I have been working at Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant since it opened in early November and I recently switched from being a hostess, to being a waitress. Some called me crazy for giving up the $9 wage I was given for taking guests to their table, but I couldn't stand how boring it was standing around at the host stand. In Texas, the wage for a waiter/waitress is set at $2.13/ hour, which in my opinion, is completely ridiculous. The "logic" behind the wage being so low is that you will end up making at least minimum wage ($7.25) from the tips you receive. To me, this is a flawed logic because there are nights when the restaurant is empty and I'll walk away making $10 in tips after being there for close to four hours. You also are required to do side-work at the restaurant such as rolling silverware into the napkins, sweeping floors, wiping down the kitchen or cleaning the bathroom. This is all done for $2.14/hour. Given, there are nights where I will walk away with $50-100 in my pocket, which makes up for the slow nights, but at the end of the week, I'm still only averaging about $2-3 more per hour than a hostess.
In California, where I'm from and will be waitressing this summer, there is no difference between the wage a Server is paid and the minimum wage and that's the way it should be. Waitressing is a demanding job that requires you to walk quickly around the restaurant, heeding to your guests commands for hours on end. The tips given by the guests should serve as a reward for hard work and not be the means by which I am paid. I mean, really? $2.14/hour? How can that seriously be rationalized when a restaurant would be nothing without the hardworking waiters and waitresses to take care of the guests? I should be making much greater than $2-3/hour more than I did as a hostess because it's a much more demanding position.
Thankfully, I can look forward to the better wages I'll be making this summer working in California and that I'm at least making more money now than I did as a hostess, but something needs to be done about the Tipped Minimum Wage Law in Texas. $5/hour would be a much more reasonable wage for such a hard job.
I found the same problem when I was a waitress this past summer. I worked at a breakfast diner and made $2.25 an hour. Typically, Tuesdays and Wednesdays were our slowest days and I would only made about $30 (including tips) after working for six hours. It was a small diner so we did not have a hostess, but if there was one who made minimum wage in Massachusetts, he/she would be making eight dollars per hour. After six hours of work this would amount to forty-eight dollars. By the end of my summer, I realized I could have made almost the same amount of money working minimum wage as I did working as a waitress. I completely agree with Summer Skies comment that the minimum wage for waitresses/ bartenders should be increased at some restaurants since they are not making an adequate amount of money for their demanding job.
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