It’s Restaurant Q&A, Boys and Girls!
I had a few people ask me some common questions about the being a waiter and the restaurant industry, so I decided to answer them here.
Do waiters have to pay for a ticket when the customer walks out? Not generally, no. This has happened to just about every waiter with at least a year of experience. We call it a “Dine and Dash”. Sometimes it’s done with subtlety, such as acting like they’re going to the bathroom and heading for the door, and sometimes it’s done pretty bluntly with haste. think it used to be a problem from what I gather, but nowadays from what I understand the restaurant just eats the cost. Nine times out of ten it’s not the waiter’s fault when the customer walks out, so if the restaurant made the waiter pay for the meal, I think they’d lose a lot of staff.
Why do waiters get paid so little? Why not just pay them a decent wage, so they don’t have to worry about tips? This is probably the most common question that I get from someone who’s never worked in the service industry. There are a few reasons. I’ve mentioned in previous posts that the overhead in a restaurant is astronomical, so to save on labor costs they pay the waiters around $2-$3 an hour; just enough to cover the cost of taxes. Most importantly, with the amount of labor and stress involved in waiting tables for 4-6 hour shifts, getting paid a set hourly wage just wouldn’t be worth it for the waiter. Making $40-$60 per shift, and less after taxes doesn’t make a viable job when you’re not working 40 hour work weeks. Which is almost impossible unless you’re the Bionic Man©. Just the stress on the body alone makes it not worth a set hourly wage.
What’s the best way to get a good tip as a waiter? Well, read my blog for one. But seriously, the most important things are to always have a positive attitude and do what we call “upsell”. An “upsell” is a little extra that you can add to the ticket to make those tickets bigger. Drinks, appetizers, salads, entrees, side vegetables, desserts, and coffees are all things that you can upsell to a customer. They want to order the halibut? Perhaps you can suggest a vegetable to go along with it. If their meal is over, suggest a cup of coffee or a dessert. Anything that you can do to add a little extra to the cost of the ticket (well, legally) is important for increasing your tip. Once you get really comfortable with your surroundings and the menu, you can open up a bit and be more personable with your customers. Customers love special, personal treatment and they will usually compensate you for your extra hard work.
How long should I start being concerned with the time it takes for my meal to arrive? It all depends on the type of restaurant you’re at, to be honest. Some restaurants generally take longer than others because of the times it takes to prepare, cook, and service the food on your plate. If, say for example, you go to a home-cooking type of restaurant and they serve pot roast with baked beans, it’s more than likely not going to take very long for it to get made. It’s probably already prepared, and they just have to put it on a plate. But, if you go to a fine dining restaurant, more than likely they specially prepare your food as you order it, so it takes a little while longer. Also, if it’s a busy night, you’re going to be looking at longer ticket times as well. The best way to find out how long food takes is to ask your waiter what the average ticket times are that night. They will generally be able to tell you from the times it’s taking for previous tables.
How much do restaurant workers generally make? This is a tough question to answer, as it is different in each restaurant. Fine dining management generally will make up to three-times more money than say, your local favorite bistro. Obviously, because there’s more money to be made for the owners. The Chefs also get paid quite a bit. http://www.starchefs.com/features/editors_dish/salary_survey/index.shtml is a website that I found that details a survey taken in 2004-2005 that gives a general idea of what kind of money that is made in the restaurant. Servers get paid the least because they work off of tips and server assistants and bussers get paid more by the hour, but also will take a % of the waiter’s tips.
I am interested in my waitress, how do I ask her out? First you’ve got to have the skills. If you don’t have the skills, then even a huge tip won’t help you. But, if you don’t have the skills I can offer you some advice. Be engaging. Talk to your server about things other than work, just like you would any girl or guy that you meet. Also, remember their name and use it. Remember what I said on the Do’s and Don’ts? It’s brings you to a different level if you actually treat them like they are just regular people instead of “your server”. Importantly, don’t be needy and be understanding. Making multiple requests and and complaining about it just reminds your server that you are “a customer” instead of “my new friend Joe”. Even if something is overcooked or is missing something, make note of it to them but act like it’s not a big deal. They’ll generally want to take care of it for you, and make sure you’re happy. Lastly, go for the kill. Ask them what their schedule is like or what time they get off. We as servers don’t need a reason to go out and get a drink. Just working that night can be reason enough. At the end of your meal, offer to meet them somewhere after they get off or for their phone number to get together sometime. It may work, it may not. But there isn’t reward without risk, as they say.
It’s actually against the law to force a server to pay for a dine & dash (if they are making only the server minimum wage) out of their tips. If they made more than minimum wage, it could be taken from their wages, granted they still made at least minimum wage.
Servers (actually, all tipped employees) earn discounted wages based on the wage credit the business receives per specific state and local laws where the business is located (ex: out west, many laws require restaurant owners to pay the full state minimum wage, in addition to the regular tips that servers get to keep). You made it sound like every restaurant has carte blanch based on their labor costs.
Here in Washington state, our minimum wage is 8.55 and with tips the servers make great money if they are true salespeople, and as for mistakes, it depends on the server, if they continuesly are making mistakes we start with a verbal warning then a written warning and so on, eventually they are let go, you cannot have a server on staff that is costing you money both wasting food and not providing great service, for every screw up sits a guests with a empty place setting while thier friends and family enjoy thier meal. All mistake should be throw in the garbage, if the staff is allowed to eat the mistake, it like a reward for the mistake. Where I work we also allow the mistake maker to take it home as long as they pay for it.
Although minimum wage in WA might be $8.55, there is a sub-section of that law that states that (I’ll paraphrase) “anyone working in a tip-earning profession has a minimum wage of $2.13. It is only the restaurant’s duty to make sure that the employee earns $8.55 per hour. Should the employee’s tips plus $2.13 an hour not equal $8.55, it is the duty of the restaurant to make up the difference”. So, your waiter is not making $8.55 plus tips, trust me. If that were the case, I’d be on the first flight to Seattle.
Unless you know what you are talking about or live in the state of washington, check your facts. Minimum wage in washington state is $8.55 an hour, we do pay the servers, bussers, bartender 8.55 an hour our hostess and thier assistants make alittle more because thier tip outs are lesser than the bussers and bartenders, but check the facts.
the people of washington started voting about 5-6 years ago to raise min wage due to the fact that taxes are so high and they realized nobody can live on 2.13 an hour even with tips.
on the other side it has put a burden on small business being made to pay employees 8.55, alot of restaurants and mom&pop businesses have gone out of business because of the raises.
If servers make $8.55 plus tips, they’re by far the best paid in the country. I’m jealous.
Carrie is right. I am a server/bartender in Seattle and we do in fact make 8.55 an hour plus tips. If you want further proof check out the state website below.
http://www.lni.wa.gov/workplacerights/wages/minimum/default.asp
Amazing! I’m on the first flight out!
New Zealand?? I think we should!! Eff this!! haha
even though the establishment is supposed to make up for the lost wage if you dont make the minimum, they dont. at least not at my store. why? because somewhere down the line you made those extra 5 bucks, whether its 20 cents a night to round down when you claim the tips, or if you just stick to your standard percentage when you claim. so it doesn’t matter, because you *did* make minimum wage, just not that particular shift. isn’t that great? Or, even if its on the report, they make us claim more tips by clocking in and then clocking out right away, claiming, then clocking in for your actual shift. January was the worst, since I’m in WI all the customers were ‘snowed in’ for a month, and therefore made less than $300 that whole month, and I wasn’t the only one- but thats not what our papers say….
MOST states allow tipped employees to have a lesser minimum wage. (See below that WA is one of them; CA is another). Often, they are ridiculously low – like the 2 something noted below) Also, I’m not sure if it’s federal or state law–I’m in CA–, the tax powers-that-be have decided that they will consider a percentage of the table sales to have been left in tips and adds this amount to the W-2 wages of the server, whether or not they have actually received that much. In lower-priced dining establishments, this is often NOT what was collected in tips. (I guess this is because way-back-when, in TX, we computed what tips it would take to meet “real” minimum wage from our minimum wage and claimed that in tips, no matter what we made, thereby avoiding taxes on any excess tips. I know – it ws cheating the gov’t, but we were trying to pay the rent on very little income.)
On mistakes, the simple solution is that if it’s the kitchen’s fault, the wait staff gets it; if it’s the wait staff’s fault the kitchen gets it. No point in throwing away food.
“Why do waiters get paid so little? Why not just pay them a decent wage, so they don’t have to worry about tips? ”
How do foreign restaurants, say in Europe where tipping is very low to non existent, survive? I assume their overhead would be the same but I am not sure.
This blog is based in America. I don’t know how restaurants work in Europe, but I have heard that a gratuity is automatically added to every item on the menu.
Sometimes a gratuity is added, sometimes not. Most guides or websites will tell you up front what will be done. I think in the fancier restauarants (i.e. Michelin starred), the automatic gratuity is used, but it pays to check.
I’m in Australia, and we generally don’t tip – but our works get paid a proper minimum wage. I can understand that this way it costs the owners a bit more to work like this, but in my mind any other way is not really sustainable in the medium or long term.
I’ve tipped once or twice here, but only when I’ve received OUTSTANDING service.
Well, i have waitressed in Ireland and England. And i am about to make you all jealous!!In Ireland i got paid 8.50 euro per hour. Plus tips. In england i got paid £9 per hour plus tips as it was a very high end restaurant. The tips are not great though in most restaurants unless you are in a high end establishment. That is a downside. The upside is you always know how much you are making each week.
In Holland all restaurants/shops must include prices including the applicable taxes (+/- 19%) and service charges (15%). Same applies for e.g. taxi’s. TIPS are not required, unless you have been served exceptionally.
Staff get the minimum wages, have health insurance, unemployment insurance, holiday bonus (8%), at least 20 working days PAID holidays (in addition to Xmas, Easter and other official holidays).
Hello,
I spent MANY years working so HARD in the kitchen that my hands are RUINED from the years of harsh chemicals. I’ve had to have surgery on BOTH knees because of bad ligaments, going back and forth on the line is extremely harsh on the legs. (I went back to school at 35, earning a degree at 38, do not cook anymore)
I have to say that to this day I seriously resent people who WALK just a little ways with the food that I so lovingly SLAVED over, while making barely above minimum wage.
(this is even in some fine dining!)
Unfortunately I am Caucasian and I live in San Antonio, TX where there is a large population of immigrants willing to work for what they consider “good” wages. I have been discriminated against many times (entire families working in the kitchen with the same last name.) Despite all of this, I miss cooking professionally to this day. I miss the thrill of artistic endeavor that was a properly prepared and presented meal.
I do have to agree that, yes, the waiters are under stress, but the cooks work harder, longer, for less pay, and for little or no appreciation!! Hardly ANY waiters I have met would TIP the cooks who made their tips possible!
JMHO
crazedchef
My current restaurant gives a portion of the tip-out to the kitchen staff. Just saying.
I, in return, resent the assertion that I simply “walk just a little ways with the food”. Any server worth his/her salt might also resent the term “foodserver”. In a full service restaurant/ bar, it is paramount that I make my customers feel welcome and comfortable. It is essential that I have the knowledge to answer any and all questions concerning our menu items, ingredients, or methods of preparation. It is critical that my timing be dead on, whether that be timing with placing orders or delivering them. (With the kitchen AND the bar.) I must have the diplomatic skills to deal with inappropriate behavior from customers. I must retain a semblence of class while strangers take out their personal frustrations on me.
In my experience, every time I tell the kitchen staff that I feel sorry for them, locked up and sweating in the back of the house, they remind me that it’s better than having to deal with all of those lunatics at the table!
P.S. I have worked in restaurants where the server staff DOES tip out the kitchen. I have worked in restaurants where the kitchen staff gets health benefits, but not the servers. –just examples.
My years as a grill cook, the wait staff paid our bar tab. But you are right, they made way more than we did.
Sorry,
Re-read what i wrote and it came off much harsher than i meant too.
I always felt that a lot of waiters felt “entitled” to their earnings, and most had little to no knowledge of what went into the preparation of the food.
It is difficult dealing with the public. But it still is not right that a lot of waitstaff earn two, three, or even four times per hour what the back of he house does. One thing you forgot to mention is that MOST waiters do not pay taxes on their full earnings.
Damn, this is coming out harsh again, I know, “if you didn’t like it why didn’t you move to the front of the house” Well I did, I bar tended for years (and yes waitered for a while also), but I missed cooking. I have done every single job in the restaurant/bar industry from front/back/& even mngt.
The only way to win long term in the restaurant business: Get the hell out of the industry before it puts you in an early grave!
crazedchef
(still miss it)
LOL. I hadn’t read this far before I responded. I don’t take anything you feel as a personal attack. I want those who aren’t aware at all to hear all of the frustrations from back and front of the house. It’s almost shocking how little the general public understands of the restaurant business.
Some days I DO feel like the industry could push me into an early grave, but I don’t know what else to do…. Then some sweet little old widower comes in for his 1 beer on his way back from visiting his dearly departed wife up at the cemetary… cries on my shoulder… thanks me for listening and being the one person he can talk to…. Somehow, every time I serve a drink, I feel like I’m serving something more… friendship, counseling, understanding, laughter, smiles. It warms my heart.
Here in New Zealand I’m on $17 an hour (which is around $11-12 US) but with basically no tips- lucky if I get $10 a night. Which is ok, I guess. We don’t do it for the money right?- we do it because we love the lifestyle. A top class barista/bartender here can earn between $18-$25 an hour, depending on what city they are working in and which bar, but again basically no tips, unless you work in a place geared towards the tourist market.
Ha! Well that would explain a lot of the reason why folk not from the US don’t tip as well.. I mean, I always knew it was something to that effect- that you all make more an hour so it’s assumed…. etc.. but there, you said it.. Which part of NZ is $25/hr? I might be re-locating.. lol
Yes the lifestyle is great but the money is great too. In my opinion waiting is a terrible job, but the hours and the quick money is great if your in college or have two jobs. If you need an extra $50 to buy a book for class you just pick up a shift, or if you have a test coming up that you forgot about, it is crazy easy to give up a shift to a coworker. But no matter how hard it is and how tiring and stressful it is, it is so addicting and I hope im just not doing it forever.
Hello again,
I enjoyed your responses. I so miss the camaraderie of the industry. Damn, you could find someone to party with EVERY SINGLE NIGHT after work!
Oh well,
The sands keep rolling…
crazedchef
Try living in washington on minimum wage alone. This state taxes the hell out of everything and if you live in King County you had better enjoy sports because you are paying for the stadiums weather you like them or not. So even with gratuity, you had better be a great server or salesperson or even at 8.55 an hour you will find yourself living in your car. Think twice about moving to washington
Washington state has the highest paid servers in the country, and believe me, your boss will remind you EVERY day…
You may be reminded on a regular basis only because if you are standing around or leaning against the counter it is costing the business, at 8.55 an hour you shouldn’t feel like you deserve to stand around and get paid for nothing, you could just be sent home and make nothing.
A long time ago I was dining alone and encountered a waitress who was both gorgeous and a bit of a flirt. If I remember correctly, I tipped her somewhere around 60%.
It worked. Well, I think it had more to do with my looks and personality, but the tip did let her know I was interested.
see now that pisses me off. A female server will sometimes make more than the guys, but you should tip the server based on the service, not how gorgoeus he/she is. This actually encourages them to be on the verge of inappropriate with a table full of the opposite sex just to get the bigger tip. I have actually worked with people I considered to be little more than prostitutes with a pen. disgusting
One question I get all the time: A variation of, “What’s your favorite dish on the menu?”, implying that I eat at the restaurant. Most restaurants don’t serve the staff the food the customers eat. It’s either a generic family meal or they are offered a small choice of items, almost never from the actual menu of the restaurant. And by enlarge, the food employees get to eat is pretty terrible. Once years ago, I’d just begun work in a popular seafood place and was having a drink after work at a bar across the street, and struck up a conversation with a lady at the bar. When she found out where I worked, she exclaimed, “I love that place! You must love it, getting to eat all that fish there!” I told her she must be crazy, that we usually get some overly oily, overcooked pasta with hamburger, or the occasional leftover salmon strips that couldn’t be served to the public, if we’re lucky. We all learned not to eat the tuna served at staff meal, because the only way they’d serve it to us was if it’s date had expired. Which was true.
So, I always have to play with my answer to the question. Sometimes, if it’s a customer I’ve been friendly enough with, I’ll be honest and tell them we aren’t allowed to eat the menu food, but are given occasional “tastings” (sometimes true) of new items.
But mostly, I just have to lie and say, “Oh I love the Pork Chops!”, or something, or I answer by describing a couple of things rather than actually stating my preference, because, in reality, I’ve never eaten a thing from the menu!
Hmm. 8.55 an hour sounds like a dream, but I seriously thought all states had a set min. wage that could be made up for in tips? Regardless, if this is not the case in WA. You lucky bastards.
I can’t complain too much though, I work at a very small, locally owned place, and our employer pays us a decent wage as she sees fit. Currently I make 6.50 an hour, and we don’t split tips.
The drawback to this is that we are waiters, hostesses, servers and bussers. So, instead of hiring a bunch of staff to do these things, it is easier to have just one person around who can do all of it: seat the customer, greet the customer, take the order, wait on the customer, serve the food, wait some more, clean up after the customer, clean up before new customers arrive.
Anyway, I digress. How much servers and restaurant workers get paid ‘in general’ is a really, terribly difficult thing to answer accurately. The only way that people should really go into it is like this: waiters work in the only industry(besides: religion, nuns, monks, etc. though we won’t quite call that an industry) where the employees must rely entirely upon the generosity of others. I work with several women who are single mothers, taking care of sick or disabled family members, or are really just trying to scrape by with a living of some sort. Just as an iron/steel worker at a plant works to provide for not only their survival, but their families, so do waiters. We are very grateful for the patronage, and yes some of us are college students looking for a little spending cash or maybe we’re building a nest to help pay off tuition costs for the future, but it’s more than a tip: we have to live on this.
For prospective waiters and such, it’s a risky business this whole waiting tables thing. If you keep reading this blog(quite entertaining btw) you’ll see a lot of the horror stories(almost more than anything) of the BS we have to put up with. My old boss always used to say though “No risk, no reward”. He was right. But, don’t take the risk if you’re not a people person, dislike hard work or are stressed out easily. Some days you’ll walk away with 100$ in hand, PLUS your regular wages, and there might be a few weeks where you have nothing BUT 100$ in tips, yup the entire week. I recall making 2000$ at the restaurant I’m working at now in a matter of two weeks, 500$ of that was from my wages, 1500$ was from the tips. I cannot WAIT for summer to arrive and I’m hopefully making this type of money again. But, this winter, I recall having to rely almost entirely on my paycheck to get by; sometimes only taking home 80$ a week. Sheer madness I’m telling you. Madness.
Once I make my move out of the town I’m currently living in, and obviously out of my job, I have to think long and hard about if I’d want to work in another restaurant. I mean, where else does one gamble their wage from 2.13-20$+ an hour? I seriously think that I’m shaving years off my life by doing this work, yet some days, it’s the best damn work I’ve ever had and I can’t imagine doing anything else.
Harsh as it sounds, it needs to be said….
As a female, who has worked a variety of service jobs, hotel front desk, server, casual cafe, fine dining, etc – Unless you are David Beckham, 95% of the time your hostess, waitress, the girl who is checking you into your room or bringing you toothpaste, does not want to field your come-ons or see you sans clothing (some seem to believe that answering the hotel room door naked is an acceptable behavior) or have anything to do with you outside the working environment.
We are paid to be nice to you. Our jobs and tips depend on our ability to make you happy. To laugh at your jokes and generally make you feel brilliant means we walk away with a better tip and keep our job.
As a general rule, keep it in your pants, bite your tongue, get over it. If she is interested, let her make a move, otherwise just assume she is really good at her job and not interested.
p.s. no, you are not Beckham, yes I do mean you.
Harsh as it may sound, it needs to be said…
As a female with 17 years of customer service experience and many female friends in the service industry, 95% of the time, we have no desire to field your advances (the 5% exception being if you are David Beckham).
Your waitress, the hostess, the woman who checks you into your hotel room, or the woman who brings you toothpaste at 11pm does not want to date you, she does not want to join you in the hot tub, she especially does not want you to answer the door to your room naked (happens WAY more than you would think).
We get paid to be nice. Our job and income (i.e. tips) depend on our ability to be pleasant, laugh at your jokes and generally make sure you have a good experience.
Please keep it in your pants, don’t ask, let her do her damn job in peace. If she REALLY wants to hit that, she’ll ask, or she’ll slip you her phone number with the check. But let her make the first move. I’ll say it again, WE GET PAID TO BE NICE!!!
p.s. no you are not David Beckham, yes I do mean you. when in doubt, repeat after me, “She gets paid to be nice!!”
A question to the women servers who read the blog: Do you ever get hit on by men old enough to be your grandfather? I find it hard not to flinch when a very old man finds it appropriate to touch me and call me honey. ick.
And how do you diplomatically deal with it if any customer touches you suggestively? The only thing I have found that doesn’t offend anyone is to just stand on the other side of the table on the next trip around.
“thanks for the attention, sweetie, but I’m spoken for/my dance card is full” has always worked for me with older ‘gentlemen’…..ie: lie to benefit the situation of course but it’s not the point of the story it’s how it’s told to them.
At the restaurant I work in, servers actually DO have to pay for Dine and Dash. This is a few weeks in the past now, and surprisingly I still work there because I haven’t been able to find a replacement job, but I wish I would have known it was illegal for the restaurant to do that! I would have raised some serious legal hell.
Here goes the story:
My third to last table of the night (a steady, busy night) consisted of two women and a man. My service to them was nearly flawless and I attended to their every need. They asked me to split the check and I did so. The two ladies’ check was around $20 something. The man’s was $38-ish. I usually can tell if the customers leave cash in the check presenter because, well, there’s no credit card sticking out at the top. I passed by a few times and nobody made a move to give me their presenters, so I assumed they paid cash, needed no change, and would leave at their leisure. The male guest was the first to leave, sauntering out with his to-go box while the ladies stayed and chatted. When they finally left, I picked up the two check presenters. The ladies enclosed enough money for their total, nothing more (no tip). The man left me a $1 bill for his $38 check.
My very last table of that SAME night was two younger guys who came in 5 minutes to close wearing their shades like they owned the joint. But they weren’t any trouble, and they ordered two very expensive bar drinks at my recommendation, so I just tended to their needs and used my free time to close up and complete my side work. Toward the end of their meal, I dropped off the bill and asked if they needed to-go boxes. One of them spoke up and asked for a to-go cup because he didn’t get to finish his tall, expensive bar drink with the souvenir light-up cup (you can keep the cup if you finish the beverage in-house). I told him that we weren’t allowed to give to-go cups for alcoholic beverages and apologized. All this time, he had an assortment of bills on the table, sorting money for the total. I told them thanks and to have a good night. A few minutes later, after doing a bit of side work, I checked to see if they were gone. I carefully opened the check presenter to find nothing inside but the receipt for a $70 meal. My theory is that I pissed this man off because he couldn’t take his alcohol with him. What trash.
While doing my checkout with the closing manager, I told him of my two Dine and Dash instances. While I’m usually a fan of this particular manager, he really pissed me off by trying to make light of the situation. “So they stole all the money you made, huh? Haha.” Seriously? Yes, they did. Do you have to rub it in my face AND make me pay for it? I would have made over $110 that night, but because of cheap trashy people, I had to give it all back to the restaurant and pay $6 out of my wallet.
Is it really possible to sue a restaurant for forcing me to pay?
P.S. Sorry this is so long! It was just an infuriating situation and it helps me to vent about it!
Honestly, I think it’s illegal. You might want to check with a lawyer about that one.
Um, the one thing I noticed after reading all of this about how much wait-staff makes is…..Yes, minimum wage may be higher in some states, but how much is cost of living? They may actually be making less even though the dollar amount is more. For example, in Kansas the minimum wage is $7.25/hr at the moment, but it’s easy in some places (not small towns, but a city I calculated once was Wichita [which after typing this I realized may be a "small town" to some of you]) to find 1-2 bedroom apartments for less than $1000 a month (sometimes including utilities)…..I know on the coasts you drop at least $1500 for the shoddy places. Calculate that into everything before you go hopping on a plane anywhere. Also remember how much things cost outside of rent. Is a gallon of gas only $3 or is it closer to $5 where you are going? I would remember to investigate such things before saying that someone has it better or worse off than you do, because even making $7.25 an hour can be great if you end up having $100 in your pocket every week because cost of living is lower. Minimum wage sucks everywhere and it is very hard if not impossible to live comfortably on such amounts.