Originally Posted by
idriveuride
Write your Congressperson and ask that the Minimum wage exception of the food industry be eliminated.
Unfortunately, the staff would not be happy as they can make BANK on tips; and, restaurants cannot afford to pay high hourly wages to retain quality staff. Work hard, get paid well is the motto.
Now, the wait staff are taxed assuming you have paid 15% in gratuity on your check, so if you pay 10% or nothing, they are essentially paying for serving you. In addition (as mentioned here) they also have to pay the busboy, bartender, host(ess) at the end of the night.
This is also why parties of 6, 8, etc are automatically applied gratuity. Not because it requires more work (does) or reduces the amount of tops they can work (does); but, because the tip often does not even reach 8%.
Back in the day, I had tables that on a $400 tab would leave $20. Where a couple having a nice dinner would leave $20 on a $80 tab. That's why the rookies get the groups or why you see auto tipping on groups.
Someone else posted that the government assume an 8% tip for tax purposes. Which given how many people are saying 15-20% means that server is making a fair amount of tax free cash that way. However, I thought it was entirely acceptable to the IRS for you to keep a record of every tip and only pay tax on the actual amount? Thus if you don't tip, you are only costing your server money if they use the blanket amount (which long term seems way more favourable to them anyway, tax wise).