How much do you tip?

[ryoder]

frankie, yes the min wage is super low and the waiters' high income is due solely to tips.
Think about how easy it is to make money if you have a 5 table station. One table has a $50 check and leaves you an $8 tip for an hour of service. If each table left that amount you would have $40 per hour. Work a 5 hour shift where you turn your tables over 4 times and you have made 5*4*8=$160 in tips for 5 hours. Add in the measly base pay and it adds in another $10 or so.
Don't forget to tip-share. Most companies require this. They take 3% of the waiter's gross sales from him and distribute it to the front of the restaurant (hostess and bussers).
If our fictional waiter sold 50*4*5=$1000 in gross sales, he would have to surrender $30 in tip share so his net income for the night is:
income = tips - (gross * .03) + 2.25*hours worked
income = 160 - 30 + 10 = $140 for the 5 hour night

Thats not so bad and you don't claim all of those tips either, so you end up doing much better than the guy working at the computer store. I know all this because my brother and his girlfriend both worked at high volume restaurants while I worked at a retail computer store.

The point is that high volume restaurants are good ways to make money that do not require a college education.

Notice the tip share though. My brother had tables with a $100 total bill and the patrons only tipped $2. He had to tip share $3 for that table's gross sales so he actually lost money on it. This happened once in a while. Some people tip $1 per person regardless of the bill.