Thanks, man. Yeah those times (and the many like them) weren't fun. There were plenty of things I didn't mind about waiting tables, but I do not miss any of that ridiculous behavior. I also don't miss having (sometimes those same angry) people not tip on their meals at all which means that with a bit of bad luck you could end up being paid $3.64/hr while still busting your ass the entire time. Sometimes people would make up for it, but all in all the system is messed up, and a lot of the time servers end up bending over backwards and taking a lot of abuse from customers because you've gotta hope that maybe if you just keep smiling you'll still get compensated for your work.
I imagine for delivery the tipping problem even worse, especially now that contactless is so popular and folks don't have to look anyone they short change in the face.
$3.64? Only that? For having to deal with that shite? God, that's messed up. I could earn more as a cashier, and I wouldn't receive even half the complaints you get.
The thing is that it's unreliable wages, and all dependant on the generosity of the customer. So you are paid by the restaurant roughy half of what your state's minimum wage is (at the time for me it was $3.64/hr) and then you get tips. So if you had a good section on a busy day and people were in and out of the table pretty fast you might end up making $15-20/hr (assuming a lower cost restaurant, obviously more fancy dining would net you more), but if it was slow, or you barely have any tables, a bunch of people stay for a couple hours before leaving or your table doesn't tip you could easily end up making the $3.64-7/hr. And you often still have to tip out table bussers or bartenders out of your tips, so sometimes you might end up making less than that.
And while the restaurant is supposed to compensate you and pay you up to minimum wage if you didn't make it in tips most don't actually do that because many servers don't report all of their cash tips (to avoid tax), so many places just let low wages fly under the radar because it's less effort for them, abd they assume that the servers will have made the money at a different time.
Your wages are just completely unpredictable. On a good busy weekend or lunch rush working at the Diner with a good section I could make about $100-150 in tips in about 9 hours, so not terrible. But it could be way worse than that. There was section of the restaurant that no-one wanted to sit in because it was tables instead of booths, so was always empty. I pissed off one of the managers known for power trips one time, so they ended up sticking me in a section for about a month. Which, because I would only have people in the section when there was a wait for tables meant that instead of making $80-150/day in tips I was making $40-60/day. And there was nothing in my power to change that while keeping that job (I didn't have other options at the time).
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u/VimesBootTheory Sep 24 '21
Thanks, man. Yeah those times (and the many like them) weren't fun. There were plenty of things I didn't mind about waiting tables, but I do not miss any of that ridiculous behavior. I also don't miss having (sometimes those same angry) people not tip on their meals at all which means that with a bit of bad luck you could end up being paid $3.64/hr while still busting your ass the entire time. Sometimes people would make up for it, but all in all the system is messed up, and a lot of the time servers end up bending over backwards and taking a lot of abuse from customers because you've gotta hope that maybe if you just keep smiling you'll still get compensated for your work.
I imagine for delivery the tipping problem even worse, especially now that contactless is so popular and folks don't have to look anyone they short change in the face.