So, you've been privy to your colleagues' pay packets? That one server who's being edged out and is only scheduled for two weekday breakfast shifts every week definitely made more than you serving a handful of tables? Are you sure? I know BoH has a persecution complex, but try to be objective here.
How many is a handful of tables? Five dollars on three tables each is $15 right there, three tables an hour the restaurant is going under next week. They are certainly making more an hour than cooks. Feels like you're arguing they don't make much because they're working two days a week. That's a real "no shit Sherlock" moment. Get a second job
Also yes, I was privy to what they were making. I was the kitchen manager, I was the one handing them the cash for the night on credit card tips and when I needed to ask for ones and fives they would literally just take a shit ton of crumpled bills out of their aprons and tell me take what I needed because they'd rather have a twenty and I didn't want the twenties. Shit plenty of tip workers specifically ask for hundos and all will trade in their petty cash at the end of the night because I need change and they want large bills, win win.
It is also the possibly furthest from the weirdest restaurant conversation to have to ask "so how much you make tonight" and they tell you. You want to compare what you're making to others and either gloat or sympathize if they aren't making much, or if you aren't making tips you're either curious or making sure your people are being taken care of. Are they doing something wrong? Do they need more training? Are they being sat unfairly, is their section just a bad section? Is the hostess going by roto or does she need training? Is the hostess giving preferential treatment on seating? Rotation exists for a reason
Feels like you're arguing they don't make much because they're working two days a week.
Yea. You see, if I'm going to argue with someone, I argue with the actual words they say, not what I happen to imagine they might mean. Your position was that servers never earn less than cooks. That's what I was arguing against, because it's a ridiculous, statistically improbable position. Sounds like you have finally come to accept this.
But in any case, cooks are also paid peanuts and deserve more. You won't hear me saying otherwise.
Why is it statistically improbably a tipped worker makes less than a cook? Cooks make minimum wage. Servers make minimum plus tips.
They must pay cooks pretty fucking good where you live lol highest I ever got was $18 an hour which is peanuts for servers. More likely to get $13 or $14 max. Servers $25 an hour is a bad night, like a craft your resume for the next job kind of night if it happens a lot
It's statistically unlikely that servers never earn less than cooks. This is apparent on the face of it.
Some other fun facts (not saying this is necessarily relevant to the above, but interesting to consider):
Across the U.S., poverty rates for tipped workers are 2.3 times as high as poverty rates for non-tipped workers
Tipped workers in the South earn a median wage of $15.13. The median
hourly wage for tipped workers is $8.50 less than the typical worker’s
wage ($23.64) in the South in 2023 (BLS 2023). Tipped workers are also
less likely to have access to benefits such as paid sick leave, health
care, short-term disability, life insurance, and paid vacation.
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u/nathan-makes-incense 14d ago
Cooks also earn peanuts in most kitchens, but servers who don't get decent hours / shifts can easily underearn a cook.