Waitresses Stuck at $2.13 Hourly Minimum for 22 Years

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-25/waitresses-stuck-at-2-13-hourly-minimum-for-22-years.html


Tipped workers are more than twice as likely, and restaurant servers almost three times as likely, to fall under the federal poverty line, based on a 2011 Economic Policy Institute study by Allegretto and policy analyst Kai Filion.

Gina Deluca says she was shocked when she moved to New Mexico from California and discovered that her hourly wage as a waitress fell to a federal minimum of $2.13. Her old state required at least $6.75 for all workers at the time.

Deluca says she became more dependent on tips, which varied with bill size, the seasons and customers’ moods, and her total income fell. While federal law requires employers to cover the gap if tips don’t take workers at least to the regular full minimum, now $7.25, Deluca says hers didn’t.

“The difference in San Francisco was that I felt valued,” said Deluca, 42, who served at both diners and high-end restaurants before quitting two years ago to pursue a degree in social work. Today her blog, “Wiser Waitress,” focuses on issues involving restaurant workers, including the federal minimum wage for workers who receive tips.

While states can require higher minimums, New Mexico and 12 other states use the federal level, which hasn’t been raised in 22 years. “I always had a base wage that I could count on,” Deluca said. “That brought a little bit of stability and security.”

[pipoman]

1. Not covering the gap between

tipped worker minimum + tips and minimum wage is a violation of federal wage and hour laws..

[LiberalEsto]

2. And people are tipping less these days

My daughter recently went back to work as a waitress at a Ruby Tuesday.

She worked at the same place several years ago, before the economy was destroyed by the banksters. Now, she says, the tips are smaller, and some people don't tip at all. Fewer people dine out, probably because the middle class has shrunk.

It is ridiculous to have people to work on their feet, carrying heavy trays and trying to please customers, and only pay them a lousy $2.31 an hour, particularly when the tips are not what they used to be.

This $2.31 minimum needs to be raised to at least $7 an hour.

[KharmaTrain]

3. I Tip 25% These Days...

...and more if the tab is less than $20 to help out a server who I know works hard and relies more and more on tips. It's sad to hear more people are leaving less. I figure if the extra couple bucks I leave helps someone buy new clothes for their kids or pays for an education then its money well spent.

[Ilsa]

4. Me too. And I try to do it in cash, or,

I give a small tip on the credit card, and leave cash to make up the difference. I don't know if the servers pocket cash, but I hope it helps.

[KharmaTrain]

5. I Always Leave Cash...

...and avoid putting it on the card. I've asked servers and they very much appreciate the cash vs. having to depend on hoping the bosses didn't short them. I've read of some bosses who keep track of tips...only doling out the 15% to the server even if you leave more.

[marions ghost]

6. I went to a local restaurant

with four friends after work recently. The wait service was standard, reasonable, not poor. The place was busy, food was very good. Afterwards I left $3 but the other four left nothing. My friends and I are average income and all of us have been affected by the recession in some way. It's like tipping is over for them. After seeing this I am sure the amount wait staff are making is way down. Any cost that is optional is cut out. Restaurants will have to address this I think. Just one of the many effects of "austerity."

[cbdo2007]

7. Sorry, either your friends have no souls or your story is made up.

Maybe they wrote the tip in on the credit card payment so you didn't see the cash? It's very rare that I've seen people I'm with not leave tips. I would say 99% of my experience is that people have left tips, and even my waitstaff friends who complain about not getting enough tips put the number of people who leave tips at well more than half.

What did your friends say when you called them out on it?

[marions ghost]

8. what's your problem

These people did not leave tips. I guess they're in the "half" that don't leave tips? I don't call out my friends on something like this. I stood next to them in a tight space and easily saw their credit card slips at the register. No tips. Like I said, all of us have to be very frugal these days. Why is it so hard to believe?

I'm glad your restaurant is so successful.

[cbdo2007]

9. My problem?!?! You are obviously making this story up....

So you went to lunch with 4 friends and you looked at ALL of their credit card slips at the register and NONE of the four even left as much as a small tip. Maybe it was the type of place you aren't supposed to tip, like Chipotle or Jason's Deli, or maybe they left it on the table after the meal.

I know things are tight but I've never, ever gone out with family, friends, coworkers where that many people didn't leave a tip. Maybe someone will just throw a dollar out on the table for a $20 check and it looks bad, but not for them to just not leave any. If your anecdote sounds too crazy to be true it probably isn't.

[marions ghost]

10. wrong on all points

I left mine on the table. They did not tip and I thought a small tip was appropriate. Are people tipping in everyday restaurants anymore? (Maybe they still do in pricey gourmet joints, because if they don't the waiters will bust your ass). Maybe the woman who put up the website knows the answer. Obviously your one viewpoint is all you can imagine.

You can't believe this, so you call me a liar? Maybe in your world people do tip? Dunno, but something's eating at you...better go see what it is.

bye bye

[cbdo2007]

13. "a small tip was appropriate" - so even you are admitting this was a tipping optional place?

Where was this exactly? I'm guessing somewhere like Panera or Chipotle where they don't rely on tips and don't expect them.

Yeah, what's eating at me is people making up fake stories to try to relate to a topic where they really don't have a good story for.

[marions ghost]

15. Not a chain actually

-------I deal in truth, not "trying to relate" by lying.

Why don't you go police your other message boards? Call out all the people you think are lying?

[cbdo2007]

16. Yeah, still you won't just tell us where this was, so your questionable

story can live on forever.

You are right, 80% of people don't tip anymore based on your study. Sounds like an epidemic. Thank you so much for your helpful input into this topic.

[marions ghost]

17. Too much caffeine --not a good thing

[Skittles]

35. if I ate out with people I knew could afford to tip and chose not to

I would make a scene.....I am serious

[uppityperson]

50. Isn't tipping usually optional? I don't understand why you continue to call someone a liar.

[Marrah_G]

30. It's really fucking rude to keep calling MG a liar. n/t

[marions ghost]

33. Thanks Marrah

Frothing and vomiting everywhere...must have been some bad lunch meat at the Buffet Magnifique...

[cbdo2007]

38. Not really

Liars need to be called out so they'll stop begging for attention to bring some small relevance to their lives.

I didn't just call MG a liar....I said MG was either lying or his/her friends that they went out to eat with have no souls. MG choose to get defensive off his/her rocker about the lying charge, so that's probably the one that was true. No big deal. I'm sure MG isn't the only person lying on DU to try to enhance their arguments.

[Marrah_G]

39. You did call her a liar- don't back off on that now

And thank you for clarifying how you feel. Makes things easier.

[cbdo2007]

40. I said I called her a liar. In my post. Geez, what is with you people

not understanding reading and comprehension. I feel like I'm having a conversation with a 2 year old.

[Sgent]

11. If located in the US (not the UK) depending on the type of restaurant

your friends were complete assholes, and shouldn't go out to eat.

Assuming this was a full service restaurant, you know when you sit down that a minimum of 15% is expected. It maybe less if you receive terrible service, but that should be the minimum you intend to tip -- if you cannot afford to tip go to a cheaper restaurant.

Most waiters have to tip out other service people (bartenders, bus boys, etc.) based on their gross sales So he got to pay for those three ladies to eat in his section.

Now, I might give a lesser tip or none at a subway, etc. but at a full service restaurant your cheating the system.

[marions ghost]

14. I'm just wondering -- in these times of austerity for many

if tipping is down (except maybe at upscale restaurants where you can't get away with it)?

Do women tip less than men? Since you call them ladies without any facts.

Is the "system" which depends on an optional courtesy, really working anymore?

Maybe it's time to just make all tips added to the bill? Certainly would be easier for all and ensure less tip-dodging.

Just wondering. Don't claim to know. My friends are not assholes, just on tight budgets.

[Posteritatis]

24. But not tight enough to go out to restaurants. (nt)

[marions ghost]

25. I said

I think the tip should be added to the bill as a percentage of the cost. That would cure it. No, I don't think it's a good place to economize but I think it's unrealistic not to look for ways to economize in the current economy.

I suggested a fair solution. You didn't respond to that.

[Skittles]

42. if my coworkers pulled that stunt

I would never eat out with them again

[Immabk]

26. or maybe you and your friends are all tightwad tightasses

Seriously you could have at least begun a conversation like i'm leaving 3 how about you? Maybe you could then have segued into how much the waitperson earns or offered to add your own funds and guilted them into doing the right thing.

Not tipping a worker serving you for $2 bucks an hour is no better than stealing from her or him. Hell that waitperson can not even afford to eat at that restaurant that you think of as an average eatery.

I hope you at least left a piece of your sandwich on your plate for her to take home to her kids.

[marions ghost]

32. And maybe you are fulla bullsheet

I don't guilt people. That's what you do to your "friends" in your little sinkhole....

I think there are problems in the tipping system. Especially in a recession. I think wait staff should be paid more and I suggest that the service charge should be added to the bill. I'm concerned that the wait staff be compensated fairly, which I don't believe they are, from what I am seeing. So if you're a waiter, I think you'd support that.

So I don't think you're a waiter--I think you're a cheap restaurant owner trying to guilt trip the customers into covering your exploitation of your staff. There's no other reason for the uncalled for nastiness on your part.

get a life?

[Skittles]

36. women tip less because they make less

and if a budget is so tight you cannot tip you should not eat out

[marions ghost]

37. I don't think you can say that

often people who make less are more generous than those who make more. Women tend to be more conscientious about service workers also. So I'm not convinced of that.

Don't agree that if the budget is so tight you should not eat out. Restaurant owners wouldn't like that solution very much & and it's not realistic anyway. These days, a lot of meals are on the run.

Apparently if you can believe what someone said here--50% of people don't tip. So maybe it's time to start just adding the tip to the bill and not doing this stupid arbitrary tipping thing. (That doesn't prevent the wealthy customer from further tipping directly to the server but the basic tip is covered). That idea must be problematic to some people judging by the way it's not being addressed every time I bring it up.

Just put a percentage on the bill and pay it out in full to the employees. Then everyone would know what the server was really being paid. Whenever something seems to be hidden--there's a good reason why people want to keep it hidden.

The tipping thing is archaic & unfair & demeaning, IMO. Waiters are probably too busy to be reading DU but if anyone can defend the tipping system, go ahead. I think it benefits sleezy restaurant owners which is why there's no change.

If only 50% of people leave a tip, obviously some people are not supporters of the practice, a holdover from the good old days (which are gone).

[Skittles]

43. doesn't MATTER what you think of the practice of tipping

should it change? probably - has it changed - NO, and to stiff the waitstaff of tips because you are "practicing austerity" is utter fucking garbage.....go to a place where you are NOT WAITED ON if you don't want to tip

[marions ghost]

44. Back off

I said I leave tips. My friend didn't. 50% of people are not leaving tips --out of trying to save money or just cheap. I don't know. I'm on the side of the servers.
But I'm sure you're not a server.

You're just looking for somebody to dump on. Back off

[Skittles]

45. you're defending them

I would not hang out with assholes like them - and I DO dump on people who stiff the waitstaff AND the people who defend it

[marions ghost]

47. Bullshit

You're just using me as a target.

Seems to me the old system isn't working so well these days, so I made some suggestions (which you ignore) because you need to vomit bile all over the place.

You and me got nuthin to say.

[Skittles]

48. LOLOL

OMG the DRAMA

DONE HERE

[Evasporque]

12. TIp went up to 20% now from 15% and resturant prices have increased significantly...

I propose a minimum wage based on receipts the server handled. Have a busy day have a smaller hourly wage due to increased tip. Have a slow day, get a higher hourly wage to smooth out the income. It would still be a net increase for servers.

[justabob]

18. yup

That was the wage when I started 20+ years ago. It did not go up until LAST YEAR. $2.27 per hour. Woohoo!

[LanternWaste]

19. That's nuts! That's the amount I was pulling in in '86!

That's nuts! That's the exact same amount I was earning while waiting tables at Bennigan's... in 1986!

Gas was just over a dollar a gallon, and smokes were a buck-thirty-five, and even then it was tight. Cannot for life of imagine two roommates living in a small two-bedroom apartment and going to college (what I was doing at the time) on that amount in the here and now.

[AZ Progressive]

20. I cannot believe the audacity of this f***er POS of a human being quoted

From the article

"Christopher Savvides says his Black Angus Restaurant Community would struggle to pay base wages higher than $2.13 an hour at his three restaurants and catering service in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

The restaurateur says his servers already make $12 to $20 per hour once tips are included. While the company prides itself on service, a higher wage could prompt Savvides to “minimize the need for staff,” he said."


If you cannot afford to pay more than $2.13 an hour for waiters, you shouldn't even be in business. Such audacious bullshit irritates me to no end.

[laundry_queen]

29. No kidding, it's total BS. I wonder what HIS income is. nt

[Initech]

21. While the CEOs of those chains make 3000x what the average employees make.

[octothorpe]

22. Lower min wage and tipping seems like a way for restaurant owners to guilt customers into paying

the majority of their employee's wages. I'm not saying we shouldn't tip (I think I tip well), but it's a bullshit system. Maybe someone who thinks it's a good system could explain why they think so. I'd be interested in hearing it.

[marions ghost]

34. "it's a bullshit system"

+++++++++++10000000
yep

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

23. When I was playing in a band in the early 1970s

our manager booked us into a club on the outskirts of Dallas, Texas called “Daddy’s Money”. We were given one meal a day from the kitchen of the large club but were told to be extra generous with our tips because the waiters and waitresses weren’t paid anything by the club and worked for tips only (so the club really wasn't giving us a free meal). I asked the manager how they got people to work for nothing but tips. He said they were all young college students (they all looked very young) and they were just happy to get tips for their efforts. It was a beautiful club that was packed on week-ends and obviously made a lot of money. I was shocked to know that in certain parts of the country (we were from California) they could get people to work for free without breaking the law. By the way, the club stiffed our band on the last two weeks of pay and they knew we were booked to a club back in California and wouldn’t be around to fight. The musician’s union told us this rich, glitzy club was always doing that to musicians and they weren’t a union house.

[Sgent]

27. They probably were breaking the law

I know a lot of bartenders (not so much waiters) that work for "free" -- mostly at dive bars. Its absolutely against multiple federal laws.

[SomethingFishy]

28. There was a woman on Bill Mahr a couple weeks ago talking about this

she wrote a book about it. Apparently Herman Cain,(yes that Herman Cain) when he was head of the National Restaurant Association managed to get some bill lobbied through that kept the minimum wage for wait staff at $2.13.. Forever.

It's disgusting.

[smirkymonkey]

31. This is disgusting and an outrage.

I don't go out to eat as much these days, but when I do I always leave a huge tip unless the service was absolutely horrible, which it rarely is. Even if I get take out or delivery, I always give them at least a 20 percent tip. I know how hard these people work and how hard it is for them to make ends meet. It's ridiculous that their employers can't pay them a living wage.

[madokie]

41. I realize maybe I've been doing something wrong all these years

I tip the waitress then when I pay I leave a tip for the cook. I'm thinking the cooks are probably making a lot more than the waitress or waiter is and I should be leaving that extra for them instead of what I've been doing.
On further thought I'm thinking I should continue as I've been except throw in another couple bucks for the waiter/waitress. Its not like it would break us because we don't eat out all that much anyway. Once sometimes twice a week and most always to the same few places. Our meals most times comes to 20 bucks or so for the both of us.
On yet further thought if the tip is going to break us we shouldn't be eating out anyway

[Baitball Blogger]

46. It's wrong what they do to waiters and waitresses.

[Honeycombe8]

49. That is shocking and disgusting! Not raising it in 22 years? Does that include waiters?

Or just waittresses?