MW: $7.25

Im fairly sure MW for servers is still $2.13 like it was when I waited tables 16...err...17 years ago (gosh Im getting old.)

NY state minimum wage: $7.25/hr
Servers wage:  $4.65/hr
 
I don't think it should be the same, because typically MOST restaurant customers will leave at least a 10-20% tip.  You therefore have the potential to make must more than your base salary.  Those employed in a non-food service job do not have this potential.

Mom2Haidyn wrote:NY state minimum wage: $7.25/hr
Servers wage:  $4.65/hr
 
I don't think it should be the same, because typically MOST restaurant customers will leave at least a 10-20% tip.  You therefore have the potential to make must more than your base salary.  Those employed in a non-food service job do not have this potential.

 

ITA! If someone is making $4.65 an hour and they wait on 4 tables an hour with the bill being an average of ... let's say $25-$30 per table, they have the potential to be tipped around $3.75 give or take per table. That is already making $19.65 an hour. Now I realize that some restaurants require them to pay a certain amount to hostesses and/or bus people, but I still think that is pretty darn good. Servers are VERY well paid if you get a job at a good resturant. I've known many people who earned a pretty penny as a server.

NJ minimum wage is $7.25/hr.
 
Server wage is $2.13/hr.  I don't get it.  I realize they get tips but that's not guaranteed and a lot of people get tips and/or bonuses but that doesn't affect their base wage.  Minimum to me means minimum...the lowest you can go.  To go lower IMO is just wrong.

In Ontario, minimum wage is currently at $9.50/hr, with (liquor) server's wage at $8.25/hour. It will go up next March to min wage at $10.25/hr, with liquor server's wage at $8.90/hr. 
When I was serving, min wage was 7.25, and server's wage was....around 5 bucks. My last job rounded it up to 6 bucks as I did additional small duties along with serving. 
I agree with pp's that due to the additional compensation through tips, the server's wage need not be the same as minimum wage.

I have no idea what the server wage is but the minimum wage is $8.55

Servers minimum wage:2.35
state min wage: 7.50

I am a server so in wisconsin if you work a a shift as a server and with tips and your wage you dont make minimum wage in one shift they have to pay you minimum wage, it rarely happens!

Back when I used to waitress the minimum wage was $6.85 and for servers it was $4.75 or something. I'm ok with that, to be honest, since they'll make it up in tips. I don't think it should be a huge gap though. DanaNJ's example of $7.25 vs $2.13 is excessive, IMO.

DanaNJ wrote:NJ minimum wage is $7.25/hr.
 
Server wage is $2.13/hr.  I don't get it.  I realize they get tips but that's not guaranteed and a lot of people get tips and/or bonuses but that doesn't affect their base wage.  Minimum to me means minimum...the lowest you can go.  To go lower IMO is just wrong.

 

I agree that $2.13 is unfair. I waited tables for awhile and yes their are good days where you average $20 an hour but there are also days (almost every lunch shift) where you end up with like 2 tables all shift (and this was at Olive Garden a fairly busy restaurant) and basically make enough to pay for your gas. At $2.13 your checks are void. So your $100 nights just barely make up for your $20 days.

whittles wrote:

NJ minimum wage is $7.25/hr.
 
Server wage is $2.13/hr.  I don't get it.  I realize they get tips but that's not guaranteed and a lot of people get tips and/or bonuses but that doesn't affect their base wage.  Minimum to me means minimum...the lowest you can go.  To go lower IMO is just wrong.

  
I agree that $2.13 is unfair. I waited tables for awhile and yes their are good days where you average $20 an hour but there are also days (almost every lunch shift) where you end up with like 2 tables all shift (and this was at Olive Garden a fairly busy restaurant) and basically make enough to pay for your gas. At $2.13 your checks are void. So your $100 nights just barely make up for your $20 days.

 
aw i worked at OG for 6 years...   good ol' Darden!!  funny thing is even after that long I STILL love the food there!!!

and ITA with your rational here- b/c yes you might make $100+ in Fri and Sat night but the rest of the week you might make $20-30 per shift...

I will say that I made out like a bandit when I bartended there- I got over $8 an hour plus over $100/night in tips on the weekends...  I had lots of regulars.... what can I say? i pour 'em strong! LOL

Min wage here in GA is $7.25.. i have no clue about server wage but i bet it is still 2.13

$7.25 & $4.65 for servers.  

You have to average the minimum wage, so for example, if you are commission only, you still need to average $7.25/hour.  It's assumed servers will make up the difference in tips, which is why their wage can be less.

DanaNJ wrote:NJ minimum wage is $7.25/hr.
 
Server wage is $2.13/hr.  I don't get it.  I realize they get tips but that's not guaranteed and a lot of people get tips and/or bonuses but that doesn't affect their base wage.  Minimum to me means minimum...the lowest you can go.  To go lower IMO is just wrong.

 

I think that if they were to raise server's wage to minimum wage then patrons should no longer give tips.

For some reason I'm thinking minimum wage went to $7.50 in July this year.... I'm not too sure though. I remeber seeing a bunch of signs when I worked two years ago (min wage) about all the changes that were going to be happening in the years to come.
 
my friend just got a job at Applebees and she is getting $2.85/hr.

Kentucky State minimum wage:  $7.25/hr
Server's minimum wage:  $2.13/hr
I don't think the two should be the same, due to tipping, but I DO think the minimum wage for servers should be more than $2.13/hr.  Maybe $4.00 - 4.50 would be better.

Our Ontario min wage is amazing..$2 something in the US? WOW Tips or no tips that is brutal. I used to serve, was making about $8/hr wage and GREAT tips. One year I made close to $65k after tax.

I *think* it's $7.45
Servers again I *think* $2.35
 
By law servers have to make minimum wage if they don't make up the difference in tips they restaurant has to cover it.
So if a server works 40 hrs a week and only made $250 the restaurant has to make up the $48 difference so they are at minimum wage for the number of hours they worked.

me&zooey wrote:I'm curious--what is  the minimum wage where you live?
Server's wage? 
Do you think the server's wage should be the same as the minimum wage?

 
I'm not sure on MW in Utah. I just googled it - $7.25
 
I'm pretty sure Server's wage is the same as it was when I waited tables - $2.45. How much I actually made depended on the restaurant where I worked. A couple of places I was barely scraping by because of the low pay, but at the last place I worked my tips averaged over $150/night so that was pretty good for a college kid.
 
I don't think they should be the same...but I do think it should go up when minimum wage does, by the same percentage.

MW is 7.25 here
IDK servers wage, didnt even know they exsisted till today
I think that they should because unfortunitly for them, people like me dont always know what they get paid therefore dont tip like they should

6.90 in montana..dont know of a server's wage.

RobynT wrote:

NJ minimum wage is $7.25/hr.
 
Server wage is $2.13/hr.  I don't get it.  I realize they get tips but that's not guaranteed and a lot of people get tips and/or bonuses but that doesn't affect their base wage.  Minimum to me means minimum...the lowest you can go.  To go lower IMO is just wrong.

  
I think that if they were to raise server's wage to minimum wage then patrons should no longer give tips.

 
That wouldn't fly around here.  Here, everyone gets tips.  From the cabbie to the cable installer to the pizza guy to the parkign attendant, hair dresser, baggage carrier...it seems like DH is always handing someone cash when we're out! lol
 
Who the heck could live on minimum wage anyway?  If you make min. and get tips, more power to ya IMO.

I am disgusted with the fact that there is a difference between a servers wage and minimum wage.  Lets face it, they are working just as hard or harder then say...the kid bagging groceries but for some reason are worth less!!!!  And why on earth would anyone agree that tips should cover the difference, if that were the case then there should be an automatic, nondisputable percentage added on to every single bill.  Did anyone realise that the RESTAURANT is the only one benefitting by paying their employees less!!  I would be shocked if the restaurants were charging less b/c of the lowered labor costs, maybe that is because I just don't believe business owners these days have the decency to work it out like that, they are mostly money hungry cheapos (the ones I know anyways..not really meant to be in general  I am sure there are some good ones somewhere)!!  I have a vague recollection of my time in the states when I was younger, but I am pretty sure meal prices were the same as they are here, or definately compareable.  I think it is insulting that servers are paid less, as they run their butt off!!  In Saskatchewan and Alberta, I have never heard of such a thing as a servers wage..Minimum is minimum,,no matter your job.  I gladly tip after a meal, the percentage depends on how I feel the server did/tried/overall effort put out to ensure I had an enjoyable experience, almost NEVER do I tip less then 10%

WA state minimum: 8.55
Server min wage: 8.01