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Had to admit I was wrong about tipping after working a double shift on New Year's Eve
I used to think tipping culture was just a way for owners to underpay staff, plain and simple. Then I worked a 14 hour shift at The Griddle Cafe in LA last New Year's Eve, and I walked out with $320 in tips that night while my hourly was only $11. That money was my rent basically covered because of one busy shift. Has anyone else changed their mind on this after actually working a tipped job?
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ryan_barnes14h ago
Oh man, that's the thing nobody talks about right? Like yeah the system is broken in a lot of ways but people forget that for some of us those tips are literally the difference between making rent and not. I had a buddy who waited tables for years and he always said the same thing - on paper his hourly wage was garbage but those busy weekends and holidays made up for it big time. The real problem is how unpredictable it is, you can have a killer New Year's Eve and then get stuck with a slow Tuesday where you barely clear twenty bucks. So I get how you changed your mind, it's not black and white like people make it out to be.
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But that $320 still came from customers, not the owner.
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bennett.evan13h ago
Ryan Barnes makes a good point about the unpredictability being the real killer. A friend of mine waited tables in the city for about five years and said the same thing. He could have a Friday night where he walked with three hundred dollars, then a Wednesday lunch shift where he made twelve bucks after tipping out the bussers. That kind of uncertainty makes it hard to budget for anything, let alone a car payment or a medical bill. The fact that the money comes from customers doesn't change the fact that the owner is basically offloading the risk of slow nights onto the workers. Hard to plan a life around that kind of income.
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