Comments on: Wait staff woes

By: Patrick Blattman

Patrick Blattman — Tue, 05 May 2009 09:52:22 +0000

Thus, it should follow that the suicide rate amongst waitresses is possibly higher than any other occupation.

By: Denise Simmons

Denise Simmons — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:25:56 +0000

As a Texas Waitress,I would just like to add “Everything is NOT bigger in texas”,they do not know how to take care of their Servers.We work just as hard as servers on the west coast and yet continue to make 2.13 an hour where they make minimum wage and their tips,Whats wrong with this picture is that we all reside in the same UNITED STATES Texas!!!

By: Arcade of Thoughts » Blog Archive » Capitalism: Couple of points

Arcade of Thoughts » Blog Archive » Capitalism: Couple of points — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:08:08 +0000

[...] because it becomes an excuse for the employer to call them incompetent and fire them. More on that here (via [...]

By: Shiny Shoes

Shiny Shoes — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 01:43:13 +0000

I think you’ll enjoy reading Waiter Rant – the godfather of all service industry blogs.

By: Semantic Overload

Semantic Overload — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:27:37 +0000

@Blue:
Actually I left out a bunch of things in favor of brevity (yeah, I know its not a very short post, but it could have been longer, much much longer).
For instance:
(1) In some restaurants, the wait-staff pool their tips and divide it equally. This often allows someone who isn’t pulling their weight to get away with others’ share of the tips.
(2) The wait-staff often stays back for an hr after close to clean the place up, and shows up an hour early to open the place up. For all this extra time (when there are no customers around), they get paid the same $2.13 though there is not chance of tips.
(3) Since is the largest slice of their pay, sometimes wait-staff resorts to stealing other wait-staff’s tip. And worse, sometimes customers steal the tips!
(4) Waitresses working graveyard shifts are often sexually harassed by (inebriated) customers, and the waitress is helpless because the customer’s always right! And besides, if there is some hope of a good tip, they don’t want to screw that chance up.
(5) Customers sometimes play the race card. Often happens when an African American thinks he/she is not being served well by a white waiter/waitress, and complains to the manager that he/she is being discriminated against. Often, there is little basis for the allegation, but the manager will give the meal to the customer for free, take it out of the waiter/waitress’s paycheck, and chew the waiter/waitress out without really caring if it was his/her fault to begin with.
(6) Customers take 15 minutes to figure out what they want while they expect the wait-staff to wait on them at the table instead of taking care of other orders/tables. They get Irate when the wait-staff doesn’t, and create a scene…. you know how this story ends.

And I could go on… this is just the tip of the iceberg really.

By: Blue

Blue — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:38:08 +0000

You left out that waitstaff have to split their tips with cooks, bartenders, and busboys.

As a former waitress (three years experience):

Tip generously.

By: Wait Staff Woes | DesiPundit

Wait Staff Woes | DesiPundit — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:45:53 +0000

[...] when you have visited a restaurant. Semantic Overload talks with a guy manning the bar counter and comes back with horror stories of gross exploitation. Most wait staff in the town I live in are students who are working to pay through [...]