COLUMN: Stingy tippers need to examine selves
It’s unethical for restaurants to pay waitresses and waiters less than minimum wage, regardless of the tips they earn during their shifts. Did you know that the majority of servers in Utah earn only $2.13 an hour? And, in almost all restaurants, servers are required to tip the other staff a percentage of their sales — not their tips? This means when a server is tipped poorly or stiffed outright, they actually lose money; and the restaurant gets out of paying not only the servers minimum wage, but often the hostesses, bussers and bartenders as well, all at the expense of the servers.
The restaurant industry makes its money from the labor of the servers. Why, then, is it allowed to pay its employees less than other businesses do? Most servers end up making more than minimum wage through tips over the course of a month. If they don’t they are still not adequately compensated by the restaurant for the amount of work they perform. Some days, I’ve gone into a shift, done all of my opening sidework and then spent several hours waiting for tables, only to have one table tip $1. When this happens, I make no money, but I’m still obligated to set up the restaurant so it makes a profit. Then, if I have a good shift on another day, I’m not compensated for wasting my time on the slow day.
Many managers require servers to do manual labor such as extra deep-cleaning projects or even wash dishes when business is too slow to justify paying a dishwasher to clock in. This is, in my opinion, the most unethical part of the whole situation. If deep cleaning needs to be done in any other industry, specialists are called in, or regular employees are paid at least minimum wage; anyone who’s ever worked in the food industry can testify that some of the most disgusting deep cleaning that exists on the planet originates in restaurants. Because serving, like most hourly jobs, is an employment-at-will contract, an employer can fire an employee for any reason — including not doing manual labor for $2.13 an hour during downtime. This guarantees restaurants the ability to exploit servers.
The bottom line is there is no legitimate justification for restaurants paying servers and other front-of-house staff less than minimum wage. Once, someone told me if paid minimum wage, servers would lose all incentive to serve well. This is false in a number of ways — if they are paid minimum wage, they still have incentive to be a good server and earn good tips; they have incentive to work hard so they can keep their job; and they’ll feel much more rewarded as an employee who knows they’ll make money regardless of the pace of the shift. In addition, the restaurant itself will be rewarded with more loyal employees who know their workplace has their best interests in mind.
Unfortunately, the laws dictating tip-earner wages won’t be changing anytime soon, so please be courteous when you go out to eat. I’ve heard college students say they couldn’t afford to tip their server, so they didn’t. If you can’t afford to tip your server, you can’t afford to eat out. Always factor in the cost of a tip into your total expenses, and unless the service is absolutely terrible, or there was a dead bug in your food, there’s no reason to tip less than 20 percent. Your server will be happy to provide excellent service should you ever come in again, and you’ll get that warm, fuzzy feeling in your generous heart knowing you did the right thing. Or maybe you won’t; after all, it’s only my opinion.
Speaking of which, I contacted The Statesman about writing an opinion column because I’m opinionated, and I enjoy expressing my opinions. I’ve gotten several responses to my pieces stating that I’m engaging in poor journalism by presenting biased arguments and not citing sources. To clarify, let me state the facts: I am not a journalist. I’m an opinion writer, and opinions are — by definition — biased. Because I have a word limit, I don’t use my space to cite sources, although I’m happy to give them to anyone who asks; and because it’s an opinion column, I am not obligated to do so. I hope this clears up any misunderstanding or controversy.