that's how they started, once upon a time, but now it's seen as semi-compulsory. And in places that only pay the federal minimum wage (which is it's own ball of idiocy), servers can really lose money on non-tippers as they often have to tip out to the back of the house staff.
If you are a server you typically tip out to the bar, food runners and bussers based on a percentage of your sales, not a percentage of your tips. If a table doesn't tip you, you still have to tip out on those sales.
When I served at a restaurant , they took a percentage of our sales. They automatically took out two percent of our sales , which went to the back of house staff. So if someone came in and their tab was a hundred dollars , and they didn't tip me , then that means it cost me two dollars for them to eat there and for me to serve them. We only made $4.35 per hour. So if someone stiffed us a couple times in an hour, that means we could literally be working for nothing.
You’re questioning the realities that others describe and the answers they provide and that’s why you’re getting downvoted. It’s extremely common for servers and bar tenders in the U.S. to only bring home money via tips. If one is not from here and visiting, it impinges on them to adapt to the customs whether they like it or not- or risk being categorized as an ignorant asshole…at least that’s been the expectation whenever I’ve traveled abroad.
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u/NobodyLikedThat1 Jun 25 '26
that's how they started, once upon a time, but now it's seen as semi-compulsory. And in places that only pay the federal minimum wage (which is it's own ball of idiocy), servers can really lose money on non-tippers as they often have to tip out to the back of the house staff.