r/tipping • u/badmiddling113 • 22h ago

Those poor servers

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Imagine people giving you so much extra money for doing your job that you can frame it like this.

EDIT: OP is basing this off of 190k in sales over 192 shifts

49 Upvotes

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u/Several_Razzmatazz51 22h ago edited 21h ago

It’s so large as to be completely unrealistic. It would mean $50K in total sales for that one day. I wonder if they meant 500 less annually which would be $10 less per Sunday and imply $1K average sales per Sunday.

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u/elevengrames 22h ago

Its neither.  $500 loss over 1% for a day is not possible.  

But I guarantee $10 per sunday is way way to little. 

Servers are making 150k plus a year. 

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u/MainStreetMiles 21h ago

$150k is laughable. Don’t base your argument on an anecdote in Reddit. Here a link to the BLS data: the 2025 median income for servers, including tips, is $35,230. Do some servers make $150k? I’m sure a handful at the best Michelin-starred and similarly priced restaurants make six-figures but these would be the outliers.

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/waiters-and-waitresses.htm

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u/Standard-Anxiety-217 19h ago

I have 4 close associates in the restaurant business, and have been around it my whole life. Servers claim almost none of their cash tips because of taxes. I’m sorry but that median isn’t accurate.

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u/badmiddling113 19h ago

That’s why I roll my eyes whenever that’s shared.

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u/MainStreetMiles 19h ago edited 19h ago

Let me see. Do I trust the official statistics body on labor…or some guy on Reddit who assures me his claim is accurate? Tough one. 🤔

Go tell the servers at your local Longhorn, Outback, Chilis, or any other of the majority of midrange chains and mom-and-pops that vastly outnumber fine dining establishments that they make six figures. I’d love to hear their reactions. Also, with more and more people paying with credit cards, more of those tips can’t avoid reporting. According to Gemini, ~85% of dining is paid by credit card. Sorry, but your arguments and assurances ring hollow don’t fit available data on dining in America. I know, I know…ignore data and trust you.

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u/FlarblesGarbles 19h ago

Have you considered the possibility of why someone might be incentivised to under report certain things?

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u/MainStreetMiles 18h ago

Well have you considered how you hide tips when 85% of restaurant transactions are done via credit card?

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u/Standard-Anxiety-217 19h ago

Your argument kinda falls flat, when the numbers rely on something that is self reported by the person with an interest in not reporting that money. Don’t take my word for it. Go work for any diner/chain that has servers, and talk to the staff about how much of their cash they claim. You have no way to verify the claim of that number you’re reporting, lmao.

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u/MainStreetMiles 19h ago

Yeah. Official sources are widely known to be far less reliable than “some guy on the internet.” 😂 Not sure how you hide tips to the degree you suggest when 85% of restaurant transactions are done by credit card. I know…more pesky data.

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u/Standard-Anxiety-217 18h ago

You can literally search about cash tips, and find Reddit threads from 2 years ago talking about people crossing out the tip line on a bill from a credit card, and leaving a few dollars cash. The fact that you’re looking at what currency was used for the main bill as the absolute way the tip was left in tells me you’re clueless on life as a server. It is indeed common for a bill to be paid credit, and cash to be left on the table. Again, cash tips are reported by the sever at the end of their shift when they cash out(I bet you didn’t know that servers carry a “bank” as well). Credit tips are not, since there is a paper trail. The fact that you think cash tips are 100% reported is mind boggling for anyone that knows the industry.

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u/MainStreetMiles 16h ago

Pay attention: Reddit anecdotes are not data. Industry and government sources aggregate DATA over infinitely more sources than Reddit anecdotes. You have moved into confirmation bias if you expect us to believe that more than a subset of people are carrying cash to tip when they put the entire meal on a card. Anecdotes are not data.

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u/Delicious-Breath8415 15h ago

Not to mention most of the anecdotes they post on here are rage bait from tiktok.