Could somebody please explain...?

Question

WHY waitresses and waiters get paid so little per hour? PLEASE...I'm not asking what people should tip. And please understand that I know they get paid very little per hour. I'm asking WHY we should tip, as opposed to them making a wage for doing their job.

My thoughts are this. If a person has ten tables in their area, that change customers every hour for five hours, then we can just put it in simple terms and say, fifty tables. You. follow me? If the server makes a five dollar tip for each table, that means they have made $250.00. That's $31.00 dollars an hour for five hours of work, PLUS their tiny hourly pay. They don't cook my food. All the do is bring it to me, and refill my tea. I'm sorry...I just don't understand this concept. I feel the same way about taxi drivers, people who open my motel door for me, and the person who cuts my hair, I work REALLY hard at my job as a manager, and I don't make that much money!

Okay...six answers and apparently nobody has understood my question yet. I want to know why these people just don't get paid 10 bucks an hour or whatever, to do a job, like everybody does, I should not have to pay somebody to do prep work. If that is part of their job, then they shoujld get paid to do it. I'm asking WHY is the system this way? WHY are these employers allowed to pay only a small amount? Because we tip, is not the answer to the question I'm asking. I work in the service industry. I get a certain amount of money to my job. Why should it be any different?

That's my point. If they were getting paid to do their job, they would not have to rely on tips. Tipping is not an option. Customers are made to feel obligated to tip, and some places go as far as to add a percentage to your bill. If the system were not as it is, THEY would just pay their employee to do the job.

Answer 1

I agree with you on one hand, that the employers seem to be getting off easy because we, the consumer, are supplementing their employees pay. However, I personally feel that if everyone were paid less to do their jobs, and relied on tips and/or commission to pay their bills, we would get much better service in all aspects of life. Relying on tips or commission requires that you provide better service to your clients, and encourages people to do a better job. yes, in a perfect world, we would do the best job we can even if our pocketbooks did not rely on that fact, and employers would fire people that didn't provide extraordinary customer service, but in reality, that is just not the case. By our tip, we are speaking volumes about the quality of the service we received, which encourages the waiters and waitresses to be more attentive, more friendly, and live by the adage "the customer is always right"

so while I do agree with you on the one hand, on the other, I feel that more jobs (especially those dealing with customers) should have a portion of their pay supplemented either by tips or commission. Wouldn't it be great to contact the phone company, for instance, and have someone extremely helpful on the other end of the line? To not have to hold forever? To have those people provide better service to you and make sure you were happy? What happens is, they get the same amount of pay no matter how they treat you, so you get less than stellar customer service in those instances. Just my opinion, but I feel pretty strongly about it.

Answer 2

You should try waiting tables for awhile. Unfortunately it doesn't work as well as you have laid out above, they don't make that much money either. I have been on both ends of this. They do many other things than just serve the food and fill your tea. There is lots of prep work they have to do every shift to keep the restaurant running. And the business comes in spurts breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is not a steady flow of customers for 5 hours. You may get 20 customers in an hour and then 5 or 6 customers in the next several hours. Its a tough job and I sure wouldn't want to ever have to do it again. Because there are so many people that do not understand these people rely on tips to survive that they do not tip either well or at all. Don't get me wrong I don't think you should automatically tip, I tip accordingly to service, good service gets a better tip. I don't know if this really answers your question, but I hope it helps.

Answer 3

whether you choose to tip depends if you like the waiter or not. so the waiter's tips will not always be the same.

Lets' face it not everyone likes to bring coffee and food to others and make a living out serving boring people the whole day.

You still have the alternative of fast food where you pick your own food. But if you want service then you have to pay for it and tipping makes that the waiter will remember you the next time so you'll have the best table and quicker service.

Answer 4

I see your point BUT not everyone tips. Some days they may be able to make some good money, but others they may make next to nothing. I always tip if the service was good. I also feel like the cooks are missing out too. Without a good cook a restaurant couldn't stay in business. If I owned such an establishment the waiters and waitresses would have to split their tips with the cooks.

Answer 5

The answer is simple. You don't have to tip them anything if you don't want to. If you don't make that kind of money you could always try working in that line , right? I am not a waiter and in my country only higher end places have the waiter tipping thing. ( generally that is the case ) What I mean is this . The choice is yours.

Answer 6

because they're expected to make up the difference in tips. i dated a woman waitress who made minimum wage but made good tips.. waiters, waitresses, bartenders, etc depend on a clientele, repeat or loyal customers for good tips. they don't make much off one time customers. the tip is a reflection of service, friendliness, attention, politeness, personality the waitress/waiter gives the customer. going from waiter/waitress to manager, you will loose money but benefits are supposed to make up for that

Answer 7

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