I have been a server for the past two years and I worked in a restaurant another year before that. Within the first month of being a server, you learn the correct way to tip quickly. One of the leading reasons servers don’t get good tips is because of lack of knowledge on how to tip correctly.
Did you know that servers make $2.83 per hour? Their paychecks almost always go to taxes. The real paychecks are the tips that were made throughout the day.
As a college student, I know how difficult it is sometimes to pull out that extra money to tip. You tend to feel as if you’re handing it away.
Unfortunately you are not just “stiffing” the server. In most restaurants, the server must “tip out” on the amount of sales they have, regardless of the tip that was left. I have a good example of this.
Let’s say I had a table of four people and their bill was $100 and I didn’t get any tip from them. I still owe the hostess a percent of that $100 along with the bartender, busser and the food runner.
On average the server would owe about $5-$10 off of that sale, regardless if that was left in a tip. Doesn’t seem fair? That’s because it’s not.
In theory there could be a night that was so bad that none of the tables tipped the server. The server then would have to go to the bank to get money out in order to tip out the other employees at the restaurant. I don’t think this has ever happened, but you get the point.
These people are college students, mothers, fathers and people trying to make a living. The only difference is that they depend on you for their paycheck.
An average tip is from 15-20 percent. An easy way to do this is double the first number of the bill. For example, on a $20 bill, the tip would be $4. For cases where the bill would be $25, you can just add $1 to make it $5.
Restaurants in the United States generally have lower meal costs than other countries due to the fact that they do not pay their servers a living wage. Other countries pay a living wage while the customers here are responsible for the server’s paycheck.
Servers are not taking care of you to just make sure you have a good experience. Next time you think that you are unable to afford a tip, think about the server being unable to afford to tip out on your meal.
KAT SHINDLEDECKER
