PREACH!
I worked on and off as a waiter for 10 years, 4 of them at a comedy club that had 15% "auto-gratuity", which wasn't enforced. Nor was there a minimum so you could get a whole section, of EIGHT or more tables, with no one buying anything. On an above average week though I could walk out of there with $400 cash, plus we were paid slightly higher so we'd get a $30ish paycheck every two weeks. Some weeks I'd be lucky to walk out of there with $100.
But tipping does need to change in this country. There are a number of restaurants now that pay upwards of $30k/year with benefits and don't allow tips.
On the other hand, waiters at high-end and tourist attraction restaurants can make upwards of 6 figures. I have a friend in Nashville that waits tables and he cleared almost $90k in 2016.
I believe it! The disparity is crazy between an IHOP, a Chilis, and the upscale places.
That’s nuts about the comedy club. I don’t think I could have stuck it out as long as you did.
I generally worked 4 or 5 nights a week, and usually was able to pocket $200-300. But I was 18 and didn’t need the money so it felt like a lot. I can’t imagine supporting a family on that.
The tipping structure seems to create an unnatural disparity in earnings for waiters.
Even worse, A restaurant with great food at a low price gets substantially less in the way of tips than one with overpriced food.
I seem to remember as a kid that the average tip was 5% and a good tip was 10% . The price of food used to be higher. Higher wages and lower tips would be more civil.
BTW: There is a style of restaurant called One World Everybody Eats . These buffet style restaurants don't charge for the food. You go in to the restaurant. Slop food on your plate then pay what you think the food was worth. Some of the restaurants welcome the homeless and many of the patrons know that and overpay for the food knowing that they are feeding hungry people.