I got a job as a Waffle House server that pays $2.92 an hour
businessinsider.com
businessinsider.com
If Waffle House can't hire employees at a price point the market demands then it shouldnt operate. The restaurant model makes no sense when customers subsidize the wages of employees directly.
And while it is indeed factored into minimum wage like this, don't you mean to say: "Not* tipping should be illegal"?
Like if you agree that this is all just an allocation strategy on the business side, and really it should be factored in from the beginning, it shouldn't be that much of an affront to just follow it through and give them a good tip. Not to deny this is an imperfect state of affairs, but if the complaint amounts to simply having an extra social responsibility to make sure the people who serve you get paid well, I don't see why we as individuals need to feel angry or cheated.
I'd much rather send feedback to the managers. They control the entire experience.
Are there any restaurants that pay management $2/hr and let the customers tip them up to living wage levels?
It's a very naive view not only of restaurant operations, but of the human world as whole.
>Are there any restaurants that pay management $2/hr and let the customers tip them up to living wage levels?
This is an interesting question which has no relation to tipping. It seems that in the US tips make most of what server earns - it's not the rule everywhere. However, I'm not in position to judge which way is better (e.g. where a good server really earns more).
Nevertheless, money paid to servers come from customers, and you have to pay more if you want to make servers earn more. It can be called "tips", and be a choice in a range, or it can be hardcoded into prices (with some administrative overhead, of course). I'm not a fan of administrative overheads, but YMMV.
If WH can't hire employees at a price point the market demands it *won't* operate - there will be no employees. People are willing to work at those rates so there will be a pool of employees available.
Another way to say this argument is "the USA economy requires a service sector of people inches from poverty in bad working conditions, to survive."
If a country has to stand on the blood of its working class to survive, that country probably shouldn't exist.
> People are willing to work at those rates so there will be a pool of employees available.
The alternative is homelessness. This isn't ethical.
Other countries have fast food restaurants with workers that have housing and healthcare. If the American government and corporate strategists can't organize its economy in a way to deliver this life to its citizens, it should be replaced, no?
Unless you think "might makes right?"
You speak like zealot. I can't take any of this seriously.
At your peril, I guess.
What do you think the end result is of prices of rent and food going up, price of goods going up, and wages not moving?
Markets work the way they work and will respond accordingly. The outcome may not be ideal but humans aren't always the most rational or predictable.
It means it sounds like you aren't really interested in paying attention to this issue which means you may be blindsided by a recession or economic collapse.
> Markets work the way they work and will respond accordingly.
This doesn't really mean anything I don't think, I'm not really gleaning information here.
American minimum wage laws are an international disgrace.
FWIW you're going to see a lot of chain restaurants turn to automation to avoid labor in particular, but it also has the benefit of consistency and food safety adherence.
The American system requires people to vote with their feet (freedom of choice of employment) and their wallets (freedom of market choice), thereby giving individuals the direct power instead of some bureaucratic entity who may or may not have the individuals' best interests in mind.
Author then deducts all the things that apply to every job - taxes, commuting, etc. and concludes she makes a take-home $9/hour, which is still above federal (and North Carolina where she is working) minimum wage. Of course, living wage is much higher than that in Asheville where I believe she lives [1].
And to those wondering, yes Waffle House does offer insurance and a few other benefits [2].
[1] https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2023/03/02/ashevill...
In the end, it's what you take home and that's what the article is about.
There’s no way to legislate minimum take home pay.
I feel empathy for people making this discovery for the first, or tenth time. But waiter jobs in general pay pretty low and the minimum wage for server jobs is harder to compare because of the tips aspect.
Not looking at true take home pay is how gig driving companies are able to get drivers even though the pay is absolutely shit after accounting for taxes plus wear and tear/gas costs.
[NO, I am NOT asserting that serving at Waffle House is a good job. But this article smells more like a hatchet job than an attempt at honest reporting.]
The servers who worked first shift at Waffle usually made good money - good enough money to pay for a house or an apartment to rent in DFW, which by my estimation takes around 20 dollars an hour.
None of this is really a defense of the server wage - but seeing other customers and what they'd leave for tip, a 50% tip was not abnormal - in part because food at Waffle House is so cheap.
Might be bs, but: https://ca.talent.com/salary?job=mcdonalds#:~:text=The%20ave.... Remember that health care is provincial not employment connected.
Casual dining in America is not going to survive the next five years IMO. I know we will be doing our part to no longer support the system (we already quit McD's because it is almost $40 for our family of three to eat a meal there.)
I directionally agree with you. There are already a lot of relatively labor-intensive things in the West that even upper middle class people don't routinely have like personal drivers, chefs, and even housekeepers, or lawn care. Given demographic shifts, it wouldn't shock me if thoughtlessly eating out at fast food restaurants joined the list for a fair number of people. (More automation too though you can only do so much. Eating at home is generally going to be cheaper.)
My casual take is prices of fast food has roughly doubled since this whole inflation thing took off. And they all have universally decided in the last month that a “large” drink is what was formerly the medium drink so double the price for less meal — not sure if that’s a “healthy choice” thing or they’re just being weasels though.
I’ve never once had subway try to get a tip out of me and I eat there fairly regularly, not even the “tip cup” that employees like to put out to guilt you into tipping for things like watching you use the automatic checkout robots.
—edit—
Oh, and McDonald’s is still semi-reasonable if you use their app (to get free stuff) and pay attention to whatever their current loss leaders are.
Yeah, I eat way too much fast food…
Subway, McDonald’s, whatever get you when you do add-ons.
Given the currency exchange rate US/Canada (per the Economist), Big Mac's are cheaper here than down South: https://www.economist.com/big-mac-index
>Perhaps there will be a messy transition in the US when jobs have or wish to reset their compensation?
I'd bet on more automation where practical and people just doing without--or doing without as often--certain things that have a large labor component.
You see plenty of fairly obviously immigrants cleaning hotel rooms in Europe.
To some degree, higher labor costs can also drive efficiencies with no real harm to consumers. I'm perfectly fine with (and may even prefer) a weekly "serviced apartment" sort of hotel model rather than daily room cleanings which invariably happen when I'm on a call or something.
But if they start charging to use the Tabasco we're going to have a problem.
Server
Requirements:
· Entry level, no experience required · Must have a positive and friendly attitude · Teens welcome but must be 16 years old +
Benefits:
· Dental insurance · Employee discount · Health insurance · Paid time off · Vision insurance
https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Waffle-House/jobs?jk=a214a1778ba9...
Around where I live the starting salary at McDonald's is $15.
Maybe this is inflation but that's a crazy amount of money.
There was definitely a sense of satisfaction not just from serving but also taking a moment to rest after moving your body for a four hour shift. Believe it or not it was a bit of a workout.
Note that unlike flippinburgers I was working in the back - way back.
They don't have to pay, so they don't. There is a nearly endless supply of folk willing to take the job.
I'm not particularly a fan of tipping culture in the US but I would note that "optional" (but not really) 10% service charges for table service is pretty common in the UK these days as well.
I consider this an abhorrent system, that should not be supported.
I agree it’s abhorrent. But we must support it by tipping. If you don’t tip, you’re not fighting the system you are harming the workers.
My approach is to tip and also advocate/vote for/support businesses that don’t allow tipping and instead just pay a higher wage and they factor that wage into the food price.
This is pretty rare though and even the restaurants that say “we pay our servers a wage so please don’t tip” still allow tipping so that’s not good.
I’m not sure how you break this in the US unless you pass some strict law disallowing tipping. Maybe something where the advertised price is all inclusive and no add-ons are allowed, so it must include tip, taxes, service charge, whatever. I don’t see that passing.
I think the issue is the federal minimum wage is very low $7-8 or so so that minimum amount is low for waiters and everyone.
If you increase minimum wage, you will also enforce that minimum wage for waitstaff.
Not legally required, but in practice your decision to not tip is a decision that the staff should earn under minimum wage. It's just the current status quo. And in some cases you may end up in a confrontation with someone who assumed you knew you should've tipped. (Not tipping in a taxi may lead to uncomfortable situations)
> Why do restaurants not pay their staff enough to live?
Because they can.
Not quite. The law is that for tipped workers the employer has to pay the "tipped minimum wage" ($2.13/hr) but if that plus tips is below the regular minimum wage ($7.25/hr) the employer has to pay the difference.
In effect it is equivalent to the minimum wage being $7.25 an hour for tipped works, same as for everyone else, but the employer gets the first $5.25 of your tips.
Not tipping is saying that you think the staff should earn exactly minimum wage.
I've heard though that in some states they are lax about enforcing this, so employers can get away with not making up the difference.
1. get the check
2. shift the decimal point to the left by one digit ( 10% )
3. double the amount from step 2 ( 20% )
4. round down to the nearest whole number ( makes it easier to add )
5. sum, write, sign and leave
Round up to the nearest dollar then add a few bucks or so.
* there is a minimum fee which if avoided you will find yourself in hot water over.
Tipping also incentivizes being attractive and bars and restaurants are very interested i n having attractive employees.
Tipping should be for exceptional service. I tip at my local sub shop because they know me and they know how I like my food made. I’d rather pay more per plate to cover an overall wage, and I think most Americans agree with me.
It should not exist at all, but even if it does, it should be based on the staff's actual service, not the all the other things that go into the price of a plate like ingredient, chef's name value, etc
Do you not want the article to mention tax and commute at all?
The amount before taxes and commute are in the article too, if that's what you're interested in.
Also the food credit is only a loss if you don’t use it, it’s a net gain if you get the maximum amount of food because I highly doubt it’s capped at $3.whatever.
Bad math is just bad math.
If you live a few minutes walk from work I did not think of it as a commute. But you are right, technically it still is. My bad.
I'm not from that country and the total number helped me to understand the situations better.
"I make about $75 in tips, on average, during a seven-hour shift as a server at Waffle House"
Requisite disclaimer: I'm do not support tipping as a primary means of paying for labor. I'd love to outlaw the practice, not the least of which because it's highly discriminatory.
I know people who worked at Waffle House and made decent money for a 20 year old server. A lot of them switched to normal hour restaurants due to Waffle House hours. $75 a shift sounds very low, it must be a slow Waffle House.
From the little I understand of the US taxation, tips are in theory subject to taxes but in practice many (most?) low wage workers omit to declare them?
As an aside, I used to watch in pure wonderment when she would do laundry or need money for something and go through her dirty clothes easily pulling a couple hundred dollars out of pockets.
Taxis/"ride share" it's probably about the same semi-mandatory that wait staff is. Barber. Dollar bills here and there for luggage storage or other things at hotels.
Sometimes a thank you gift around Christmas, e.g. for housekeeper.
Many people "tip" their police department for the cop license plate or windshield sticker.
1. It's been this way for a while, and change is bad
2. If restaurants were forced to increase wages, prices of food would go up
3. Service workers like waiters are less-than, and don't deserve to make that much money
4. There are restaurants that pay well on top of tips: all the servers who don't like working at the bad paying restaurants can just leave their jobs and go work there
5. The only way to motivate good service is to extract it at the threat of poverty. American tipping culture thus extracts excellent service.
6. If the restaurants have to pay more, they'll instead fire workers, and make the remainders worker harder and more hours
These are points I've been told in person by actual Americans, so I don't think "strawman" is a valid accusation here. I have my personal feelings about each one:
1. changing bad things to good, is good
2. Price of food may go up, but that's ok if it means workers get paid fair wages. If the prices go too high presumably people won't go to those restaurants, and the restaurant will bring prices back down. I do personally believe though that many restaurant owners will be willing to stick to too-high prices to the death of the restaurant rather than cut their own personal profits of the place. That's also ok with me though.
3. Every person deserve a living wage.
4. There aren't enough of the magical good-paying jobs, especially not local to current ones.
5. Money is actually a poor motivator, as any sales team lead would tell you. Also, it's unethical to try to extract labor at the knife-point of poverty. Also, people are nice to me in countries that don't have tipping culture, probably because I'm nice to them, so it's not a truism that people only work hard if you dangle the carrot of a tip in front of them.
6. This is almost certainly true, but it's not a reason to not force restaurants to pay more. Other labor protections should also be implemented.
Personally I enjoy tipping, especially if the service is really good, and especially at places like Waffle House where my tip will often exceed the bill because the food is so inexpensive.