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Lubbock, Texas | for the original question generally if it is a place where it is a buffet, cafeteria, you order in a line and they bring the food and REFILLS only then the waitstaff makes min wage and I usually leave a dollar or two........an easy way to know this is if you can pay your server directly then 15% to 20% is the "norm"......if you pay at a central register and the person bringing the refills can't take your money and bill then they probably make min wage........an exception to this would be like IHOP, or Denny's where you can have the waitstaff take your money, but it is easier (and they will just go to) to go to the register and either leave the tip or go back and tip
if you have a question ask for a manager and inquire as to weather or not the waitstaff makes min wage or not......believe me any manager would rather have you ask on the chance you will tip if you find they make less than min wage (and then his waitstaff is happy and he is happy) VS not tipping and him having unhappy waitstaff
below might clear up why it is 15% to 20%
http://rrgconsulting.com/tip_reporting_article.htm
http://www.waiter-training.com/newsletter_archive/nl19.html
the above two articles give a lot of legal info most people do not know about tipping......like if you leave anything under 8% at most places the waitress loses money on you
most states a waitress makes $2.31 per hour or in some states a lowered % of min wage
the IRS taxes them on 8% of their check sales every check.......so if you have a $100 bill at a restaurant the IRS will automatically assume the waitress was tipped 8% (it is up to the waitstaff to actually declare it, but the IRS watches restaurants, their total sales, and the % of declared tips closely and if you are under or even at 8% tips declared VS check sales expect an audit)
many waitstaff also "tip out" to the busers a or bar staff usually 1% or 2% of their nightly checks
so now the waitstaff has 8% of their total nightly checks going to the IRS......they have to tip out another 2% to the busers and bartender.........so on a $100 dollar check they are basically out $10 dollars........and they make $2.31 per hour.........so that is where the other 5% to 10% comes in to make it 15% to 20%.......so the waitstaff can cover that 10%........and they can make more than $2.31 per hour
some may be tempted to do quick math and say well 4 tables per hour.....$100 per table.......she makes $5 (5%) of each table........+$2.31 per hour..........that is $22.31 per hour
some may ask why not just pay waitstaff a min wage.......the main reason both of the above assumptions are wrong or a bad idea is because a waitstaff member will not have 4 tables per hour every hour they work.......especially if they work over 30 hours per week.......because there are just not that many busy restaurant hours in the day
so the answer is pay waitstaff to sit around doing nothing making min wage so they can get 40 hours per week.......have waitstaff wash dishes and peel potatoes ect. (do you really want to be served by the dish washer or have someone that is out on the floor going back and actually prepping your food real quick)
or the answer is to have people pay the price of eating at high demand times by having a proper amount of staff to cover the rush periods......with tipping......and the restaurant be able to cut those staff loose without having them sit around for 3 hours per day because they need to get 40 hours to make a living
you would either have too many waitstaff during the slow times and not enough during the rush so you pay a price in "service" or you would have to pay more to have waitstaff sit around and do nothing so there was enough for a rush
Edited by rodrod5 11/26/2010 22:51
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Tipping
