Published Monday September 1, 2008
Servers say diners are leaving smaller tips
BY NICHOLE AKSAMIT
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

 

Suppose lunch at your favorite Omaha eatery costs $7.50.

 

Servers across the Omaha metro area are reporting a general decline in tips that doesn't seem to correlate with service. At the Dundee Dell, manager Monique Huston reports that regular customers are leaving 15 percent instead of their usual 20 percent.You leave a $10 bill to cover tax and a tip for your friendly server.

Everybody's happy.

But what happens when lunch prices go up a dollar or two?

Considering that you spent more on gas to get to the restaurant and more at the grocery store last night - and, hey, didn't the minimum wage just go up? - you might be tempted to skimp on the tip.

You might not realize that, without tips, your server makes about $2 an hour.

Some states' minimum wage laws don't allow restaurants to factor tips into compensation. In California, for example, wait staff members must be paid at least $8 an hour, the same minimum wage for other hourly jobs.

But on this Labor Day, most servers in Nebraska and Iowa still rely on the kindness, generosity and conscience of their diners to fill the gap. State and federal labor laws allow Nebraska servers to be paid as little as $2.13 an hour before tips.

And although a skilled server can still rake it in at a busy restaurant on a Friday night, some local waiters and bartenders say the softening economy is lowering their take-home earnings - even as they pay more to feed, clothe and house their families.

 

Arianna Flatt cleans a table after grabbing the tip at the Dell.Many say their regulars still tend to tip well.

But others report a general tip slippage that doesn't seem to correlate with service.

And some wonder if diners know what an appropriate tip is.

Although there's some consensus on a tip range of 15 to 20 percent for good service, there's no hard-and-fast rule. The Internal Revenue Service requires servers to report tips totaling at least 8 percent of their sales. Some companies reimburse tips of no more than 15 percent for meals on business trips. And some restaurants automatically add a 16 percent to 20 percent gratuity for large parties.

But for most meals, diners still have discretion.

Jerry Caniglia, co-owner of Caniglia's Venice Inn, said he thinks a fair tip is 10 percent of the pre-tax total for poor service, 17 percent for average service and 20 percent or better for above-average service.

"Fifteen percent was probably the standard tip all through the '80s and '90s," Caniglia said. "And now, I'd say it's jumped up to 17 or 18 percent. They deserve it. They need a cost of living raise just like everybody else . . . If a table doesn't think they got good service, and they stiff 'em? Well, they still brought the food, they still did the basic job. And $2.13 an hour, who can live off of that?"

Rick Fox of Julio's restaurants said he thinks 15 percent is still the rule of thumb, though his restaurant asks large parties to agree to a 20 percent gratuity, and he always tips more.

"But honestly, I don't know why it is the way it is," he said. "It requires the public to subsidize the wages of the server."

Patrick Sittner, a 28-year-old who works in finance and lives downtown, said he eats out a little less these days, but he still tips. The major variable, he says, is the quality of the service.

"For poor (service), I'll go as low as no tip," he said, noting a recent meal that ended with a 6 or 7 percent tip. "Maybe a low to no tip will get the server to wake up. . . . For average or excellent, I'll go 15 percent or higher (on the total, post-tax bill) - although sometimes my mental math might be off."

Retired Omaha attorney Olivia Keating doesn't discriminate when she dines out: "I always tip 20 percent (after tax) - both because it's easier to round up and also because I know that wait staff don't receive the minimum wage."

Still, some waiters and bartenders are feeling a squeeze.

"I'm doing OK, but it has been a little bit difficult," said Jennifer Bartunek, a 24-year-old bartender at the Marquee. "I've made less lately."

Does that mean that people are skimping on tips?

"Yes and no," said Bartunek, who also works part time as a nanny. "Some of the younger, younger people - like those just turning 21 - are not very good tippers. But with the older people, it's about the same: 15 and 20 percent most of the time.

"But it's also been a little less busy. And people drink less, I think, now that they can't smoke inside."

Her personal policy when dining out: "No matter what, I always give 15 percent, even if I have bad service. But if I get good service, it's 20 percent or higher. I believe in karma."

Bartunek said she makes a higher hourly wage as a bartender, but she remembers her $2.13-an-hour waitressing shifts at local restaurants. "After taxes," she said, "that's like $50 a paycheck. That's nothing. You are working for the tips."

Though Jode Wilson also works full time at an insurance company, she has worked part time as a server for roughly 40 years - the past decade at the Millard Roadhouse.

She said she believes that diners should have discretion to base tips on service.

"But sometimes it just seems anymore that - you make sure the food is there, drinks are refilled, everything is taken care of to a 'T' - and the tip is like $6 on an $88 bill," she said. "You feel like, 'What did I do?'"

Wilson said she chalks it up, in part, to the economy.

"We were talking about this at our restaurant. Two years ago, the average tip here used to be right at 15 to 17 percent. And within the last year, that average has dropped to 10 to 12 percent," she said. "Now, if you get 15 percent, you're feeling good. And if you get 20 percent, you just want to do a handstand."

She also thinks some diners don't understand that hourly wages for servers didn't go up, even though the cost of living has.

In addition, said Fox of Julio's, most servers are part-time employees who don't qualify for health care benefits.

Many servers also "tip out" (or share a portion of their tips with) the bus, bartenders and hosts they work with.

Some restaurant chains even require tip-outs as a cost-saving measure. If tips are shared with bartenders and hosts and those who bus tables, the restaurants can pay those employees less than the nontipped minimum wage. Darden Restaurants, parent company of chains that include Olive Garden and Red Lobster, this summer credited a strictly enforced tip-out policy at its East Coast-based LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants with stronger financial performance.

Omaha real estate agent Kathy Wickstrom has worked as a server at Brother Sebastian's for 23 years.

"I work at a nice restaurant, so people are for the most part pretty good (about tipping)," she said. "I'd say here it's 15 to 18 percent. And sometimes we get 20 percent on bigger groups."

Wickstrom said the work can provide good, if unpredictable, money. And she loves the social aspects of the job. But there are drawbacks.

"We don't get benefits. We work nights and weekends," she said. "And people can be really mean."

Wickstrom said she wishes more diners knew she's just like them.

"I have a family, and this is what I do to try and help support our family," she said. "This is my income."