Community Chat

[Isobel Archer]

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@suzyQ3 wrote:

So the restaurant business is objecting to a wage hike and regulatory standards by saying that it will hurt consumers.

I seem to recall hearing that whine before from the Chamber of Commerce types -- over and over and over.

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Minimum wage was never really the issue for the servers in the first place.  While the restaurants currently can pay $3 and change with tips making up the rest of the server's salary, the current law also REQUIRES the restaurant to guarantee the $12.50 minimum.  SO if the server doesn't get tips to get to that level, the restaurant has to pay the difference.

OK so the servers got a law passed that says the restaurant must now pay $12.50 - rising to $15 in a couple of years.  This clearly costs the restaurant more in up front costs.  Do you really think they won't raise their prices and possibly cut staff?  So yes it does affect consumers.

Oh - and then - the servers still want to be tipped - as much as they are now - on top of the new higher meal prices.  

The servers could have left the situation alone and still had their tips, - because they already had the guaranteed minimum wage.  But no they wanted more - at the customer's expense.  Don't forget that if your meal goes from $50 to $75 - you are not only paying a 50% increase, but the servers now want an additional 50% increase in your tip as well. (20% of $50 is $10, of $75 is $15).  Nice

[CrazyDaisy]

Thought the whole premise of paying the lower wage and having customers tip, was to allow the wait staff increase earning by doing a good job.  Many here have stated in previous discussions that you should always tip because they are paid so little per hour.  Well now that the hourly rates have significantly increased, has not the whole purpose of tipping changed. 

[151949]

I would certainly still give a tip for good service but not as much as previously would have when I knew they made less than minimum. It is true that a good waitress makes a ton in tips and still should make decent tips along with her much higher salary, but the not so good waitress who did not make great tips will be better off. there is also the factor of taxes. A good waitress , making good tips , can make a whole lot of untaxed cash - where as now the higher salary will be taxed. 

[Isobel Archer]

But they DON'T "make less than minimum wage."  The law requires the restaurants to make up the difference if they don't get sufficient tips.

So that has just been something we've been told to shame us into tipping - even for poor service.

And before everyone starts on me, I almost always tip 20% (sometimes 15% for less than adequate service - and yes I have experienced that).  Because I also bought into the "poor oppressed server making $3 per hour narrative."  But I admit now I'm getting annoyed.  Why should I now pay more for my food AND tip more (the amount of the tip increases right along with the price of the meal) on top of it?

[Irshgrl31201]

I worked int he restaurant industry for years in high school and going through school and after until I built up a good clientele as a colorist. I worked as a server and bartender. I still have friends who work in the restaurant industry and I do not know of one person who wants this. They all make well over min wage now. 

I have a very good friend who lives in Buffalo, NY and she is a server part time until her last child starts school. She just finished up her degree about a year and a half ago and was going to start in that career once her daughter was in school. She has worked 3 to 4 days a week for the past 11 years and was able to have a very flexible schedule so that is why she stayed there so long and was able to finish school.

In 2015 she went from $2.13 to $5.50 an hour then to $7.50. As long as she has worked there, she has made well over min wage, averaging  $23-25 an hour. The place she has worked at for this long was a Greek family owned diner that has been there forever. They employed about 60 servers alone. She said all the servers were apprehensive when they raised the wages. They were worried they wouldn't be making what they were currently making but wanted to be positive and give it a chance. She has really been able to rely on this diner not only for that certain hourly wage but they also worked with her and her husband with their schedules for school and such. Her husband works a swing shift at General Mills. She said within the first two month she went from averaging $23-25 an hour to about $12 an hour with her tips and check included. In 2016 her hourly rate went to $7.50. She then started averaging $9/ hr and the restaurant went from employing 60 servers to employing 23. Now all those servers weren't all full time employees. 15 Were full time and the rest worked anywhere from 1 day to 4 days a week. She had wanted to stay there until her child started school but decided to leave because it just wasn't worth it. 

In all the years I was a server, the least I made hourly was $15/hr. I have not heard from any of my friends who still work in that industry or worked in the industry who were happy about this. 

[Isobel Archer]

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@Irshgrl31201 wrote:

I worked int he restaurant industry for years in high school and going through school and after until I built up a good clientele as a colorist. I worked as a server and bartender. I still have friends who work in the restaurant industry and I do not know of one person who wants this. They all make well over min wage now. 

I have a very good friend who lives in Buffalo, NY and she is a server part time until her last child starts school. She just finished up her degree about a year and a half ago and was going to start in that career once her daughter was in school. She has worked 3 to 4 days a week for the past 11 years and was able to have a very flexible schedule so that is why she stayed there so long and was able to finish school.

In 2015 she went from $2.13 to $5.50 an hour then to $7.50. As long as she has worked there, she has made well over min wage, averaging  $23-25 an hour. The place she has worked at for this long was a Greek family owned diner that has been there forever. They employed about 60 servers alone. She said all the servers were apprehensive when they raised the wages. They were worried they wouldn't be making what they were currently making but wanted to be positive and give it a chance. She has really been able to rely on this diner not only for that certain hourly wage but they also worked with her and her husband with their schedules for school and such. Her husband works a swing shift at General Mills. She said within the first two month she went from averaging $23-25 an hour to about $12 an hour with her tips and check included. In 2016 her hourly rate went to $7.50. She then started averaging $9/ hr and the restaurant went from employing 60 servers to employing 23. Now all those servers weren't all full time employees. 15 Were full time and the rest worked anywhere from 1 day to 4 days a week. She had wanted to stay there until her child started school but decided to leave because it just wasn't worth it. 

In all the years I was a server, the least I made hourly was $15/hr. I have not heard from any of my friends who still work in that industry or worked in the industry who were happy about this. 

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I think the servers got sold a bill of goods and believed they could get paid minimum wage PLUS all the tips they currently get.  Unfortunately, reality is setting in.

[Irshgrl31201]

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@Isobel Archer wrote:

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@Irshgrl31201 wrote:

I worked int he restaurant industry for years in high school and going through school and after until I built up a good clientele as a colorist. I worked as a server and bartender. I still have friends who work in the restaurant industry and I do not know of one person who wants this. They all make well over min wage now. 

I have a very good friend who lives in Buffalo, NY and she is a server part time until her last child starts school. She just finished up her degree about a year and a half ago and was going to start in that career once her daughter was in school. She has worked 3 to 4 days a week for the past 11 years and was able to have a very flexible schedule so that is why she stayed there so long and was able to finish school.

In 2015 she went from $2.13 to $5.50 an hour then to $7.50. As long as she has worked there, she has made well over min wage, averaging  $23-25 an hour. The place she has worked at for this long was a Greek family owned diner that has been there forever. They employed about 60 servers alone. She said all the servers were apprehensive when they raised the wages. They were worried they wouldn't be making what they were currently making but wanted to be positive and give it a chance. She has really been able to rely on this diner not only for that certain hourly wage but they also worked with her and her husband with their schedules for school and such. Her husband works a swing shift at General Mills. She said within the first two month she went from averaging $23-25 an hour to about $12 an hour with her tips and check included. In 2016 her hourly rate went to $7.50. She then started averaging $9/ hr and the restaurant went from employing 60 servers to employing 23. Now all those servers weren't all full time employees. 15 Were full time and the rest worked anywhere from 1 day to 4 days a week. She had wanted to stay there until her child started school but decided to leave because it just wasn't worth it. 

In all the years I was a server, the least I made hourly was $15/hr. I have not heard from any of my friends who still work in that industry or worked in the industry who were happy about this. 

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I think the servers got sold a bill of goods and believed they could get paid minimum wage PLUS all the tips they currently get.  Unfortunately, reality is setting in.

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I really don't know any servers who have been doing this for any amount of time that actually believed they would not be making less. My friend did try to keep a positive outlook but she really felt it would be a huge drop in salary and she was right. She didn't think it would have been as much as it was for her though. That did shock her how much she lost. She had depended on that job for years and she consisently made that type of money each week and could absolutely count on that.

[Isobel Archer]

Sadly, I think way too many folks have bought into the idea that they are somehow oppressed victims.  How does that Joni Mitchell song go - "you don't know what you've got til it's gone."

[magicmoodz]

We just spent the entire weekend going out for happy hour/drinks/brunch/dinner. At first I didn't even notice, but by the third restaurant I realized that I was perusing newly printed menus with newly appointed prices (translation = price increases across the board) at every restaurant. I have always done my share of decent tipping 20-30% with 50% if feelng generous and I have even on occasion tipped 100% to my favorites💕.  Now that a cocktail has increased from $12 to $14 and entrees are up $4-5 each, and knowing that every employee has received a significant salary increase, I do think it could affect either how often we go out or at the very least the amount of tip I leave. 

I have a niece who is fiercely independant. She lived in an apartment (by herself), had a car and worked as a waitress at the same time she was going to college. She would accept no financial help from her parents nor would she take out a student loan. It took her 6 years to earn that degree, but she did it all on a waitress salary with no debt.

[Isobel Archer]

See this is what is so sad about this.  The servers have NOT actually received an increase.  They were already getting a guaranteed minimum wage.  (Again, the law requires that if the tips don't get them to the minimum, the restaurant must make up the difference.)

What happened is the social justice warriors convinced them that getting the law changed so that the restaurant had to pay them minimum wage up front would be a great victory because now they would get minimum wage and ALSO continue to get all the tips they got before 

Now it was always clear this would hit the restaurants hard, but who cared because they are the evil rich or something and they deserve to get hit.  But the reality is when they get hit, they - one raise prices and two lay off staff and maybe even three close altogether.  A real victory for the servers right?  Not so much.

And once customers get hit with higher prices, who knows how sympathetic they will be to the plight of the oppressed server - especially when they understand that none of this was necessary  - as again - the servers were always guaranteed minimum wage in the first place.