Minimum wage for waiters

[Pufferfish94]

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



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 because she could see I was running around, while their waitor was sitting having a chat.

This is great but if there are no customers then not even hard work can earn you tips

 

[thehuman]

Not sure how legit this method will be .
R50 min wage from your pocket
Diference in minimum is being paid from thier credit card tips . If not enough you pay diference in

 

[Binary_Bark]

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

Well something like that. The waiters started to ask the customers for tips in cash and also not to be written on the slip

 

[Neoprod]

Well something like that. The waiters started to ask the customers for tips in cash and also not to be written on the slip

that's why the service charge thing has to be a line item.

if the customer chooses to still pay a tip over and above that, power to the waiter.

 

[AstroTurf]

Years ago, due to these types of issues (and I do mean years ago). The restaurant I worked at changed the tipping layout. We were paid pretty well anyway above the tips but this is what he did.

25% of your tips were your own (unless bartender then you get 50 but the bartenders got almost zero tips and were also paid more because of this).
25% went to the other staff. 40% was shared out evenly amongst the waiters and bartenders.
10% went to highest 2 turnovers (waiters or bartenders).

Oh keep in mind the bartenders here were dealing with the local hangout. Place that had constant themed parties, karaoke, bar fights and and and. Always a packed bar.

Worked out weekly.

 

[SauRoNZA]

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.

That is a massive variance to live your life by month to month.

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.

Then pay the other staff more.

Or work out a tip sharing system in accordance with increasing the basic.

People would be far more open to a guaranteed stable income.

Also you shouldn't see it as taking profit off the top, but rather a static underlying cost long before profit is even made.

 

[Pufferfish94]

That is a massive variance to live your life by month to month.



Then pay the other staff more.

Or work out a tip sharing system in accordance with increasing the basic.

People would be far more open to a guaranteed stable income.

Also you shouldn't see it as taking profit off the topic, but rather a static underlying cost long before profit is even made.

+1

 

[AstroTurf]

Yup. I agree taking tips into account (car Guard or waiter or even lap dancer) when calculating wage is not fair to employees.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Yup. I agree taking tips into account (car Guard or waiter or even lap dancer) when calculating wage is not fair to employees.

In any other field the guys clearly showing better performance would be rewarded for it with an increase.

Not have it counted against them to keep their basic low.

 

[Chevron]

In any other field the guys clearly showing better performance would be rewarded for it with an increase.

Not have it counted against them to keep their basic low.

Or you could look at it the other way around, low basic is there so that performance bonuses can be huge.

Which does happen in other fields.

Goes both ways.

 

[Splinter]

That is a massive variance to live your life by month to month.



Then pay the other staff more.

Or work out a tip sharing system in accordance with increasing the basic.

People would be far more open to a guaranteed stable income.

Also you shouldn't see it as taking profit off the top, but rather a static underlying cost long before profit is even made.

You really think waiters want their tips shared so other staff get a higher wage?

 

[crackersa]

Pay minimum and keep all tips.

 

[Neoprod]

Pay minimum and keep all tips.

ewww...the tip is an exchange between customer and waiter. Morally, has nothing to do with the restaurateur.

OP: run the numbers and tell us (in percentage terms) what kind of service charge you would need to add to each bill in order to make enough to pay minimum wage to all staff + some extra for performance bonuses \ sales incentives - while doing away with tipping entirely.

That's probably less attractive to your wait staff but they're a dime a dozen.

 

[Mephisto_Helix]

All the flippant 'keep the tips' comments - who pays for medical aid and all other benefits, the waiter does

what about those middle of the month days?
what about just a generally low month?

There are lots of variables where surviving on a basic is not doable ...... how would you feel doing your 9 hour day and getting a 50 thrown your way? Oh and not all waitrons earn R10-R15k, so what about them.

 

[crackersa]

All the flippant 'keep the tips' comments - who pays for medical aid and all other benefits, the waiter does

what about those middle of the month days?
what about just a generally low month?

There are lots of variables where surviving on a basic is not doable ...... how would you feel doing your 9 hour day and getting a 50 thrown your way? Oh and not all waitrons earn R10-R15k, so what about them.

Get educated and get a better job.

 

[SauRoNZA]

You really think waiters want their tips shared so other staff get a higher wage?

Well that would depend entirely on the structure of the package.

I'm quite sure waiting on a tip system is quite seasonal and has serious ups and downs.

So a higher basic would help with general planning.

Doesn't mean you need to give all your tips away. But like someone said maybe 10% or whatever.

Still don't think its other waiters problem that other staff are lowly paid, but it was a solution for a cheap boss problem.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Or you could look at it the other way around, low basic is there so that performance bonuses can be huge.

Which does happen in other fields.

Goes both ways.

It's true sure, but there's low basic (as in this case) and then reasonable basic.

I don't think those examples would pay less than 10% of overall performance in basic.

 

[southafricanrob]

I wonder how many of you helpful folk have ever been small businesses owners and experienced trying to get through to month end yourself. Not much useful insight but thanks to those who bothered to contribute anything decent.

 

[DA-LION-619]

Get educated and get a better job.

Hehehe it's funny, I've seen that comment before but not in tipping threads....

The staff at Nandos don't ask for a tip, they aren't going out of business and the service isn't bad.

 

[DA-LION-619]

I wonder how many of you helpful folk have ever been small businesses owners and experienced trying to get through to month end yourself. Not much useful insight but thanks to those who bothered to contribute anything decent.

Sorry but if you can't provide minimum wage because you won't make it through the month then you're over staffed or your business model is wrong.