Minimum wage for waiters

[JStrike]

Sounds fancy...I've only eaten at places that take as much of my money as they can get

Generally overseas where tipping is discouraged
Of course the waiters earn very good salaries so there is no need to tip

 

[Pufferfish94]

By law you have to pay minimum wage, their tips are earned by them due to the quality of the service they give.

They earned that money and it should not be taken from them.

 

[Azbubu]

Would you tip if you knew that the waiters were already earning decent wages?

 

[Binary_Bark]

I did waitering during my studies, never got paid a wage per say, we got the tips and then about 10% (can't remember precisely what it was) of our total month sales, this does make the waiters work harder on sales

 

[Chevron]

Generally overseas where tipping is discouraged

Depends on the country "overseas" isn't this generic magical place.

Of course the waiters earn very good salaries so there is no need to tip

Again, but even more highly dependent than the above.

Yes, there is an anti-tipping movement that's gaining ground, but in the US especially, it's only super high end restaurants that enforce it.

 

[saturnz]

why would you go out of business?

can't you up the prices and inform patrons that waiters are paid minimum wage or maybe state it more diplomatically so as to effectively dissuade customers from having to tip

then everyone should still be happy

 

[Pufferfish94]

R16.91 per hour is not a decent wage...

The tips they earn is depends on their ability to help the customer enjoy their experience and the customers leave them something to show their appreciation.

 

[southafricanrob]

Apparently less than R16.91 otherwise you wouldn't be here...which means not very decent at all.

That's hardly R3000 a month.

"Decent" my ass.

At your current R50 a shift going by a 22-day average (which I'm sure they don't even do) it's hardly over a R1000.

That's criminal.

I'm not sure how people are not getting this. They are not going home with only R50 a day. The industry is structured around the tipping system and as such they go home with min 10-15k a month, absolutely provable.

The min wage is there to protect low level employees and abuse thereof, and totally agreed its currently way to low. What I have a problem with is taking money from any profits at he end of the day and giving them to waiters who are already the best paid by far instead of putting that towards the lower paid staff who have no access to tips generally.

 

[Chevron]

I did waitering during my studies, never got paid a wage per say, we got the tips and then about 10% (can't remember precisely what it was) of our total month sales, this does make the waiters work harder on sales

When I was a waitor we didn't get paid at all. Worked for tips only. If you were lazy you got nothing, if you worked hard you made out decently.

Disclaimer: Not saying that I'm an advocate for 0 pay and only getting tips, just relating my experience.

What I find interesting about all the anti-tipping people here is they conveniently forget about employment like car guards which is even worse with regards to working for tips.

 

[Pufferfish94]

I'm not sure how people are not getting this. They are not going home with only R50 a day. The industry is structured around the tipping system and as such they go home with min 10-15k a month, absolutely provable.

The min wage is there to protect low level employees and abuse thereof, and totally agreed its currently way to low. What I have a problem with is taking money from any profits at he end of the day and giving them to waiters who are already the best paid by far instead of putting that towards the lower paid staff who have no access to tips generally.

Why not introduce a "rule" that waiters give 10% of their total earning to the other staff?

 

[Binary_Bark]

When I was a waitor we didn't get paid at all. Worked for tips only. If you were lazy you got nothing, if you worked hard you made out decently.

Disclaimer: Not saying that I'm an advocate for 0 pay and only getting tips, just relating my experience.

What I find interesting about all the anti-tipping people here is they conveniently forget about employment like car guards which is even worse with regards to working for tips.

True. I have experienced a restaurant that conveniently took a percentage of your tips as they put it "table rental"
then in extreme deviousness use that to pay the minimum wage

 

[Pufferfish94]

When I was a waitor we didn't get paid at all. Worked for tips only. If you were lazy you got nothing, if you worked hard you made out decently.

Disclaimer: Not saying that I'm an advocate for 0 pay and only getting tips, just relating my experience.

What I find interesting about all the anti-tipping people here is they conveniently forget about employment like car guards which is even worse with regards to working for tips.

I somewhat agree with you, but I have worked many a shift were it was so quiet I earned about R20 in tips, that's why minimum wage is there

 

[Chevron]

Seems like those in this thread need to do some research first.

why would you go out of business?

can't you up the prices and inform patrons that waiters are paid minimum wage or maybe state it more diplomatically so as to effectively dissuade customers from having to tip

then everyone should still be happy

All the surveys and studies around tipping I've seen show that most customers actually like tipping and see the removal of tipping as taking their power away of being able to reward excellent service, or dissuading bad service.

Yes, studies have shown that psychology quality of service has less of an effect on the size of the tip as people think, but that doesn't change the belief.

I'm not sure how people are not getting this. They are not going home with only R50 a day. The industry is structured around the tipping system and as such they go home with min 10-15k a month, absolutely provable.

The min wage is there to protect low level employees and abuse thereof, and totally agreed its currently way to low. What I have a problem with is taking money from any profits at he end of the day and giving them to waiters who are already the best paid by far instead of putting that towards the lower paid staff who have no access to tips generally.

This is the best argument I've seen against tipping. Easiest solution to this though is to put all the tips into one big pot to be split evenly amongst everyone.

 

[Sinbad]

Because you are not paying them that money. They are getting it directly from the customers.
Pay them a decent wage.

Not a fan of the tipping system, and it should certainly not be used as an excuse to pay people below minimum wage

I agree with you.

 

[Pufferfish94]

Easiest solution to this though is to put all the tips into one big pot to be split evenly agongst everyone.

I would agree, waiters do tend to make a lot more money then any other staff even though the other staff work equally as hard.

 

[Neoprod]

I'm not sure how people are not getting this. They are not going home with only R50 a day. The industry is structured around the tipping system and as such they go home with min 10-15k a month, absolutely provable.

The min wage is there to protect low level employees and abuse thereof, and totally agreed its currently way to low. What I have a problem with is taking money from any profits at he end of the day and giving them to waiters who are already the best paid by far instead of putting that towards the lower paid staff who have no access to tips generally.

No, we get what you've said. The change recommended is around restructuring the tipping income to distribute it more fairly across all your serving staff (kitchen, busboys should you have any etc.).

It's only fair when you think about it...if your kitchen staff are turning out meals slowly or below standard, the tips would go down accordingly. At the moment, your wait staff are taking the cream of the earnings while they're only a part of the service chain that delivers the customer experience.

 

[Binary_Bark]

This is the best argument I've seen against tipping. Easiest solution to this though is to put all the tips into one big pot to be split evenly agongst everyone.

I have seen this being tried, in theory it should work well. But people are people and we are a greedy bunch. This only creates animosity and resentment between staff

 

[Chevron]

True. I have experienced a restaurant that conveniently took a percentage of your tips as they put it "table rental"
then in extreme deviousness use that to pay the minimum wage

That's how car guards work if I'm not mistaken. Been a while since I checked.

I somewhat agree with you, but I have worked many a shift were it was so quiet I earned about R20 in tips, that's why minimum wage is there

Yet I've seen busy periods were certain waitors will sit chatting to their friends while I ran around working my ass off. I was even tipped once by another waitors customer because she could see I was running around, while their waitor was sitting having a chat.

 

[Pufferfish94]

I have seen this being tried, in theory it should work well. But people are people and we are a greedy bunch. This only creates animosity and resentment between staff

I have witnessed other staff member (my friends) keep tips for themselves instead of splitting them evenly, people are greedy.

Distribution of money is no easy thing and someone will always be unhappy no matter what you do, I still feel however that you should pay your staff minimum wage, its there for a reason.

 

[Chevron]

I have seen this being tried, in theory it should work well. But people are people and we are a greedy bunch. This only creates animosity and resentment between staff

Because those that work hard, get the same as those that around chatting to their friends.