Something I would like to take time to write about is something that is very important to me. This has to do with my current job at Outback Steak House. I was wondering how people learned how to tip? This comes to me because many times people just don’t know how. I came to this conclusion during my first week of working there. I am a server and I would like to inform everyone that tipping is very important. I have come to the conclusion that most people don’t understand how important tipping is to us servers. Well I want to explain that the majority of servers in New York only make $4.60 an hour. Did you know this?? This is the minimum wage for people who are tipped. That is only four dollar and sixty cents an hour!!! So basically we rely on our tips to make a living. I do not think that people know this.
Now I would like to take time to make people understand how much goes into them being served. It first starts with the hiring process. Now, not all restaurants are intense about hiring as Outback Steak House is but it is such a tough industry. If you get a call back, you have to go on an interview, duh, all jobs are like this. But in most jobs you do not have to take a two hour personality test, like most servers have to. As long as I passed the personality test I could continue on the grueling process. Now in my interview I found out that in order to start my training I would have to remember 10 printed Times Roman Newman 12 point font computer printed pages of food description. I would have to memorize these 10 pages word for word. Then you have to take a test. This test is basically 10 blank pages with the names of the food in the area you have to write the description. This isn’t even the toping on the cake. If you pass the food test with at least a 90, and by the way, you only have two chances to do this. Then you are given a 15 page liquor study sheet. It’s the same thing as the menu test but it’s about all the drinks the restaurant carries. It has the same requirements as the menu test does.
If you pass all of these items, you can them move on to training. This isn’t that bad. It consists of four days of following someone around like a puppy and seeing their methods of serving. It is very boring. The first day you just follow someone and ask any questions you have. The second day you do all the side work, anything that doesn’t involve talking to the table. This includes setting up their food, carrying trays of food, getting their drinks, typing it in the computer, and cleaning up afterwards. The third day you just stand in the kitchen and set up food so you know how everything is supposed to look. The four day you do all the work and the trainer watch you and tells you if you are doing anything wrong. Just to let everyone know, the person training does not see any of the tip money. We just get the nice $7.25 minimum wage.
Finally you can start on your own and make money for yourself. But when this happens most servers start to realize that people don’t know how to tip. Being your server I have to get your drinks, start your food, and juggle three to four other tables of people. I also have to carry trays of food from the kitchen to you. Then we also have to deal with the people who want to get nasty with us and think that they know how to do it better when they have never even served in their life. Also when you go out to eat in a normal restaurant, not a diner, food takes time to make! It is NOT Burger King people!!! An entree, your main course, takes about 25 minutes to make, especially when you order a steak WELL DONE!! Nothing is premade, it is all fresh cook to order!!
So the next time you go out remember all of this. Try not to be NASTY because ultimately us servers handle YOUR food. We dont cook it be we do take it to you and wrap it up for you. We have no problem going out of our way to help nice people, but for the nasty ones, just stay home, or go to Burger King.
Also, for good service, 15% of the bill is ok and more if the service is great for tipping! Don’t stress about it if you cant calculate 15% or more of the bill because almost every cell phone in the world has the capability to figure it out! Thank you for your time and i really appreciate it!!
Wow, it sounds like someone didn’t get tipped for her hard day at work!
In any case, I agree with you, I have friends who are servers and they tell me the same thing. I’d like to point out that it’s a two way street, and more often than not it is up to the server to smile politely and beam at guests to try to get the energy up. Recently I was at a restaurant for my dad’s birthday, and there was a shortage of waiters that night which resulted in bad service for us. The waiter literally spilled things and kept elbowing my sister, and when she asked him politely to be more careful he outright denied it! If he only apologized for the inconvenience (because it is even less our fault than his that he had to serve a few tables at once!) and tried to be more attentive to the clients’ needs, he would have gotten a much bigger tip!
Very interesting blog, I could sense the passion!
Comment by Marina — March 10, 2008 @ 6:25 pm
I don’t have a job right now but when I go home to Florida, I always pick up shifts at the wings restaurant I used to serve at. There, minium wage for tipped employees is $3.65 so while it may seem like a small amount you are making now, it could definitely be worse. On top of that, Wednesday nights were kids eat free, up to two kids meals per adult entre and after taking $10 or $20 or $30 depending on the number of kids meals, people would tip on the discounted total and not what they owuld have paid any other night. Being a waitress isn’t easy and it’s not always fair but there is definitely money to be made. I really enjoyed/identified with this post.
Comment by acarzoli — March 10, 2008 @ 10:09 pm
Not to tell you my age or anything, but I can remember when without tips servers got paid 2.13 an hour. My tipping rules:
10 percent for all service, no matter how poor unless they die or completely forget your existence (which happens sometimes)
15 percent for less than good service
20-30 percent for good service
50 percent if the bill is less than 5 bucks
If you never served, you should eat at home.
Comment by cutter — March 10, 2008 @ 11:12 pm
Thanks for the comments guys, it really makes me feel better that other people understand what i am going through. It was very nice to come home from work today, which must have been the day of bad tippers, and see people comment on my thoughts!!
Comment by Jaclyn Villalba<3 — March 11, 2008 @ 1:10 am