So I was out to dinner one night with the wife at a local diner and I overheard a couple of the staff boasting about making over a thousand dollars a day, and how easy it was to guilt women, or just flirt with the fugly’s as she put it, into stress tipping. They were in the back, being louder than I assume they thought they were.
I’m sure she was exaggerating, or just really lucky, but this got me to thinking about my bill as I sipped my coffee, which was 36 dollars. A median bill for us. I’ve had a lot higher, but also a bit lower.
Personally, I don’t like to tip based on the check amount, but that’s usually how most people calculate it.
The assumption here is that the higher the check, the harder the staff worked, but that just isn’t always true. The cost of the items plays a larger part in the bill than staff effort, although they can correlate sometimes.
Take a look at this bill for us one night out to dinner.
Notice the SVS Charge, and still there’s a Tip line. what is a service charge if not a tip? So what do you get for that price?
So how much does it take in tips to bring up the 2.13 an hour to at least minimum wage? Well, first, Federal minimum wage in the US is 7.25 an hour or 1160 a month for a 40-hour week.
A monthly difference of $820 dollars that has to be made up with tips to meet minimum wage.
The restaurants are supposed to make up the difference when tips don’t accommodate. Let’s be realistic, though. Not all owners have morals, some even go as far as to steal tips.
See my 2022 article Cheating Waiters with a Broken tip for more on that.
Even during the worst time in recent history (2020) Restaurants were averaging in Texas around 49 customers a day or 4 per hour at an average bill of $25.70 dollars. Now assuming the standard tip of 20% that’s a $5.14 tip. (91 dollars for the check above, that already had a service fee included)
That easily brings one server up to 7.27 an hour, who should be able to handle 4 customers an hour. That certainly meets the minimum wage requirement, but it doesn’t really provide enough to live on. Remember, though, this was during a tragic time.
During the slow night, I was sitting in the diner, where at least six tables of customers were being served. Every table had at least 2 people and some had many more, and 1 server on the floor.
Assuming the six tables had our cheap bill of $36 dollars (most likely a lot higher for most) that would be about $31 dollars in tips for the tables.
worse yet,
However, many restaurants have Tip suggestions printed on the bill. Do you ever check to see if it’s accurate or do you trust it’s correct?
How many times have you over tipped because you didn’t check?
This 20% shown on the receipt is actually a 24.85% tip. A difference that may seem miniscule to the individual, but consider the impact is has over the course of the day, or even a month.
In my opinion, lying about the correct percentage is theft.
So what does all this mean?
Well, to me it means restaurants need to stop pissing about and pay their fucking staff. There’s simply no excuse to have Tipping culture period.
When I can pay an extra 5 dollars or 20 dollars in tips for a 40 dollar meal, I can just as easily pay that for the items I’m ordering.
Now I’m sure there’s going to be the argument that restaurants can’t survive if they have to pay more for help.
To that, I say good.
When you can’t pay your staff, you don’t deserve to be in business.
It would be much better to have more mom and pop restaurants than a street filled with franchises. Lowering the supply of restaurants means more consumers to go around for the restaurants that can afford to pay their staff.
When run-of-the-mill restaurants fail because they have inferior quality, low wages, that only makes room for those who have higher standards. It benefits the consumer and the staff.
And I haven't even got into barista's.
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