My experience talking with waitstaff friends mirrors yours.
They all swear they’re getting the better end of the deal because they have good nights, but there’s gotta be dead nights where they make nothing, and I can’t imagine disability or unemployment is good when your wage is $2/hr.
To me it’s passing the cost of labor onto customers in a less than transparent manner, and with wage theft by employers seeming to be a problem with restaurant staff, I don’t know how you can prove stolen cash tips.
It varies, usually the ones I knew would make more money than those working back of house without an issue. Back of house would get paid say $10 an hour and work a 9 hour shift. Front would come in for 6 hours and leave with ~$150. Creating a natural divide between the two.
My experience talking with waitstaff friends mirrors yours.
They all swear they’re getting the better end of the deal because they have good nights, but there’s gotta be dead nights where they make nothing, and I can’t imagine disability or unemployment is good when your wage is $2/hr.
To me it’s passing the cost of labor onto customers in a less than transparent manner, and with wage theft by employers seeming to be a problem with restaurant staff, I don’t know how you can prove stolen cash tips.
It varies, usually the ones I knew would make more money than those working back of house without an issue. Back of house would get paid say $10 an hour and work a 9 hour shift. Front would come in for 6 hours and leave with ~$150. Creating a natural divide between the two.