Minimum Wage for Food Servers – Yes
The great state of California pays food service workers $8 per hour, 75 cents above federal minimum wage. Whatever you make in tips is between you and the federal government. There are career possibilities here.
But, don’t move out of state. The federal minimum wage for “tip receivers” is $2.13 per hour, contingent on the employee making the difference in tips of $5.12 per hour to equal federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Ten states pay the federal minimum of $2.13 with an additional nine paying less than $3 per hour.
This assumes that every little deli, diner and fine dining establishment plays by the rules. What rules? Mississippi has no minimum wage law. Half a dozen states do not meet federal minimum wage. And there are no federal laws for tip receivers under 20 years of age, students or trainees.
There was a time I worked in a classy restaurant in a posh Colorado ski resort for $2 per shift, apparently a formality because one could not survive on $12 a week, not even way back then. Waitresses would follow their patrons out into the street asking, “Was there a problem with your service? Is there anything else I can do for you?” for sheer survival if they were stiffed, tipping being optional. Things have improved. Colorado now pays $4.26 per hour.
Then there was that delicatessen in Maryland that decided arbitrarily what everyone made in tips and deducted that amount from your pay up front. At present Maryland pays the same per hour, $3.63, as per tip credit, $3.62, give or take a penny, which is pretty much the same system. Except that we seldom made what they claimed and deducted. There were three shifts, breakfast, lunch and dinner. This way they didn’t have to pay for any down time when business was slow to nonexistent. I waited tables at breakfast, went home and returned to serve lunch, went home and came back to cook during the dinner shift (at which I was experienced as well) when it was actually possible to make some decent tips—if you were waiting tables.
Some establishments charge employees for meals. I remember one place in the South that charged for employee meals that had no visible protein or color on the plate. It was all starch, i.e., macaroni with grits and mashed potatoes. Some charge for breakage. If the dishwasher drops a tray of glasses, everyone pays. Some establishments have the policy of pooling tips—a disincentive on several counts. Food servers are often expected to split their tips with the busboy(s) and bartender(s) or suffer the consequences. Of course bartenders make their own tips, except at the service bar.
On the bright side, it is one of the few jobs—if one is strapped for cash—that you can go home with money in your pocket from the very first day. But remember, these jobs don’t come with benefits. You suit up and show up or you don’t get paid. Isn’t that worth at least minimum wage?
