Cindi - HappyMamatoThree wrote:
> "PeterLucas" > wrote in message
> 0.25...
>> "Cindi - HappyMamatoThree" > wrote in
>> et:
>>
>>
>>> judgement on a single person's experience. Though I have to agree,
>>> there is a huge gap in pay from job to job here in the U.S.
>>
>>
>> With people relying on tips to live. That sucks.
>
> Amen. Servers here (waiters/waitresses) can be paid the pitiful
> amount of $2.13 an hour. Their tips must at least equal out to
> minimum wage or the employer has to make up the difference. This is,
> of course, the minimum and there are restaurants that pay better as
> with any job. That rate still sucks and I don't know how people in
> that position can survive on their wages. Though some people like the
> fact that they can rely on their performance to earn more in tips. To
> each his own.
If you look around, many of those servers are right out of high school or in
college. They live with their parents or have a couple of roommates (been
there, done that, starting back in the day before tips were taxed). Their
priorities are different from those of older folks.

When there were layoffs at the firm I worked at in 1990 I figured I'd get a
job as a server to bring in some (minimal) cash while job hunting.
(Restaurant hours don't generally take up your entire day, even if you work
a split shift.) The manager who interviewed me said (not unkindly) I
undoubtedly had more bills than the 18 & 19 year olds who were waiting
tables there. So he hired me as a hostess with starting pay at $6.50/hr and
he had me supplement those hours by doing the computer accounting work for
that store.

Having said that, there's a server at Waid's in Prairie Village, KS, who has
been working there for over 20 years. Maybe he makes more than $2.13/hr
base pay after all those years. <shrug> Maybe he doesn't actually need to
work. He seems to like his job

Jill