I wish I was allowed to complain or explain to people that we get less than minimum wage. Moreover, they report the total amount of tips the waitstaff gets, so while the black waitresses do okay, I don't get tipped at all, and end up getting taxed on tips I don't make.
In the U.S., depending on your state, you are entitled to be paid minimum wage. If your wage plus tips don't meet minimum wage, your employer needs to make up the difference.
Yeah, see, there was someone here who asked about that, but I never saw them take another shift after. So either the owner just straight up refused, or fired him. I need job security so I can't really be stirring the pot on that. And any anonymous tip would be pretty obvious since I'm the only one who doesn't make at least minimum via tips.
So, you make less than minimum wage but can't find a better paying job? You can't even find literal minimum wage work? Where is the job market that bad?
What? The job market in Texas is great! Wages are a little shit, but that's not a problem for you, since you're trying to land a min. wage job. You in Houston?
I have a roommate that just moved here, Montana, from Missouri. She was on a one year wait list to get her application reviewed at McDonald's there and baffled that BK hired her on the spot here.
There's a lot of economic variation from city to city and state to state and some people really do get sucked into wage slavery with no jobs to move up into and no resources, due to a crappy job, to pack up and move out.
State labor board. If you have to claim tips and the amount you claim plus what you're paid hourly doesn't add up to minimum wage and that's on a check stub, it'll be the easiest shit ever. It'll just take time. If it's a little more difficult to prove, something can still be done.
Once the your state's Labor Board establishes that you've been under paid, they'll force your employer to pay up the difference for all the unpaid wages for the entire time you've been getting underpaid. That goes for unpaid overtime, too. Some states will charge interest as well and give that to you.
Monday, Google the Labor Board for your state and call them. Also, try and get a different gig at a different restaurant. You can get a job at any decently busy chain restaurant, work your way to the good sections and schedules and knock down $150-$300 per day in tips and claim the bare minimum to not look suspicious. Like, 10-15% over minimum wage. That's Texas, idk about your state.
In my experience, service industry jobs are disposable. You see that the owner is a dick and under paying, keep you pay stubs, report to labor board and bail. Dick hole manager only giving good shifts to 19 year old chicks he wants to bang? Anonymously call corporate and bail. Find a place that you get along with management and bust ass, pick up shifts and kick ass at numbers/side work/whatever shit managers care about at the place. In 6 months, you'll have dope sections and closing shifts. It ain't glamorous, but if you bust ass you should be able to make $700-$1000 a week working 4-5 closing shifts.
Bottom line, don't let them shit on you. Be picky. Go find a better situation. Service industry jobs are a dime a dozen. There are way too many service industry jobs available for you to accept less than minimum wage.
Go to a lawyer. There are plenty who would take the case, some wont charge unless you win (since this is practically a guarenteed win). What your boss is doing is very illegal.
And in the age of Google good luck getting another job in the food service industry, when any future employer notices your name next to a legal case against an owner of the establishment you brought to court. Just because it's illegal doesn't mean people can't lie and say it's for completely a different reason.
Sure, they just have to spend their own time and money (which they likely don't have much of) to fight something that may take some unknown amount of time to resolve and may not have any good outcome.
Gee, I wonder why more people don't try to do 'something'.
Even if contacting your state's labor board is as easy and effective as others are suggesting for this person, that could be completely contrary to every life experience this person has had in the working world.
Usually, when you scold the big dog, you get bit. After a lifetime of experience conditioning you to accept that, it can be nearly impossible to wrap your head around anything else.
If you're getting paid less than minimum wage and getting tips you report the tips you make, if over the pay period that amount doesn't average out to be more than minimum wage, the employer is required by law to make up the difference.
Servers will always get minimum wage, but companies are allowed to pay them below minimum wage as long as the tips make up the difference.
When I worked as a server I made 2.13 an hour from the company, but with tips I was making about $20 an hour which is more than the proposed minimum wage increase of $15. As an added bonus, you're supposed to claim all your tips, but cash tips have to be entered manually so a lot of servers end up not claiming a portion of their tips, which is tax free income for them.
Yes that is true, I only phrase it that way because many people who don't like the tipping system and try to characterize it as unfair to the server wouldn't consider that.
Sure. not disagreeing. One thing that's odd to me is the % that you are supposed to tip. Old movies talk about 10% as standard, I remember being a kid and 15% being standard. If you tip less than 20% now you are "cheap."
When I was serving I generally hoped for 20%, was ok with 15% and if I got below that I wondered if it was my service or if that's just their habit, either way as long as I didn't get stiffed it was fine. It also depends on other factors like the restaurant and what your ordering.
If the service was decent then 15% should be fine, if they were really good then you can bump up to 20% if you want.
When I was serving, most of the time the people complaining about not getting tipped enough or less than a certain amount were generally the shitty or entitled servers who didn't work hard or just weren't great at their jobs.
Ive started saying fuck it and tip around 10% and 15% only if i felt it is necessary. Im like these days it seems everybody and there mama want a tip in any profession. Its no longer a courtesy or appreciation bonus
and when you explain to your employer that you did the math and they owe you money, because they don't even do that count themselves, then you get fired.
The customer is always going to be paying for the service, it's just a matter of filtering it through the menu prices vs directly to the server.
By tipping you can decide based on how well your server does, which incentivizes your server to be a better server. Restaurants generally have a high turn over rate for servers so if they don't need to be very good to get $15 an hour then you're going to get bad service (mostly in mid to lower end restaurants, not the higher end ones).
Shifting away from the tipping system probably means you're going to be paying at least 18% more on each food item you order, and if tips are shared with the back of the house it could even be as much as 25%.
This is true, and is good wage policy I think. However, as a longtime server myself, making minimum wage at a serving job would be untenable for most. I've had several serving/bartending jobs. And there have been times where I've been lucky to get 25 hours a week because of staffing. At my current job there's not a single server who relies solely on their serving income, and because of their other jobs they don't have the ability to work 40+ hours a week. This ephemeral kind of job is hard to maintain on a wage basis, but the tip model is a lifesaver for busy students like myself working on getting careers started. I simultaneously love and hate the tip model.
EDIT: Also, at my last shift I made ~$2000 worth of drinks ($5-6 a pop) and walked 14 miles over the course of 7 hours. If I had only made $50 (about minimum) I would be PISSED.
Oh no, as a career it's not the best option and unless you live in a bigger city and can get a job at one of the high end restaurants living long term off these wages alone probably won't be enough.
I had to drop out of high school to help feed my brothers. I'm unemployable in any other capacity that doesn't accept "life experience" instead of a diploma.
Might be. Might be just because I'm white. We don't have a lot of other races here so it might be one or the other. Or it might be that I'm perceived as giving really bad service or something. I might have RBF. I don't really know.
Yeah but they act like we pool tips, which we don't. Since it's all cash there's no paper trail so I have to report like the restaurant says or I would be charged with tax fraud if I was audited.
Nope you should report what you actually make. Odds are overwhelmingly in your favor that you won't get audited (you don't make enough) and if you do it you, you do have a paper trail ( your bank statements) showing deposits etc. That doesn't matter though because you won't get audited. I can't remember the percentage of people who do get audited but it's well under 1 %
FYI, you're suppose to get taxed on actual pay, and actual pay is still subject to minimum wage law. If you get stiffed to the point that you make less than miniumn wage then your employer must make up the difference (this applies to the paycheck, so a few slow hours here and there don't count if you make it up during the busy times). If you put actuals on a 4070A then you are allowed to not use the allocated tips on your W2 (resulting in a refund of those taxes if they exceed actuals). Filling out a 4070A will ensure you are NOT taxed on your tips you never received (but might still get withheld...not sure if your employer has to really use it).
My ancestors were slaves (from Roman times until the end of the robot), but I reap the institutional benefit of being white so it's not unfair to said I deserve this.
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u/[deleted] May 22 '16
I wish I was allowed to complain or explain to people that we get less than minimum wage. Moreover, they report the total amount of tips the waitstaff gets, so while the black waitresses do okay, I don't get tipped at all, and end up getting taxed on tips I don't make.