INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Customers ask for ice water with lemon. And then more lemons. Oh, yes. Some sugar, too, please.
They ask to split a meal _ half the sandwich with mayonnaise and tomato, the other with mustard and onion. Make that a Caesar salad on one plate and fries, no salt, on the other.
When it’s all said and done and the meal is over, waiter Thomas Ievoli said he’s at his tipping point.
Unfortunately, his customers aren’t.
“People are expecting more service and paying less for it,” said Ievoli, a server at Old Pointe Tavern and a bartender at Lockerbie Pub. “They do all kinds of special requests. They will sit there forever. They special-order and then tip you 10 percent _ if not less.”
In the economic downturn, lower tips have made it tough for waiters and bartenders to survive. In Indiana, it’s especially tough because it, along with 17 other states, has the lowest minimum wage for people who depend on tips in the nation: the federal standard of $2.13 an hour.
While the federal minimum wage has steadily increased over the years to $7.25 an hour, the $2.13 mark for tipped employees has remained in place since 1991.
Account for inflation, and the real value of the tipped minimum wage is at its lowest level since it was established in 1966, according to the report “Waiting for Change” by the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at the University of California-Berkeley.
“People think these people make tips and they make so much money, and that just isn’t true,” said Sylvia Allegretto, an author of the study. “There are people who’ve worked in diners their whole lives where the most expensive thing on the menu is five dollars, and after taxes they are barely bringing home a check at all.”
Allegretto is working to get states to do their part by passing legislation that requires employers to pay tipped workers more than the federal minimum tipped wage.
Thirty-two states already do. A server in Washington, for example, makes $8.63 an hour. A bartender in Illinois makes $4.95.
But in Indiana, $2.13 is still the standard pay. And little has been done to change that.
State Sen. Luke Kenley, chairman of the Finance Committee, said he doesn’t recall any bills seeking to raise the tipped minimum wage being introduced. The Noblesville Republican is sure none have received a hearing.
Employers themselves are allowed to pay workers more than the state or federal wage, but why would they?
Take Larry Griggers, who owns Ruth’s Chris Steak House locations in Indiana and Missouri.
In Indiana, he pays $2.13 an hour. At his St. Louis locations, the minimum is $3.63.
“When you take a dollar and a half an hour, times all the servers, times the whole year, yes, it puts a dent in our bottom line,” Griggers said. “We make a lot less in Missouri.”
For the workers at his upscale steakhouse, Griggers said he hasn’t had to consider paying them more. They haven’t even asked.
“They get such huge tips that they are all very happy,” he said.
Even at more modest restaurants, tips aren’t too shabby, according to research from the National Restaurant Association, which shows the average tipped employee makes $12 to $15 an hour in tips. That doesn’t include wages paid.
The association doesn’t see a reason to impose higher wages on employers.
“We want to ensure those small businesses that are trying to help maintain or create jobs in a challenging economic environment aren’t hurt by more regulation that can impede job creation and growth,” said Sue Hensley, vice president of public affairs communications with the restaurant association.
Workers struggling to make ends meet say that the challenging economic environment is hitting them just as hard.
At her former job serving at an upscale Downtown restaurant, Nicola Curry said she had instances where she actually paid to wait on a table.
After sharing her tips with her busboy, bartender and food runner, a low tip combined with $2.13 an hour left her in the red for that table.
“I think the minimum wage for us is absolutely ridiculous,” said Curry, now a server at Seasons 52. “I’m not asking for a lot. I would take $5 at this point. Anything to make things fair.”
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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
