on being a waiter
By pauld43
@pauld43 (194)
United States
March 16, 2008 11:11pm CST
I work as a waiter at cracker barrel old country store.My bring home pay is the tips that the guest leave.I make around 2.60 an hour from cracker barrel which goes towards insurance and taxes.At the end of the week I get a voided 0 dollar check.I guess what I'm trying to say is,the tips I get our my payday.So please be considerate of your waiter or waitress when you go out to eat.Try to take care of them financially as they are providing you a service by serving you.Without servers you would be walking through lines,getting your own refill,carrying your own food etc.Also be considerate about the time you tie their table up.Don't rush and eat,but when your finished,get up and give your server the opportunity to wait on more guest and thus make more money.Sometimes people will come in and sit at your table for hours,doing business,talking or just hanging out.People should have offices to do business in and there is all kinds of places to hang out and visit and shoot the breeze.How ever if you insist on doing your thing at restauraunt,then consider tipping by the hour.About 7 to 10 dollars an hour would be a good rate.Also for good service consider at least a 20% tip.That could help a lot of servers make a living.We servers are people that have real lives and real families to feed,and real bills to pay.Also we are doing a real job that is really hard at times,so treat us like you would like to be treated.
2 people like this
2 responses
@fenicliu (93)
• China
26 Apr 08
I used to be a waiter just like you, and this is the first job I did. In my country, China, waiter is the lowest level job with few salary. I still remembered that I only can get approximately USD 43.00 per month and nobody gave me tips. I had to work 6.5 hours per day and 6.5 days per week. According to China's law, people only work 40 hours per week, but I and other colleagues worked for 42.25 hours. The extra 2.25 hours was without any pay. You must not believe what I said here, but it is true. That was in 1999. Even nearly 10 years past, the salary does not increase significantly. It is roughly USD 115.00 per month that a waiter can be paid now. However, our current expense level for a comman citizen in a month should be over this price. So, if waiter can receive your tips, that would be better. And it deserve you to pay, because when you sitting in a restaurant, the waiter will serve for you continously. If you have chance to travel in China, don't forget to give the tips for those people working in a service industry, because the people in this industry is paid less!
1 person likes this
@sunshinelady (7609)
• United States
26 Apr 08
I agree with everything you say here. Now I do have to add on that if the service is not good than I am not going to give a tip for shabby service. I tip according to the service. If I get excellent than I tip a excellent tip. If I get good service than I tip good and if I get lousy service than I don't tip at all. I am not one of those people that just sit around for hours. I eat my meal and leave. I was a waitress awhile back and I always gave very good service. A waitress that gives me a excellent service will get better than the 20%.
