Waitress On Less Than $3 An Hour Explains Why It Can Cost Her Money If A Table Leaves A Poor Tip

In the U.S., unlike in countries like England or Australia where tips are seen as extra, tips are crucial for a server's income. 

This is because the U.S. federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, but for tipped employees, it's drastically lower at $2.13 per hour. 

Servers are expected to make up the $5.12 difference through tips.

Savannah, a waitress from Tennessee, shed light on this issue in a TikTok video. 

Credit: TikTok / @savkaypierce

She revealed how getting a poor tip can sometimes mean she ends up paying the restaurant. 

"Off of my gross sales, I have to pay six percent of that to the host, bartenders, kitchen staff, other support staff, food runners, like people in the restaurant that are helping to make the restaurant happen, I pay them," Savannah explained. 

She questioned, "Why the restaurant doesn’t pay them? Why restaurants don’t pay all of their staff appropriately? I don’t have the answer to that."

She further clarified that on a $100 bill, if she doesn’t receive any tip, she still owes $6 to other staff. 

This means she has to dig into her own earnings or future earnings to pay this amount. 

"So hopefully on that $100 bill I get a $20 tip (that’s 20 percent) and then I would actually only make $14 because the $6 goes towards the rest of the team."

Credit: TikTok / @savkaypierce

The amount expected to be paid to the restaurant staff supporting her is six percent of the bill, not the tip she receives.

"If I had a table that I served and their check was $100 and they do not tip me at all. [...] I have to reach into my own pocket, money that I’ve already made that day or money that I have yet to make, and still give it back to the restaurant to pay the rest of the staff."

She said the price on the menu was for the meal, not the service.

This system led Savannah to state, "When you eat in, you are paying the server to serve you. That is what the tip is."

Savannah acknowledged the idea of tipping less for poor service but stressed that not tipping at all is "wrong." 

She said, "If you can’t tip, if truly financially you are not in a place to tip, get take out, eat at home. It is not fair to someone who is working hard, serving you in a restaurant to make them pay to serve you. That is wrong."

Her comments have drawn a mix of reactions worldwide, especially from non-Americans who find the system baffling. 

A Brit called the system 'wild,' saying, 

"It’s not wrong to not tip, it’s wrong for restaurants not to pay their staff and to make staff pay staff. As a Brit this is absolutely wild." 

Credits: JGI/Jamie Grill/Getty Stock

Another person added, "I’ve never heard it explained this way. It’s your Govt that is to blame."

Australians, accustomed to a system where tips are a bonus, were shocked by the low wages in the U.S. 

"So glad that in Australia a tip is a BONUS for great service not an expectation bc of a messed up system."

An Aussie added: "Pay proper wages like we do in Australia. Tips should be a bonus and not part of your living wage."

Pierce agreed. She replied: "So many people telling me to blame my boss, I get that, but he’s just following the laws here!"

While it's easy to blame a customer for not giving a tip, another person echoed that it's a bigger issue than the customer.

Foreigners were baffled at Pierce’s explanation of the tipping system. Credit: Instagram / @savkaypierce

They argued: "I was a server for years and instead of blaming the customer, we should be blaming how the industry is run. The company should pay a liveable wage."

"This isn’t on the customer. Y’all need to start a union," a different person added.

Some states have different laws, but Americans warned one Aussie in the comments that if they were visiting, they should assume this is how it is wherever they eat.

One person explained that if a server failed to make the state’s minimum wage by the end of the week through tips, the employer had to pay the difference.

Pierce confirmed this but said the minimum wage was only $7.25.

"As an Aussie I will never understand American wage system. It’s crazy," one Australian wrote.

Credit: Instagram / @savkaypierce

"One of my sons owns a bar, the other a cafe. On average they pay their staff $25 to $35 per hour [Australian]. Yay for Australia," said another.

"I live in Australia and work hospitality and our minimum wage is $27 [Australian] and we don’t have a tipping culture, however if you get great service you tip the sever️," explained a third.

Others from countries like New Zealand, the Netherlands, and France expressed their astonishment and suggested changes. 

"That’s criminal you having to do that … your government should put this on businesses to pay right. Here in NZ we don’t tip. Servers get a guaranteed wage," wrote one Kiwi.

"I can’t believe this is real. How do restaurants have employees??" asked someone from the Netherlands.

"As a French person hearing this I feel like I’d boycott the places not paying their staff fair wages. That’s insane," wrote one woman.

"In the UK there is a minimum wage that employers must pay, I am flabbergasted at what I’ve just heard," said a Brit.