A restaurant server whisks by and discretely slides a bill onto the edge of a table. The full-bellied diners hesitantly examine the checks and begin to calculate a tip.Brittany Jewell didn’t think this aspect of her job was nerve-racking a few years ago. But restaurant servers have experienced a 10 percent decrease in take-home income in the last year, according to a study released Wednesday by Payscale.com, an online database of employee compensation. Al Lee, Payscale.com’s director of quantitative analysis, said the income decrease could be because of slower shifts and less opportunities to earn tips or because of diners tipping less. “I like to think that it’s simply that people are spending less money [rather] than that people are stiffing the waitress or waiter,” Lee said. Jewell, philosophy and political science senior, has worked as a server at The Chimes on Highland Road for three years. Jewell said she attributes the decrease in income to a general decrease in business. She said most of her tips are around 20 percent of the bill, but her shifts are not nearly as busy as a few years ago. “In previous years, I would always make a lot more than 20 percent tips,” Jewell said. She said she used to pay her bills by working only three shifts per week but has been forced to pick up extra shifts to cover the tip discrepancy. Michael Lynn, professor of consumer behavior at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, said there are no academic or public studies to his knowledge about the effects of the economy on tips. But Lynn said research has shown tips increase with income, and price-sensitive consumers tip less than those who are not price-sensitive. Lee said research showed a 5 percent decrease in tips across 80 jobs. He said declines in tipping cause a substantial decrease in server incomes because tips account for 70 percent of their pay. “Since incomes generally go down and price sensitivity generally goes up during recessions,” Lynn said, “It is logical to conclude that tipping decreases during bad economic times.”- – – -Contact Emily Holden at [email protected]