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To People Who Don't Tip

What you need to understand

By Brittany RosePublished 6 years ago 2 min read
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B. R. F.

Being a server, I know just how important it is to play my A-game from the moment I clock in to the very last second I clock out.

We don’t get paid regular minimum wage. We have to work hard for it. Our shift is dependent on tips. I'm not saying people in other industries don’t work hard. Servers just aren’t guaranteed to make anything but servers' minimum wage, which is $1.50 under general minimum wage.

I know that doesn’t seem like a lot, and in chump change, it’s not. But when you dive headfirst and look into it, there is quite a big difference between pay cheques. Let’s do some math: one summer I worked at a retail store full time, at 40 hours a week, raking in $456 a week. This summer, working as a full-time server, at 40 hours I only make $396 a week.

Comparing the two jobs, being a server is a lot more complicated. It’s fast-paced, long and unusual hours, and you never know what your shift is going to consist of. Most days you're busy; you may have 5-8 tables at once containing 2-8 people for 8 hours straight. I'm not sure about you, but I can’t even remember what I ate for dinner last night.

Serving is not a walk in the park, and we sometimes don’t get credit for all of our hard work. In fact, sometimes servers have to pay to work.

And this is what I mean:

Some restaurants require servers to tip out the kitchen staff and hostesses, meaning that the tip section that you see when paying for your meal gets split between three or even sometimes four people. But that’s not the best part. Servers tip out 10% of the product we sell, not what tips we make. So, if we work from 12 PM-7 PM and sell $1,000 worth of food and drinks, the tip out total is $100.00. If the servers don’t get tipped enough, then they pay out-of-pocket, causing them to pay for going to work.

I know what you’re probably thinking: if they don’t get tipped enough, they must be a bad server. Most of the time, that’s not the case. Yeah, there are some days when you're stressed and your day spirals out of control. But everyone goes through that in every industry, and they don't pay extra money out-of-pocket to be there.

Just because we're servers doesn't mean we don't have a motive in life. This is some peoples' occupations; this is someone's end goal. Don't be rude about it; someone has to serve you. Personally, my co-workers and I go to work with the intentions of doing a good job and to make a bit of cash. We're all students trying to get by. We have priorities and bills, just like you all do. We have to juggle school, family, friends, a social life, homework, and find time to make a few bucks. It is stressful. And when you decide not to tip because your hamburger didn’t taste as you wanted, or your extra ranch dressing wasn’t brought within a "reasonable" amount of time, because of the five other tables I had to serve, that just adds to it. If you can’t afford a meal, please don’t make us pay for it. We need to eat, too.

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About the Creator

Brittany Rose

Free verse poetry author, small buisness owner.

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