Do Your Part: Tipping servers and restaurant workers contributes heavily to their paycheck

Looking at the blank space at the bottom of the restaurant bill, reasons not to tip may pop into a customer’s head: the service wasn’t above and beyond, they don’t have an extra dollar to spend on top of a $20 meal or they assume the employee doesn’t need more money in addition to their wage. But as the customer scribbles down an amount that accounts for less than 10% of their meal, they don’t realize that the tip was crucial to their waiter’s paycheck.

It may be difficult to accurately quantify a server’s worth in the moment with an expectant waiter watching and an already-hefty restaurant bill, but keep in mind that their bosses have already decided the exact value of their labor — and it’s usually a generous underestimate.

In Kansas, the minimum cash wage for tipped employees is $2.13 an hour, assuming the employee makes at least $30 a month in tips, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. While it’s required that the employer raises the wages if the combination of tips and cash wage isn’t enough to reach minimum wage, this bare minimum takes advantage of workers. Unless the minimum wage is raised to meet the actual cost of pay bills and expenses — around $15.41 an hour according to CNBC — the burden of tipping is forced on the customer.

Waiters aren’t even paid minimum wage by their employers, and the tips make up the rest of their salary. Tips don’t exclusively become extra money for the workers — they go toward reaching the cost of surviving. This ultimately leaves the responsibility to the customer to tip employees, since it helps close the gap between minimum wage and how much a person actually needs to live.

Even working full time, employees simply won’t have enough to pay for rent, bills, gas, groceries and other expenses with only minimum wage. In Kansas City, Kan., the average cost of rent for an apartment is $887 a month according to RENTCafé. The average Kansan pays around $261 for groceries and over $420 on gas every month, according to 13 WIBW. The combined cost of these basic expenses is already more than a person’s monthly income on minimum wage — around $1,160 before tax deductions for employees working 40 hours a week. 

That’s not just living paycheck to paycheck — it’s needing to work another job to even scrape by. If everyone tipped in the customary 15-20% range, workers may have the extra money they need above their minimum wage to cover basic needs and expenses.

Low wages and tips are the number one reason for restaurant workers to consider leaving the industry, according to a survey conducted by TIME Magazine.

So instead of getting annoyed and uncomfortable the next time you feel an employee’s eyes on you as you write their tip, realize they may be desperate — and for good reason. Behind those eyes could be the worry of having a dry faucet  in the morning or the thought of an eviction notice taped on their door as they arrive home. Their forehead creases may be from the stress of working the long night shift for an insufficient wage. And we all know what happens after tax deductions, which also affect tips that count as part of the worker’s salary.

So do your part when visiting restaurants by tipping the workers and help these people make a living — your $5 tip might end up paying for their dinner later that night or a go towards a bus ticket in order to get home.

There are many reasons people don’t tip — greed, a tight budget of their own or possibly a stubbornness to only tip workers for extraordinary service. Workers have only so much time to make an impression on each table of customers they’re serving, so this expectation isn’t fair to warrant a tip.

It’s not that tips need to go overboard. You shouldn’t feel obligated to tip $20 to a worker who simply handed you a coffee or a 50% tip on a single meal. But acknowledge that their job has forced them to depend on strangers’ generosity for tips and show the workers the common decency of tipping for their service.

Don’t feel guilty for not being able to give hefty tips — especially if you’re a student who hardly makes money yourself. But remember empathy. Often when we go out to eat, we’re caught up in our personal lives and just want our food, so it’s easy to forget that the staff are people, not servants. 

Every friday after school, workers at the Prairie Village shops have to deal with the mass of middle schoolers clustering into their businesses for food — which may flood the kitchens’ orders and disrupt the restaurant through childish behavior, only to leave only to leave with $1.12 in the tip jar.

Next time you’re heading to a restaurant with friends, remember to bring extra money to support these employees. A tip isn’t about rewarding personalized, over-the-top service, it’s about doing your part as a human being.