When you’re working as a recruiter, you are going to come across a lot of resumes that have restaurant experience on them. Normally these people, when asked, will tell you how low paid and exhausting the work is.
The current legal situation allows for employees who work as waiters and waitress (and bar staff) to be paid less than minimum wage as long as they can be tipped. This is a huge issue as restaurant owners oftentimes make millions in profit (the percent that succeed) while their staff are paid less than a living wage.
And of course, for resume purposes, no one in the corporate world cares that you worked at a restaurant. In fact, there is almost a bias against it. So, it’s a bad career field for anyone who wants to work in a non-restaurant setting.
While everyone who works in food service knows how risky the jobs can be. And it’s not the annoying patrons that I’m discussing. It’s the unethical people who own and run restaurants. There is so much illegal activity that go on by employers that it would be in the news everyday if the papers cared to cover it.
The latest story of workplace drama comes from an Arkansas restaurant waitress who according to reports was allegedly fired after she was left a large tip and then her superiors told her to split it with the staff (including the shift manager). When she informed the group who tipped her that she would not be getting the large tip, the customers objected and according to reports the waitress was later fired.
Underpaid and Risky Work
The current climate for waiters and waitress is such a tough one. At best, you’re working with a minimum wage salary and no health benefits.
There are instances with companies such as Two Bros Pizza, where workers sued for not being paid what they were due. Two Brothers Pizza made the news, because it was such a famous NY dollar pizza store (infamous for cheap pizza).
The low paid and no benefit situation is why most restaurants don’t use recruiting agencies. Restaurants are not in the business of paying their employees well. They basically pay them as little as possible and then rely on customers to tip them.
The only restaurants that use recruiting agencies are either high end corporate chains that recruiter for management, corporate roles.
Restaurants do not want to pay recruiters a fee to find workers. They expect the workers to pay to get a job (which is a practice some low end staffing agencies do engage in).
Fired For Getting a Tip---There has to be More?
The owners of the Oven and Tap restaurant are rightfully being very guarded, but they did come out and say that the waitress wasn’t fired for keeping the tip.
But what else might have happened? The waitress provided great service, and then she was told she could not keep all of her tip? This is why it’s created such a huge issue and is such a media.
There is a lot of chatter online from waiters (past and present) about how horrible the current situation is as a waiter. You are paid minimum wage, and oftentimes you don’t get tipped. When you couple that with the fact that it’s a physically demanding job and there are almost no restaurants that offer benefits, then you can see why so many people hate the service industry.
Compare that with how profitable it can be to be a restaurant owner? Millionaires tend to be drawn to the profession. There are many reasons for that including the idea of prestige, but a cash business is always attractive to people who are unethical and want to hide money.
Just look at what happened during covid? Restaurant owners were able to furlough employees and then apply for and receive millions in PPP loans which were forgiven.
A classic
Why Did The Waitress Get Such a Huge Tip?
The story goes that there was a group of real estate investors who wanted to throw a large party and celebrate and were also intending on leaving a huge tip to their server.
The spokesperson for the group who left the large tip was rightly outraged about their tip money being take and split among other people beside their waitress.
Of course, the restaurant (Oven and Tap) has been getting slammed with negative reviews on Yelp. In these situations yelp posts a disclaimer –and down the line they might remove the negative ads depending on different scenarios.
Moving From Restaurants to Office Work
Obviously, as a recruiter, the main question you will get from waiters is how to get an office job. Or how to get any job outside of the restaurant industry.
Honestly, that's a topic for an entirely different article. It's simply too big to cover here. But, the main thing I would point out to everyone is that the sooner you make the switch, the better.
While the money might be quick and easy, it's also dangerous. The restaurant industry has almost no job security. And there is no retirement plan, not health insurance in place, and the workplace is extremely volatile. This is why it's advisable to always keep an eye out for any avenue to take.
The advice that sometimes doesn't get heard is that it might be worth it to take a revenue cut (not a pay cut) in the short term for long term job advancement and security.
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