Do Wolfgang Puck waiters really make $120,000/year?

[Anonymous]

There should be transparency in how much these people make so you can decide to tip. If everyone knew what they're making, the tips would slow way down. It's sad that we pay these people more than college educated

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be transparency in how much these people make so you can decide to tip. If everyone knew what they're making, the tips would slow way down. It's sad that we pay these people more than college educated

What if the waiters are college educated?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be transparency in how much these people make so you can decide to tip. If everyone knew what they're making, the tips would slow way down. It's sad that we pay these people more than college educated

What if the waiters are college educated?

Who cares if they are college educated. Waiting tables is a very demanding and physically taxing job. People on this forum are completely detached from reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be transparency in how much these people make so you can decide to tip. If everyone knew what they're making, the tips would slow way down. It's sad that we pay these people more than college educated

What if the waiters are college educated?

Who cares if they are college educated. Waiting tables is a very demanding and physically taxing job. People on this forum are completely detached from reality.

Yeah, that was kind of my point.

[Anonymous]

Waiting tables is one of the hardest thing to do. The skill is in anticipating what your table needs/wants and doing it effortlessly is something people hands down are totally incapable of doing.

I waited tables in college on Capital Hill and come from a family of restauranteurs. It is NOT an easy job but it's also a job that you can tell a lot about a person from.

Account management and sales abilities that you can't teach on the front end but a server who does both bringing out food and taking orders - that's multi-tasking and executive functioning skills added. Show me someone who does that and well, who people love having wait on them, and I'll hire that person for anything at my company.

Unless you've waited tables before you have no idea. And for bartenders - again - a lot of what people think is just being friendly is so much more. Knowing your customer and remembering what they like, it's reading people but the true skill is knowing that the situation depends on who is involved. Corporate sales is much easier - I've done both.

[Anonymous]

Definitely. I’ve heard of head waitstaff making as much as 200k in nyc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be transparency in how much these people make so you can decide to tip. If everyone knew what they're making, the tips would slow way down. It's sad that we pay these people more than college educated

Hey dummy- do you realize there are more people working in a restaurant besides waiters?

The back of the house people rely on those tips too. When you decide not to tip much because you think waiters are earning plenty, you’re screwing the busboys, cooks, chefs and housekeepers too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's worth pointing out that you don't START as a waiter making $120k. It's a profession that requires skill, personality, stamina and seniority to make the big bucks. In my restaurant, almost everyone worked in the kitchen first, graduated to bussing tables, then started on lunch shifts and weekday dinner shifts. You usually didn't get to work weekend dinners until you'd been there awhile.

Skill? You are only required to be really good looking at the high end places. Oh and have the ability to memorize the menu and drink recommendations.

Waiting tables is absolutely a skill. As a person who is both clumsy and forgetful, it was never something I could do, so I worked at camps and regular retail instead in my teens and early 20s while my friends were servers.

Oh gd yes. I used to wait tables and I was awful at it. I was clumsy, forgetful, disorganized - I found it really hard to get all the things right that you need to do, to make your job look easy. Luckily I like to talk to people - briefly, one on one like that; introvert otherwise - so I had SOME moments that weren't the worst. But I think it is a hard job - physically and mentally. And would never begrudge someone earning a decent living doing it.

[Anonymous]

My buddy has an art degree and owned an art gallery.

He was very big in the restaurant and bar industry in NY. He is 60 now and Down to one Times Square tourist trap burger joint.

He is behind the counter.

But he owns whole building cash. Owns a massive warehouse in Brooklyn cash and is the largest single owner of Harley Davidson motorcycles in the world. He has some wild ones.

Poor guy. He was netting $20,000 a night in 1991.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be transparency in how much these people make so you can decide to tip. If everyone knew what they're making, the tips would slow way down. It's sad that we pay these people more than college educated

What if the waiters are college educated?

Who cares if they are college educated. Waiting tables is a very demanding and physically taxing job. People on this forum are completely detached from reality.

Then I’m assuming that you tip based on that and not as a percentage (does the water delivering a $20 bottle of wine really do ten percent of the work that a waiter delivering a $200 bottle does?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they really make that much money, go see how few of their waiter staff are actually BIPOC (hint almost none of them).

👆

What kind of conclusion should we make based on this info?

BIPOC don’t have the opportunity to access wait jobs that earn $120k a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be transparency in how much these people make so you can decide to tip. If everyone knew what they're making, the tips would slow way down. It's sad that we pay these people more than college educated

So you only believe in Free Markets sometimes?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they really make that much money, go see how few of their waiter staff are actually BIPOC (hint almost none of them).

👆

What kind of conclusion should we make based on this info?

BIPOC don’t have the opportunity to access wait jobs that earn $120k a year.

This. A lot of it is about "aesthetic" and perception, conscious or not. I've waited tables and found that you can basically do that Peter Griffin skin tone chart meme and see the lightest people front of house (servers and hosts and maitre d's) and the darkest people washing dishes and prep cooking, with line cooks and bussers toward the darker end and bartenders and higher-paid chefs toward the lighter. Obviously a generalization, but in the aggregate, still true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why tipping needs to stop ,

No this is why tipping needs to stay. Someone provides good service and I am happy to compensate.

[Anonymous]

It is hard work and I'm very surprised how many people come and go because they cannot handle to speed and details. One couldn't remember the table numbers to save her life.