More Money for Waiters and Waitresses - Servers Strike!

For 12 years I was a waitress on and off either full or part-time. The longer I waited tables (and the further south I moved), I noticed the amount of money I was making per shift was diminishing steadily. I read extensively and joined online forums for servers. It seemed I wasn't the only one having this problem. I don't wait tables anymore (thank God), but I did recently read a book entitled "Waiter Rant" by The Waiter (who chose to remain anonymous for quite some time). Minimum wage was also raised recently. Out of curiosity, I checked to see if minimum wage for tipped employees was also raised. Nope. Still $2.13.

It's funny how the very people who demand good service, refuse to leave a decent tip. I still haven't figured out exactly why many don't tip properly. I believe some of it is due to ignorance (an overwhelming amount of people think 10% is the norm). I also believe a lot of it is due to people feeling it's the job of the employer to pay their employees a decent wage, not them. While I do see their point, I still don't agree with it. But, this article isn't about proper tipping.

I'm not sure why waiters and waitresses continue to work in the industry. Many days, it's a struggle to make even minimum wage. There are some states who do require employers to pay servers more than $2.13 an hour. But, not many.

I struggled with ideas of how this can be fixed. One would be to writer letters to the government asking for minimum wage for tipped employees to be raised. But, massive amounts of letters won't change it.

However, what may change it is a National Server Strike day. Think about what an enormous impact this would have if every server didn't show up to work in the very same day. If people refused to employ themselves as a server until they received a decent hourly wage, restaurants would have no choice but to pay them. Corporations would go crazy.

Would this mean they would receive less in tips? Perhaps. But, at least they'll still have their hourly wage that they are guaranteed.

Of course, it's unlikely that a step like this would be taken. Remember the email that informed everyone not to buy gas from large companies on a certain day when gas prices were astronomical? Well, that didn't work out so well, did it?

A better idea would be for waiters and waitresses to spread the word and slowly have everyone trickle out of the industry until eventually, there's nobody to serve them food anymore. It'll be a great day for McDonalds.