Kicking. Squealing.
At The Daily Beast, Jessica Yarrow relays a report titled “Tipped Over the Edge: Gender Equity in the Restaurant Industry” compiled by The Restaurant Opportunities Cities United which is backed by groups such as NOW, National Women’s Law Center, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Ford Foundation (thrown in for all of those conspiracy theorists out there).
From the report:
Servers, 71 percent female and the largest group of all tipped workers, represent the seventh-lowest paid occupation of the country’s lowest-paid jobs, with a median hourly wage of $8.81, well below the poverty wage. Not surprisingly, servers experience almost three times the poverty rate of the workforce as a whole. Many of these workers are supporting families. Since their take-home pay is mostly dependent on tips, their paychecks can fluctuate widely, impeding these workers’ ability to adequately provide for their families on a consistent basis. Servers rely on food stamps at nearly double the rate of the general population. In a sad irony, many of the same workers who serve America its food cannot afford to eat. Since the vast majority of tipped workers are female, issues affecting tipped workers are also matters of gender justice. In fact, the restaurant industry is one of the only sectors with a bifurcated minimum wage: non-tipped workers have a federal minimum wage of $7.25, while the predominately female tipped workers have a federal subminimum wage of $2.13. In many sectors lower wages for women are partly the product of discriminatory employer practices, but in the restaurant industry lower wages for women are also a product of direct public policy.
Of course, this analysis repeatedly lowballs actual wages and ignores the widespread tax evasion that plagues the restaurant industry. Three quick anecdotes on that front:
In the report, a waitress’ take:
“I was a server for 15 years and raised four kids on a server’s wages plus tips. Depending on other people to tip you… can be the most stressful part of being a server. There were many nights that I didn’t even make enough to pay my babysitter… What most people don’t realize is that servers don’t make the minimum wage like most people.”
I hear this refrain from most of my co-workers. After a lower-than-custom tip, many servers will trot out the old argument about how we only get paid $2.13 an hour. What they never appreciate are all of the 20-plus percent tips they receive. For servers, in my estimation, there is very little ‘taking the good with the bad’. On net, most servers would rather have a tipping regime rather than a set wage without tips.
Attempting to cloud facts with emotion, the report quotes another sympathy case:
“I just had my first baby, and her father is not in the picture right now, so I’m having to do everything myself.… It’s nearly impossible to pay rent, car payment, utilities, car insurance, and the cell phone bill on the pittance I’m making.… I can’t afford to get health insurance for myself and my baby through my job because my paycheck, even when I’m working 40+ hours a week, isn’t enough to cover it. I’m very lucky to have family and friends that are willing to watch my baby girl free of charge while I’m at work… But I suspect that not all working moms are so lucky.”
– Sarah, Texas
The report rightly pins the differences in male and female servers’ income on differences in restaurant scale. Fine-dining establishments tend to employ more men than family-style or quick-service restaurants. This disparity exists for two reasons: first, wealthier patrons prefer professionalized service, and they also tend to prefer a more assertive and masculine servers. I believe that this preference is a historical relic where the wealthy relied heavily on butlers for various domestic duties. And since it is more likely that men are paying for the meal than are women, feminists really have no response to this form of discrimination. Second, as in other occupations, women take on jobs that work around their domestic obligations. They select jobs that require less side work, less preparation, and fewer opportunities for upward mobility. An executive chef is similar in nature to a corporate executive; in order to reach such heights, the employee has to devote years to their job. Women are less likely to do this which is the reason for the “glass ceiling” and the income gap.
In recent years, I’ve made it a point to request male servers and bartenders when possible.
It’s not that I’m sexist — I’m paying for a service, an expensive service at that, and I demand the best possible service available.
Of course, in a sports bar, one doesn’t always have much choice — so I just don’t go to many sports bars. In a Scotch pub or a wine bar, there is almost always a guy with a great attitude and knowledge of their wares.
All it takes is figuring out what their names are and asking for them when I check-in or make a reservation.
Also, I’ve found that younger female servers and bartenders don’t serve well at all — and are too busy flirting with the AMOG, and that older female servers and bartenders tend to be extremely condescending to their male clients who ignore their attempts at presenting themselves like they used to a decade earlier.
Feminist arguments about wage gaps are invalid for the one meta point that women are not supposed to be the primary breadwinners.
Among waiters, who makes bigger tips in the same restaurant — a pretty college girl or a middle-aged man with a family?
In the best restaurants, I believe all the servers are usually male. The hostess is a very attractive female.
I’d tip a man better, personally.
The problem is that men tend to be better tippers than women. If women prefer male waiters, we need to tip them better.
“I believe that this preference is a historical relic where the wealthy relied heavily on butlers for various domestic duties.”
True. I think you would always have a butler answer the door.
Overall a good post. Lot’s of truth – unreported tips and taxes, male servers, easy scheduling.
But where did this come from: An executive chef is similar in nature to a corporate executive; in order to reach such heights, the employee has to devote years to their job. Women are less likely to do this which is the reason for the “glass ceiling” and the income gap.
Maybe should have closed with a transition that women would make it into restaurant management (maybe just assistant because of time contraints) with enough time with one company.
One thing might be worth mentioning, they leave with cash in hand, and cash in hand tends to be spent carelessly, which means many of the people complaining have no idea actually how much they are really making when compared to a salaried position.
Useful background on tax evasion, restaurant scale, and desire for flex work schedule. Thanks.
It’s always useful to understand the methodology behind a publication. I’ve copied it here:
This report draws upon government data
from the Current Population Survey (CPS),
American Community Survey (ACS), and
the Occupational Employment Statistics
(OES), as well as from numerous secondary
sources. In addition, the report includes
information from Wider Opportunities for
Women’s Basic Economic Security TablesTM
(BEST) Index to measure the basic needs
and assets that workers require for economic
security throughout a lifetime and across
generations (see appendix for details). The
data were gathered and analyzed by the
thirteen organizations who co-authored this
report: Restaurant Opportunities Centers
United (ROC-United), Family Values @
Work, HERvotes Coalition, Institute For
Women’s Policy Research, MomsRising,
National Coalition on Black Civic Participation’s
Black Women’s Roundtable, National
Council for Research On Women, National
Organization for Women Foundation, National
Partnership For Women & Families,
National Women’s Law Center, Wider Opportunities
For Women, Women Of Color
Policy Network, NYU Wagner, and 9to5,
National Association of Working Women.
Interspersed throughout the report are
profiles of restaurant workers drawn from
members of ROC-United and MomsRising.
There is also one profile of an employer with
exemplary practices drawn from one of the
ROC Restaurant Industry Roundtables.
I’m a lawyer, and it bears mentioning that when tipped employees don’t make the minimum wage after tips their employers are required by federal law (and the law of many states, which typically have higher minimum wages than the federal one) to make up the difference.
A.B. Dada said: Also, I’ve found that younger female servers and bartenders don’t serve well at all …..
Hit the nail on the head. I asked one to tell me which products were not distributed by River North (the Jackson family’s distributorship) and she had no clue. If I was a saleman for any brand I would be appalled.
PA said: Among waiters, who makes bigger tips in the same restaurant — a pretty college girl or a middle-aged man with a family?
Depends on the level of the establishment. In fine dining men will walk with more generally. In a diner, it’s going to be women.
I tip because I know that the servers are paid customarily by tipping and I tip in cash specifically to enable them to evade taxes.
But I would be perfectly happy if they were paid a set wage and I didn’t have to tip them. McDonald’s does, and the world doesn’t fall apart. The people who would not be happy with this change in the law are specifically those people who make a lot more in tips than full minimum wage would replace.
I always have a small hope the IRS would go after servers hard for under reported income. It’s not that I don’t want them to be able to feed their families so much as they’re almost all liberal and complain about “rich” people with close to 50% marginal tax rates not paying their fair share while they blatantly tax evade. I’d hazard a guess to say that 50% of those servers who are on food stamps are on them fraudulently. It’s a wild ass guess but it really wouldn’t surprise me. Also, the high end restaurants tend to get more of their tips on credit card where diner’s customers will leave cash more and you can’t really hide the credit card tips.
I always prefer male servers / bartenders; they’re better conversationalists, aren’t trying to manipulate me with their voice / looks, and usually know their drinks better.
A friend of my teen son put it bluntly: I work as a server for easy access to drugs and sex.
What Hale said. Also, echoing will, male servers can’t manipulate other men (and few women) with their looks, so they work harder and do a better job.
Professor Hale said: I tip because I know that the servers are paid customarily by tipping and I tip in cash specifically to enable them to evade taxes.
If it is actually a nice bar I am in, I will ask how they want it.
I can see Scott‘s point, but I want service I can’t complain about. If you put servers on an hourly wage, you will have what’s working in McDonald’s working there for minimum wage. Being able to speak English is the only thing that keeps out the the illiiterates, the “urban educated” and non-English speaking.
As for the bitching about the hourly wage, it has been my observation that only the less competent servers do it, the one’s getting behind, messing orders up.
When I worked in service industry I declared the amount that took me to minimum wage, and if I had to declare more than that one one day because of CC tips, the value I declared the next was reduced by the previous overage (or carried to the next time) — managers hated this and I always had to explain exactly what I was doing.
The fact that tips are left at the conclusion, not the beginning, of service, should categorize them as “gifts”, and therefore not reportable as taxable income (unless one gift exceeds the legal threshold of $10k or $20k, whatever it is).
@rjp: “managars hated this” — The managers can eat shit. They are running a scam by dumping most of the servers’ wages onto the customers in the form of tips.
It is my understanding that most servers put in exactly the same effort regardless of my tipping. If they are failing in their duties, it is up to management to correct them, not the customer. As I said, I tip because I know that is how they get paid, not because I am doing a mental calculation of how good their service was. Do you reserve a special tip for the cook to reward him for his cooking? Or a special tip for the hostess for really working it while showing you to your table? How about for teh manager for making shur the lights are turned on and the heating and cooling is set at a comfortable temperature? Of course not. We tip because it is customary, not because is is neccessary or because it produces better results. Set wages are just as good.
If they are bad enough, the manager should fire them. Paying a set wage is not the same thing as paying minimum wage. If you pay more, you can attract better employees. Better restaurants will likely pay more than cheap ones. Even within the same diner, better staff will get paid more than slower ones. That is management’s job. If they aren’t doing that, then the owners should get new management.
bahahha what the hell is up with all these single mothers..
‘In many sectors lower wages for women are partly the product of discriminatory employer practices, but in the restaurant industry lower wages for women are also a product of direct public policy.’
My last office job (government cubicle jockey) was a female dominated workplace, but there is absolutely zero discrimination going on in pay. If the women even made less (and I cannot confirm whether they did or didn’t), it was because they worked less hours and took more holidays (as Sarah, Texas, who somehow thinks that working more than 40 hours a week is a big deal, illustrates that women want equal treatment and benefits, but don’t want to do an equal amount of work). I actually have a stat sheet on excel and I have it right here…
In the six months I kept records, here is how many days people took off;
The Polish woman who’s hot daughter shares a birthday with me – 26 days.
The Hispanic woman who spent hours on the corporate dime talking to me – 31 days.
The Asian woman who hated the female boss – 11 days.
The cute young Pinay chick – 8 days (she was on contract like me. She was also late by more than an hour at least five times).
The sassy black woman – 19 days.
The girl who rode horses – 54 days (her sister was hospitalized)
The Yugoslavian – 5 days.
The cunty, unmarried, 50-something boss who hated me – 27 days.
The effeminate guy who looked like Krusty the Clown – 3 days.
The guy who looked and acted like George Costanza – 36 days (his father died)
Commenter Black Rebel – 1 day (in my last week, because I found out my cunt boss was ending my contract two days before Christmas and I was pissed off).
And let’s not forget that in the food service industry, an attractive and competent female server will receive far more tips than anyone, but that said, 99% of the time when I get good service, it was a male server or bartender.
I could care less about the gender issues, servers in general are the biggest group of babies in the modern work force. Go to any restaurant and ask what the COOKS are making, skilled men with years of experience bleeding and sweating for $12/hour if their lucky.
We cooks will make $400 a week, after taxes, if we’re lucky, most servers can make that in two days. Serving is by far some of the BEST you can make when you compare it to the relative skillset needed (that is to say NO skillset) to perform the job.
Next time someone you know who works as a server bitches about their double, ask them about hte cook who was there 2 hours before them prepping and will be there two hours after scrubbing grease off the ranges. “But I have to do side work!” Fuck you.
@ Chef In Jeans
THANK YOU !!!!!
I used to slave like a dog sweating my ass off, only to listen to servers bitch about their tips, or worse yet get a huge tip because the meal I and my kitchen prepared. That was years ago. Many times i have tried to explain to people that servers often make 20 or more bucks an hour in tips alone, not JUST minimum wage… They blow it as fast as the get it and likely never even report it to IRS. and don’t forget Tips don’t get Soc Sec or payroll or LI taken out… so as a Cook/Chef you take a huge bite out of your wages. where as, even if servers are up front about their earnings, they don’t take nearly as big of a hit.
Also women are attracted to this line of work because of the “flexible” hours and low level of skill needed to earn a good bit of cash. If it were nearly as bad as they like to put it, Americans wouldn’t do it, just like picking crops by hand. Its hard work low skill and low pay. Ya don’t see Lil Amber or Becky out there picking lettuce. You do see em working at your local restaurants, up front smiling and getting you your salad.. Funny you do see allot of Pedro’s working in the back though … hard hot work, lower pay… hmmmm. wonder if there is a connection…
chef, stickman:
servers are a whiny lot. the most entitled bunch in the whole restaurant.
If you don’t like being a $12 /hr line cook, do something else with your life. If you know servers make $20/hr, why do you toil in a kitchen making less since your so much smarter than them? Is it because you’re a 40 year old ex convict alcoholic junkie with tacky visible tattoos and aren’t presentable to the general public? (from my experience the majority of lifer line ccoks embody at least part of that shitty generalization, the rest of them speak broken English and cant work here legally).Also if your a “Chef” with tons of experience why are you only making $12/hr? ……… & I’m not defending servers, like Chuck says, they’re a whiny bunch who don’t often see the big picture
Lol okay kid.
The industry pays shit because it can. Cooking is considered unskilled labor yet it relies on the skill and knowledge of the cooks (who yes some are 40 year old ex cons but still could cook your grandma under the table) who make it run. The problem is it feeds on guys like me who have devoted their entire life to this and have a strong sense of pride for what they do.
I toil for shit money because I do what I love, something an angsty little toadie like you probably doesn’t understand.
If you love your job so much what are you bitching about? And I’m not anywhere near being an angst ridden “kid”
Just not a bitter old asshole
Lol, k. I never bitched about my job, I stated it was hard work that was underpaid (which is damn near all work nowadays), I bitched about servers being whiny entitled dips. Reading comprehension young grasshopper, it’ll do you well. And I’m in my 20s lol.
Kitchen staff pay is suppressed by Mexican immigrants. Kitchen staff pay was a lot higher just 10 years ago, just like every Mexican dominated ‘industry’. Of course the food isn’t any cheaper.
@Kyle
Thats not entirely true, but it sorta is. Immigrants and other cheap labor have lowered the bar universally, but now even restaurants in nice areas, requiring skilled staff, still pay terribly, they just pay terribly + $1/hr
They bank on the fact that even while offering a shitty wage of $12/hr the other guys are offering $11/hr which means they’re still the highest payer and will thereby get everyone clamoring to work there. Its become even worse with the job market botched across the board where entry level “no experience required” jobs are asking you to have 5 years of experience. This means breaking out of your field (especially one as pigeonholed as cooking) is damn hard.
I’ve tried leaving the industry before, and this combined with my aforementioned passion for what I do (I really do hate it but I love it) make it very difficult to leave.
In the best restaurants, I believe all the servers are usually male. The hostess is a very attractive female.
Bingo. In high-end restaurants, a waiter can earn $100K a year. An added bonus is that since tips are usually business accounts, people aren’t as stingy as they would be with their own money. Why is it that so many waiter girls in the mid-tier joints can’t break into this profession?
I wonder why Chuck doesn’t aim for that either, as a sidebar. 18% gratuity is often automatic, and not really challenged by the patrons, since it is the employer who pays. There are also usually no surly black people or single moms either.
Chuck, you have put in the time in mid-tier. It is time to rise to a waiter job that pays like a real professional income.
Also on the executive chef comment at the end, thats a little false, nowadays its almost universally required that an applicant for that kind of position have some kind of degree, either a culinary school degree or hospitality management, There would be rare cases for older guys who’ve been in the industry for 10+ years.
@ BlackRebel : Jives with my experience as well.
When I was working as a contractor, my workload was sporadic (and gradually trickled off as I spent more time looking for other work). One of my female friends / love interests works a steady 9-5 job and always gave me shit about how I was a slacker and didn’t do any work. She would text me when I was at home between clients and she was at her job. It got to the point where the texting from her was so frequent that I literally couldn’t accomplish basic things like searching for other work, doing my finances, or cooking and cleaning.
Apparently spending 8 hours of the day gossiping and texting constitutes work for some women (she was also eager to bitch about other employees who did even less, such as one who watched Netflix on her phone at work).
@Reym: Exactly, and honestly I enjoyed that job; the pay was decent, I liked everyone except for the boss, it was easy and it put me into contact with a ton of young women (the office was smack in the middle of a very target-rich area, I got at least 5 notches in less than a year because of the location alone)…how can I complain about that?
And in addition to them taking more days, it’s even more staggering when you consider that I do not live an easy life, and I’m not using ‘I do not live an easy life’ as ‘Woe is me!’ like women do, I’m using it like ‘I live hard’; in addition to a 1.5 hour commute each way every day, much of the time I would go out drinking afterwards until 2 with friends and co-workers, or after work I’d head straight over to some girls’ place for the night. The Pinay (who I sadly did not fuck), was a twenty minute commute on the TTC, and she was late far more than I was.
I type 80 WPM, the clients loved me and I was the only person in the team that had any upper body strength, so if ever a heavy file needed to be located and retrieved (some of those files pushed 30 lbs.), I had to take care of it, while the chicks mostly dealt with people on the phone and entered numbers.
And of course:
My shift: 8:30-5:15 (often times until 6, 6:30)
The shift of the women: 8-4:30
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