On Jun 3, 2004, at 8:33, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Devon) wrote:
In the US the pay structure for waiters and
waitresses assumes 15% tipping. In fact, since tips are often in cash and easily
hidden, I believe the government taxes waiters as though they have received 15% tips
on all their tables.
When I first came here, I got a job as a waitress at a truck stop restaurant (that was before I got married, and my DH said it wasn't "fitty" for the wife of the chairman of English dept at the U; I think he got tired of driving me back and forth <g>). We were paid *half* of the minimum wage -- "you'll make up the rest in tips" was the rationale. Well, we didn't, most of the time, and I almost never. The truckers usually did leave tips, but, because of my language problems (I was taught Brit English and had endless trouble with American, especially uneducated American), they thought I was making fun of them when I had to ask them 3 times to repeat their orders. So, no tips from truckers for me.
The restaurant was well known in the area as being family-friendly, and inexpensive. So, we had lots of students. Who didn't tip at all, on prnciple. And we had a lot of families with kids. Most of those didn't tip at all, either. Once in a while, the man would leave a tip, and the wife would swipe it, as soon as his back was turned.
So I was, in essence, working at half pay; on a good day, I'd come close to getting the official minimum wage... But the restaurant *reported* us as being paid full (minimum) wages, so that's what we were being taxed on. On top of which, we were each issued a little booklet, where we were supposed to write down our tips for tax purposes; the management didn't check how much we got, but it did check how many tables we served in the course of the 8hr shift. And, whether or not we got any tips, we got taxed on the number of tables (though, 31 yrs ago, the assumption was 10%, not 15)...
I worked there for 6 months, and then two and a half years at the U's cafee/restaurant (where the assumption was that the students *wouldn't* leave any tips, so we got paid full minimum wage), and *never again* "forgot" to tip the wait-staff :) Even when they're totally obnoxious, I leave *something*, though, perhaps, less than the current "going rate" (which has been creeping up to 20% in the Bay Area -- San Francisco, CA. Or so my son has informed me, when we went out to eat.)
I can see why people would prefer to leave the tip to the cook rather than the wait-staff but, at both the truck stop and the U cafee, the cooks were being paid time-and-a-half the minimum wage (3 times as much as I was), and those were not sophisticated, fancy, cooks (nor did they have to deal with students writing their names in ketchup and mustard on the tables, *or* the little darlings throwing up all over the family-friendly places, while other patrons requested that we "do something" about their behaviour).
I remember flying to Poland once, with Danek, who was then about 7yrs old. He was just beginning to suffer from motion sickness (which I didn't know; it lasted for about 8yrs, and then went away. Go figure). Having pigged out on the airline food, he disgraced us both, but the stewardesses were extremely nice about it. I offered to tip, and the tip was refused (not permitted to accept, apparently). So I wrote a commending letter to the airline, right there and then, and they seemed happy with that.
Never assume that that all the wait-staff do is carry a plate of food, and that they get what they deserve in pay, without your "extra" contribution. I've seen the clouds from both sides now... :)
--- Tamara P Duvall http://lorien.emufarm.org/~tpd Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland) Healthy US through The No-CARB Diet: no C-heney, no A-shcroft, no R-umsfeld, no B-ush.
To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
