It’s crazy to me, a waiter is like one of the least deserving if a tip jobs out there. Yet it’s the one most engrained into our culture that you have to tip well.
“Oh you wrote down what i want to pay you for and then you brought it out to me. Here’s 25% of the cost of the meal for doing your job”
The cooks should be the ones getting tips more than anyone
I also still will never understand why a waiter should make more simply because I ordered a steak and a nice beet instead of chicken fingers and a water.
The waiter might actually work harder for the chicken fingers and water.
The problem is American waitering now is not what it was before. Being a waiter used to hold some elegant prestige, why?
They had many roles
Memorizing the menu and specific ingredients that one may not expect, like maybe their chicken uses curry variant
Wines and their pairings was a huge part of their training. Adding the history of how some wines were made and where because it mattered.
When serving they would offer to cut meat, pour drinks at table, replace cutlery, dishes, rags etc.
Conversationalist, you needed a little charisma and be able to entertain guest. Tell stories about the restaurant, the food, you added to the experience while guests waited for food. Which was a huge tactic if it was a quiet table.
They had to memorize different dining rituals think of how it's improper to eat before everyone is served, stabbing food with your chopsticks is bad manners, etc etc. specific way some religions say the man must be served first or the the children and women are to take first bite etc etc
Basically waiting used to be a very educated position.
Its really fun too, if you make a mistake you are fucking someone's tips and life up. If the sever makes a mistake you also get yelled at, even though that server just fucked up the flow for atleast the next hour maybe whole night on a busy day.
It's because way back when service jobs were for people who otherwise wouldn't get hired. PoC and women in other words. They didn't make money otherwise because there was no laws for it. Then we transitioned to where it is now and never changed it because people who work service jobs now don't want it changed. They know they can make more in a good night than a cook makes for the week so they'd rather it stay that way.
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u/tdoger 8h ago
It’s crazy to me, a waiter is like one of the least deserving if a tip jobs out there. Yet it’s the one most engrained into our culture that you have to tip well.
“Oh you wrote down what i want to pay you for and then you brought it out to me. Here’s 25% of the cost of the meal for doing your job”
The cooks should be the ones getting tips more than anyone