Servers are some of the most undermined working people in the U.S. They are viewed as lower level workers who must provide immaculate service to receive tips from the public to make a living. Yet, Americans do not take server’s profession seriously.
The American government pays the average server just enough to pay the bare minimum of taxes, and the businesses take tips from servers to give more money to other employees such as the bartender, hosts and sometimes, the cooks. America does not respect servers or what they do for this country.
In Louisiana, pay for servers is $2.13 an hour. This is an amount just enough to pay taxes and give “Uncle Sam” what he’s owed. Many servers will never receive a paycheck, but those who might get pocket change checks every now and again only get them because they work a great deal of overtime. They work tireless hours to not only serve customers, but also to upkeep the establishment they are employed by.
“Louisiana employers can pay as little as $2.13 an hour, as long as the employee earns enough in tips to add up to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour,” said Lisa Guerin, an author from Nolo, a legal information publisher. “However, if you don’t earn at least $5.12 an hour in tips, your employer must pay you the difference.”
This may be the law, but employers take full advantage of what servers provide and go beyond what is necessary. Besides serving customers, servers must clean their sections, perform any side work assigned by the restaurant and prep the restaurant for all opening and closing duties. Who pays the servers for their extra effort in upkeeping the restaurants?
Bartenders have a plethora of things to do before the bar can even open. The restaurant nor customers pay for the extra time they put in, and if they receive any pay at all, the amount is a joke. These laborious duties are taken for granted and not appreciated. Free labor is not fun, it’s belittling.
Working as a server already puts you in a crooked system, but it’s worse when the majority of your clientele doesn’t tip you correctly or at all because they feel like they shouldn’t have to. These days, people will go out to eat and receive a hundred-dollar check and only tip five dollars. It’s understandable to tip this way if good service was not provided, but these occasions are very rare. Servers know bad service equals bad tips. It’s not a hard concept to understand, but it turns into a conundrum when a server provides the most sincere service for a table and the customer under tips or does not tip at all.
The moral rule is: if you do not have enough money to provide a proper tip, you do not have enough money to go out to eat. There are no shortcuts or loopholes. It does not matter what you order or where you choose to eat, the amount of your tip should be 18 to 20 percent of your check. If you would like to tip over 20 percent, I am more than sure the server would appreciate it.
Servers are people just like us. They are trying to make a living and support themselves, some even have families to take care of. Some people have been serving for decades and dealt with sore feet, back pain and pulled muscles. Americans need to appreciate what servers do for people everyday.
If it were not for servers, you would never get that steak you’ve been craving all day. If it were not for bartenders, you would never have that nice, alcoholic beverage after a long day at the office. A little recognition never hurt anyone, so do not neglect the people who only work to serve you.
Kiana Naquin is a 21-year-old English sophomore from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.