RestauRANTS: How we treat those who serve us

I will probably be writing about the customer service industry and service professionals’ rights a lot in this blog. That is because I moonlight as a waitress.

Did you know that your waiter or waitress likely makes $2.65 per hour, and that your “gratuity” or TIPS (To Insure Prompt Service) is not as much a ‘thank you,’ but rather their actual wage? I’ve found that most people don’t know this, unless they’ve worked in a restaurant before. Here is how wages can break down in a restaurant: Cooks make minimum wage if they work at a restaurant that practices “tip outs,” (the servers must give a percentage of their tips to the cooks at the end of the night). The dishwasher makes minimum wage and receives no tip out. The hostess makes minimum wage and may or may not receive a tip out. The server makes anywhere from 2.65 – 5.00, depending on the rate of the tip out. The purpose of “tipping out,” is to ensure that service is prompt across the board — the cooks are that much faster because they realize it increases their pay out at the end of the night, etc.

At the restaurant where I work, we do not “tip out,” which is why we make $2.65/Hr, our tips belong solely to us. This may appear to be a good thing, because I get to keep whatever I make regardless of anyone else’s work. However, because I don’t tip the cooks at the end of the night, they can go as slow as they want making my food and I am the only one who has to suffer for it. Or, if they forget to put something on a sandwich or leave it off, I am the only one who loses money. There are arguments to both sides of this coin — neither way is necessarily better. I would argue that the “tip out,” system creates more of a community setting, because everyone is responsible for the same thing — a good product delivered fast.

Here is my problem with paying servers $2.65/hr in a nutshell:
Note: I am writing this assuming the server performs at average or above average quality of service. If you’re bad at your job, then you will make a lower percentage in tips regardless of your hourly wage, and that is your own fault. If the server in question is, on average, timely and professional, the following things are true.

1. Everyone deserves the right to a bad day. If the average person wakes up on the wrong side of the bed one morning, or spills their coffee all over their shirt, steps in dog poop and gets a flat tire before work — they can be pissed off for the rest of the day without losing money. Maybe their boss will look down on their attitude, but their actual salary will not be affected. As a waitress, if all of the above things happen to me, I still have to smile at every table and act like nothing bad has ever happened to me or I will make 10-15% of my sales in tips rather than the 20% I would make on a good day (if I’m a good server).

Example: Sinus headaches. I get them every time the weather changes, and they get so bad that I want to drill burr holes in my own skull with a power drill. Every dish clattering against a counter brings a rush of nausea over my whole body. Opening my eyes in the sunlight makes me want to curl up and die. Standing up, walking, and exerting any effort makes my temples throb. Despite this, I’m expected to smile at every single table and make small talk with each customer that engages me, to make them feel like we’re friends. Friends that don’t tell each other that they have a raging headache. Working in a restaurant is like that — the turn over rate is so high that you can find yourself working with a completely new staff in a few months time. That means, every employee is expendable. If I have a headache this bad, calling in sick could lose me my job. So, not only do I have no job security, but I also get paid zilch when I have to come in after spending two days hugging porcelain.

2. Simon Cowell shouldn’t judge your life. When the average American goes to work, they don’t have a panel of judges rating their performance and determining how much they should get paid at the end of the day. Yes, your performance may be rated in the long run to determine a raise, but your hourly rate is secure regardless of performance until you lose your job or change jobs.

For a server, 100% of the time they are on the job, they are standing on stage in front of Simon Cowell trying their hardest to do well and no matter their effort, are criticized in the end. They are expected to smile, look pretty (yes, appearance matters), be graceful and strong, be quick, be accurate, be timely, be charismatic, be entertaining, and do everything but tap dance at the customers request (and even that may happen).

Even if you have the nicest customer in the world, you still have to think about what they think about you the entire time they’re there. What do they want to hear/see/feel? Your server did not sign up to be an actor or a singer, they signed up to serve food. So, why are they being criticized for their acting and entertaining skills, while also being expected to know exactly what type of entertainment you like? What if I crack a joke at a table with no sense of humor? I lose money. What if I don’t check back 100 times at a table that likes to be visited, or check back too many times at a table that wants to be left alone? I lose money. What happens if I’m waiting on a table of four males who wish they had my prettier co-worker? I lose money. I did not realize I was in the entertainment business, but at $2.65 per hour, that’s exactly what it is.

3. We cannot assume cross-cultural, cross-generational understanding. Not every person understands that 20% is an appropriate tip for a server who is timely and professional. Some think 15% is appropriate, some think 10%. Therefore, how much I get paid at the end of the night depends entirely on what the customer deems an appropriate tip rate for a competent server. Furthermore, a teenager knows about as much about getting paid as a rock — I’ve had a table of thirteen teenage kids come in to eat, rack up a $70+ bill, and tip $5 (in change). Older customers, from a different generation, tip markedly less because they may not know what a server gets paid, or what percentage is currently appropriate.

Or, I have a lot of customers from other countries that don’t know how Americans tip, I can usually bank on 5-10% from these tables. I enjoy my country, and the diversity it offers. But, I also resent getting three foreign tables in a night because they don’t understand how an American restaurant works. Do I blame them? No. I blame the system.

Do you depend on someone’s knowledge of your profession to determine your wage on a day-to-day basis? No. Someone within the company decides exactly how much you get paid based on their knowledge of everything the job entails. My average customer knows nothing about how a restaurant works.

Note: Also, at the end of the night, I have to claim what percentage of tips I made to my boss, and his boss, and his boss. If I consistently claim I made less than 20%, I could lose my job, even if I work harder than any other server in my restaurant.

3. Death & Taxes. Legally, a server is required to claim that they made 16% of their total sales, or higher, at the end of each shift. Therefore, if I get all customers who tip a straight 10 or 15%, I’m claiming that I made 1 – 6% more of my total sales than I actually made. If my total sales were $400.00 in a shift, and I made $60, I would still have to claim I made $64.00. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, $4, woohoo. But, that could add up if it happened consistently. Imagine having to claim you made $4 a day more than you actually do. If you work 5 days per week, 52 weeks a year, that’s $1,040 per year you’re paying taxes on that you never even made.

4. Shit happens. Gratuity does not account for this popular American idiom. Take my friend for example: One night, we’re in the middle of the dinner rush and she gets a phone call. She can’t answer because she’s working. Then, she gets a series of texts, and her mother is out of town on vacation and she’s the emergency contact for her hospitalized grandmother so she has to check them. Grandma fell and broke her hip and is in the ER, no one else can sign consent forms to admit her for any treatment. So, this girl now has to find out a way to get to the hospital, take care of her grandmother, contact her mother in a foreign country, and still manage to bring out everyone’s food on time and smile while doing it. She has to wait for every customer to finish eating, drinking, and paying before her grandmother can even receive a painkiller. Needless to say, she is freaking out. But, her customer won’t know this about her, and she could stand to make $5 less per hour than she would have on a good day, because she is making 15% of her sales rather than 20%. That’s the difference between making $7.65/hr and making $12.65.

Another example: I opened the restaurant at 9:30am, and I’m scheduled to work a particularly long shift until 8pm, on our busiest day of the week. At 4pm, someone calls off for the night shift because they’re sick. Now we’re short staffed, and its pretty busy so we’re taking on more tables than we should be. Everything is okay though, because we’re making a little bit more money (because our sales are higher, we make more regardless of tip percentage, as long as we’re still doing a good job). Then, in the middle of the shift, a server sprains her ankle tripping over a high chair in the middle of the dining room. Suddenly there are only three people there when our sales merited having five.

Now, not only do I have to compensate for losing those two servers, but I am also trying to take care of the tables that the ankle-less server can no longer attend to. Meanwhile, none of my tables are aware that I am freaking out, because I’m not allowed to show any other emotion but happiness. I now appear to be a complete flake, because for reasons outside my control, I am carrying 33% of the tables in an entire restaurant (in our restaurant that means 9 at a time), when I should have been carrying 20% (5 tables), and I’m bringing food out late, not getting refills, taking a while to get the check out, taking longer to greet tables in the first place, not cleaning up dirty plates — all while smiling like there is nothing wrong. Halfway through the night I’m moving so quickly to grab food that I press the top of hand against a heater and my skin literally melts to it. I have a second degree burn and can barely think about anything other than how badly it hurts, but I have no time to stop. I consistently make 10% of my table’s sales, because I am nearly crying (tired+hungry+pain=bad tips).

Then, after all this, I have to stay until we close at 10:30pm because the server that sprained her ankle was supposed to do this and now she can’t. This happened to me. And despite having $1,000 in sales at the end of the day, I only made $120. Imagine working at your job for 13 hours straight with no break, and receiving 12% in tips instead of the 20% you expected because your customers had no idea that you were in an impossible situation. Imagine then telling your boss that it was the hardest day ever, and hear him say, “Well, you made some money didn’t you?” because he is completely oblivious to how difficult your job is.

5. The Customer is Not Always Right. Maybe this a separate argument, one which I will definitely argue again at a later time, but — tips do not take into account the personality of the customer. Imagine approaching a table and before you can even say hello, someone says “Get me a glass of water.” My job is to smile and say, “Sure, no problem, right away,” when in fact I’m thinking, “Excuse me? I’m a human being not a computer system.” I bring the glass of water and the customer, without looking at me, says, “I want a burger with no mayonnaise, put that on the side, and fries. Well done, if it isn’t well done I’ll send it back.” I am to smile, again, and say I will have it out quickly. When I bring out the burger, though it is well done to my manager’s standards, whom I check with before going out, the customer sends it back and I now have to wait for an entirely new burger, and my manager is going to take the burger off their bill. I am now facing a bill for $1.99 fry, that took me twice as long, and twice as many trips, as a customer that is of average personality. If the customer leaves me a 20% tip, which is doubtful, I’m facing a $0.39 tip for the 40minutes I waited on him. Not only did I bring his drink, deliver his meal (twice), bring him a refill on his water, deliver his bill, take his payment and return it, and bus his table after he left all for a whopping $.39. Maybe $1 if he was feeling generous. This Happens ALL the time.

Example: Customer orders a kids macaroni and cheese to go. They call back later saying the container wasn’t filled all the way and they are disappointed (I must point out mac and cheese costs $1.99 at our store and comes with a side and a drink). My manager gives them free kids meals next time they come in. I get them at my table for their next visit. I give them their free kids meal, for both kids, making sure that everything is perfect. My manager also gives them their desert for free. I am now facing a bill that is $13.00 for a table with four people at it (this means four drinks to refill at inconsistent junctures, four peoples plates to clear and wipe, four meals to deliver, etc.), because they didn’t receive macaroni noodles to the brim of their bowl. I make $2 on this table.

6. Give Me Fatties or Give Me Nothing! Okay, I don’t mean that offensively, it is more or less a joke. However, with a rant there must come honesty — I have grown to love America’s obesity problem when I’m at work. This is because the amount of money I make, depends on how much a person can eat. If I have a customer who eats a healthy meal, I stand to make half the money I would make on a person who eats more than they should. That is because my wage is based on a percentage of the bill, not a percentage of the effort.
Example: Table One is four people, and they all order salad and water. I now have to make four salads from scratch, which I do and not the cooks, and bring them refills because we have unlimited salad. This means making twice as many trips, or more, than at a table that ordered a sandwich. Their bill will come to $24, which probably means a $4 tip because people round to the lowest 5.

Then, I get Table Two, two people. They order an appetizer ($5), two sandwiches ($14), a fry and a salad ($4), sodas ($4.50), and a dessert ($5). Their bill is $33, and because the most work I had to do was make one small non-refillable salad, I’ve exerted much less effort. I stand to make $6 at this table if I’ve done a good job. The company I work for thinks that Table Two is an example of a perfect table: an appetizer, an entree, a side, a drink, and a dessert constitutes the best scenario. Table One, which required the most effort, was a complete server-seller failure, and made me less money.

At your work, do you depend on another person’s completely arbitrary consumption rate or hunger level to pay your bills? I think not.

I could go on, but I think that is enough for today. I know there are people out there who will disagree, they will claim that they are paying for a service and deserve to receive that service and that a waiter should not complain about a tip because it means they didn’t do their best. The truth is, when you go to a restaurant, you’re not paying for a service at all. You’re paying for a product — food. The tip does not cover labor, at all. Tonight, I worked a 5.5 hour shift and made $28.00. That is $5.60/Hour, and I walked 5+ miles (in circles around the restaurant), bussed 7+ tables, swept the floor, mopped the floor, detail cleaned an entire kitchen, and had to be friendly to 20+ complete strangers. The fact is, a cleaning crew paid to clean our restaurant gets paid more per hour to only clean the restaurant, than I did to clean it and wait on tables at the same time. Would you do that, if someone asked you to?

Later,
A.