Quote:
Originally Posted by calumniate
Yeah they sometimes put down like 15% on top of their 'salary', so it doesn't really come close.
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I tried explaining it to other servers when I was in the industry while attending university. Most thought my math was wrong, but I never received an audit. They thought 10% of their earnings was fine, because that's about what tips were per bill.
If they worked an 8 hour shift, making $6 per hour, that's about $50 in wage for the night. There is no way they would be making only $5 per night ($50 wage * 10%) in tips. When they did their tax returns, they though it was acceptable to put only $1,000 in tips earned from making $10,000 in wages. There is no way a server could survive on $11,000 a year in earnings if they don't live at home. Many of them were audited and many of them had to pay fines and back taxes. I have never seen anyone who has claimed at least 50% of their wages in tips get audited.
As a male, working in chain restaurants throughout the city, I would consistently make about 4-5 times my wages in tips over the course of a year. Any half decent looking female at a night club would have made much more than I would. It sucked when I went to article at a CA firm and made much less money, working much longer hours, with work that was much harder.