By Kathleen Wirt
One more letter about tipping, if you can stand it. I have a very important comment to make that has not yet been addressed in the letters you have printed: If you “stiff” your waiter, he is paying money out of his own pocket to wait on you.
Yes, everyone pays taxes. But waiters pay taxes on money they may or may not have made. Each night the computer at the restaurant has a sales total for each waiter. Eight percent of that total is recorded as the amount of money the waiter made in tips that night and taxes are automatically deducted from the waiter’s paycheck. When I worked five days a week as a waitress at Louise’s Trattoria on Montana in the early ’90s, my paychecks averaged $30-$40 a week. I remember a waiter who worked several double shifts over a holiday weekend and received a paycheck of less than $10.
The nicer the restaurant, the more money the waiter tips out to the staff who help him: a hostess, busboys, runners, bartenders, the kitchen, even the dishwasher. A 15 percent tip becomes 8 percent very quickly, but fortunately a waiter receives 20 percent tips from some customers, which makes up for those who tip less.
Generally, the system works fairly and the waiter can absorb a loss or two, especially in high-volume restaurants where the tables in his section may “turn over” many times. But in a fine dining situation, where the tables are seated only once or twice, the loss of income can be devastating, especially if the non-tipping table is a large one with a high check. Please also be aware that the waiter pays the same 8 percent tax on your wine order that he does on your food, so if you don’t tip on an expensive wine bill, your waiter is still having that money deducted from his paycheck.
Mr. Armstrong should know that he IS paying the waiter’s salary with his tips and that his meal would cost a great deal more if waiters were paid entirely by the restaurant.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 23, 2002. Read the original PDF.