You’re out for a night on the town eating steak and drinking wine at your favorite restaurant and then the bill comes. Lucky for you, you had great service and the food was great to match. What do you tip?
Before I get into what I believe they should tip, let me tell you some unknown facts of being a server and what we really get to take home. First of all, in most states a server is making way below minimum wage. In Michigan, it is $3.65 a hour. But don’t even think about that money, most servers never see a paycheck because of taxes so they do relay soley on tips. Second, we don’t get to keep all of our tips. Depending on the company, like the one I work at, you can tip up to 4 people. Bussers, Hosts, Food Runners and Bartenders. As a general rule, you tip out about %15 on your total sales. So when your bill is $75 and you leave a $5 tip, the server loses money on taking care of you since they still have to tip the 15% to the helpers regardless if they received a 15% tip or not.
Thirdly, as the economy changes over time, so does the cost of service. Now, 18% is considered the new norm for regular service and 20% for excellent service. When you go out to eat, you get to relax while the server does everything for you. If you can’t afford to leave a decent tip then you honestly should not be going out to eat. Serving is just that, a service and it should not be free.