly regulated and if tips do not meet the minimum, the restaurant has to make it up on their checks.

Um....yeah. That NEVER happens. Seriously. Also- even if they did actually follow that law, the minimum is minimum wage. So, what, $5.15?

I remember getting on my in-laws a few years back. We took them out for a decent breakfast, and I picked up the tab. They insisted on at least handling the tip, and promply laid down $4. When I raised my eyebrows at the low amount, they said for breakfast they always tip $1 a person. I asked them if they knew how much a server made an hour, and they said "Of course, minimum wage!". After I explained that they were making a little over $2 an hour and that tips were considered part of their compensation for their work, it was as if someone pointed out the sun in the sky to them. They had no idea. At least now they tip better.

Of course, you will never get past some people just simply being cheap. But there might also be a simple lack of knowledge on how a server is being paid. I bet more people than you think believe that servers make a good hourly wage and that tips are the icing on the cake, rather than the eggs that hold the whole thing together.

thats true...I got in the biggest fight with my stepmom way back when I first started serving because she would not believe that servers got paid $2.13 an hour...it actually got pretty ugly, because I'm really stubborn!

as a server and an owner, i can tell you that $2.13 is the standard in the industry,
this usually includes an hour to two hours of "sidework" - cleaning, prep work, rolling silverware.......

i used to collect my checks from a former employer for up to three months at a time because i got didn't want to cash one check for $0.22,
some servers may actually owe money at the end of the pay period to pay their taxes

and remember, most servers are not "full time" 40 plus hours a week employees
so no healthcare, 401k, life, dental, vaction pay, sick pay,...blah, blah, blah

i believe every person in this country should work at the following jobs before they turn 25

waiter/server
convenient store clerk
telephone representative


we may all have a little more respect for our fellow man/woman

As Steve Martin's character said in My Blue Heaven - "I don't tip, I overtip". I worked as a server/bartender on Long Island for several years and it always amazed me how truly awful people can be. Invariably for me, it was always the pickiest people with the most inane requests who tipped the worst. What really got me going were the times when I would deliver exactly what was asked for and the patron would delightedly reply how happy they were that it was "exactly like I wanted it" and then leave almost nothing

I once had a huge fight with an ex-bf's dad who after leaving a horrific tip despite excellent service declared "she is only a waitress - it's not like she actually cooked the meal or anything" It was all I could do to not choke the life out of him. And yes, he was one of those fussy pants customers.

A good friend in another city sent me this rant about her daughter, who recently started working as a server at a Cracker Barrel and has been disillusioned by the tips.

I think this kind of thing is all too true, particularly for servers who work at this and similar "casual" chains, and it really pokes a hole in the theories that servers don't need minimum wage because they make it up with tips. Comments welcome, especially if you've been there and done that.

<i>She said she worked 12 tables last night and got $22 in tips. She said that was for $300 total bill for all the tables. She said she talked to the manager and he told her she's a great waitress, but the kind of people who frequent CB are elderly for the most part and just don't tip. Makes me really mad. If you have enough money to go out to eat, you should factor in the tip when you're looking at menu prices. If you can't afford the tip, stay the hell home or go someplace like McDonalds.</i>

Hi, Robin,

I meant to wade into this debate earlier, but I became occupied with other stuff.

I don't care what excuses cheap tippers make, they're rotten people if they've gotten acceptable service and then stiff the servers.

Period.

Someone who makes less than minimum wage and busted his or her fanny for his customer's over-demanding and under-appreciating ego deserves a 20% + tip, especially if it's a cheap place like Cracker Barrel where the tip would be probably less than $5 for two. No excuse is acceptable.

If you don't want to tip, move to Europe where they pay their servers a livable wage and tipping isn't expected. It doesn't work that way here.

Grrr!!!

I totally agree about the generous tip for someone who has busted their fanny. Even someone that has done an adequate job. And I do usually tip more than 15% ... usually 20%-25%.

I do, however, struggle with the ones that don't even make the adequate description. No drink refills, sullen service, wrong order, taking 20 minutes just to come and take the drink order, food cold by the time it gets to the table. Do these servers really deserve the extra tip? I'm genuinely wanting honest answers here.

Do they deserve the extra tip? I'd say no but the probably depends on what you mean by extra. For me the difference between realy good service (which honestly is more common than not) and barely adequate service is about 10%. Standard tip for good service - 20%, higher for great - 25%... sometimes as high as 30% for truly special service. For barely adequate, I'll usually put down about 15%.

Some have told me I shouldn't put down anything for bad service, or I should tip a tiny amount to send a message that the service was bad. But I can't bring myself to do either. Why? Everyone has a bad night, and the servers really do get the shaft most of the time. While I can't reward barely adequate service, I have a hard time overly penalizing them as well.

It's a Cracker Barrel, for heaven's sake. Bland, tacky, filled with junk.

Case closed.

"Death to chain restaurants."

[Robin Garr]

It's a Cracker Barrel, for heaven's sake. Bland, tacky, filled with junk.

Case closed.

"Death to chain restaurants."

Point taken, but your argument works better for food geeks than for Karen's daughter, who lives in a small town in middle America where chains are the only option, and who needs a job.

Personally, politically and philosophically, I'm about ready to take to the barricades against the mega-corporate sector in general, not just chain "food." But easy political assertions don't come up easily against the lives of real people who have to choose between working there or not working at all.

I agree.

I'm prepared to make the case that overall, the chain ethos encourages Unthink, which at heart is the issue here.

[Robin Garr]

I'm prepared to make the case that overall, the chain ethos encourages Unthink, which at heart is the issue here.

As you know, you will get no argument from me on that.

I worked at Cracker Barrel for about a hundred years and in 9 different stores--from small towns to cities the size of Louisville. I made better money there overall than in any other place I worked.

If you talk to your friend again, the secret there is to be VERY FAST and VERY AGGRESSIVE. I would try to sell the hell out of chicken and dumplings and meatloaf because they are sitting on the steam table and only take about five minutes to get to the customer. Also I always asked other servers if they wanted to take a break so I could have their tables. If she can get there early enough she can also do the 2 o'clock shift and make most of her money before the rest of the night shift even starts.

It was the hardest place I ever worked, but I loved it there and there is a lot of money to be made.

Turn em and burn em.

Oh, I would also get lazy people to pay me to roll their silverware or do their sidework. I could pick up an extra 50 bucks a night that way charging $10 to roll a tub of silver. I got really fast at it.

[Robin Garr]

If you talk to your friend again, the secret there is to be VERY FAST and VERY AGGRESSIVE.

Michelle, Karen (my friend) is in this thread now, so I expect she'll see this post. I wanted to thank you, though. Your advice seems right on target to me and would be good counsel for a server at just about any restaurant, not just CB. I'm thinking you were one of the great ones!