Sunday, Mar. 14, 2004
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Today was a long day. Sunday brunch is generally never very fruitful, although I have been known to make $100 on those shifts. The problem is, brunch is pretty cheap (average omelet price: $7.95), and, unless you're really lucky with tables wanting to drink bloody mary and mimosa, the tips are low. Plus, people tend to tip cheaper for breakfast anyways, averaging at around 14-15% instead of 20% the dinner usually brings.When I arrived, the manager offered to cut someone, and, because I didn't speak first, it wasn't me. Instead, it was our bartender/baurista, and I offered to bartend today instead of serve. I'd never done it before, and I thought it might help break the monotony. The day was actually pretty exciting. I enjoyed making drinks and ringing things into the cash register. However, the fun sort of evaporated at the end of the shift when I had only made $48 after 8.5 hours. The servers usually have to tip out bauristas 20%, but today we had a busser as well, so I got tipped out 15% and she got tipped out 10%. So, I basically made 15% of whatevers tips were brought in. That was $48. It all sort of left a sour taste in my mouth, as here I am struggling to pay for for the $1837 in expenses I have this month and I get $48, and 16-year old busser gets $30 doing a much easier job so she can buy the latest Jessica Simpson CD.
Oh well, though. It's not her fault that the tipping system is sort of messed up. In a way, I'm sort of happy that eventually I'll be able to look back at this job and have a whole new respect for those in the service industry.
Here are some rules of thumb that I've gleaned from my experience this year:
1. Never tip below 20%.
2. If you feel you have had poor service, please do not punish everyone the server tips out by leaving a crummy tip. Instead, do something that is much more effective - talk to a manager about the server and why you had poor service.
3. Don't punish the server for slow service from the kitchen. Not their fault, at all. Talk to the manager.
4. If you feel you must go below 20%, never, ever go below 15%. I'd still stay away from that, though.
Of course, I'm a little biased, but if you do the above, you'll feel good about helping along folks who are nickeled and dimed in the service industry, whether he or she is a struggling student, a single mother, or a teacher trying to afford eyeglasses that correct two reattached retinas.
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I worked out before and after my shift today. It's amazing how much better that makes me feel about everything.
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I have to admit, I'm getting very worried about the lawsuit and I wish I could afford a lawyer. It would suck badly if I had to declare bancruptancy after working so hard this year to avoid it and paying off all the credit card debt ($9K! All paid off this year!). I received papers in the mail from his lawyer that I half understand, but I don't qualify for any sort of legal assistance that I know of, and I'm a little freaked out about it all. I'll call my friend's sister, a lawyer, tomorrow, to see if she can help me at all again. But last time, I think she was annoyed.