2017 wish list
- Donald Trump is impeached and migrant and refugees are welcomed back into our country.
- More Syrian Restaurants are opened and more people are exposed to this amazing cuisine!
- Regulation on Clopper shifts: A limit on those gruesome closing shifts followed by an early morning eye opener shift. Please don’t make servers sleep deprived and dangerous on the road driving.
- Schedules for Humans. Please don’t use your restaurant software technology to track market trends and the weather patterns before you schedule me at the last minute. Some of us have Kids, dogs, cats, a another life basically outside of your restaurant!!!!
- Just some basic respect. Please don’t call me “Kiddo” or treat me worse than your dog. Waiting tables is a real profession and deserves the same rights and dignity as other trades. The better you treat me and the happier I am, the better the service will be, which means you will attract more customers. More customers =more toursim. More Tourism= more revenue for the state. Invest in me, I’m worth it!!!!!
- A raise please!!! The federal sub minimum wage ($2.13 for servers) hasn’t been raised in over 23 years and the tip credit now exceeds 70%. The tip credit should be restored to 50% so servers can earn enough to at least cover income taxes and to help lower poverty levels in Southern States and other full tip credit states.
- My tip is going where? More Transparency!! Diners have the right to know what portion of their credit card tip is going to a bank or a credit card company instead of directly to the waiter. And diners are aware if a service charge is going to the service staff or not!
- Enough is Enough! The injunction placed on the 9th circuit court is overturned and The Department of Labor able to resume enforcing tip pool requirements. In other words, servers who receive full minimum wage will no longer be forced to hand over more than 50% of their tips to back of the house employees such as cooks or dishwashers. DOL imposes clear defined caps on the percentage a server may be required to contribute to a tip pool. I really don’t want to tip the bartender more than the busser. 20% is industry standard, but 40%, 60% tip out rates! Come on!
- I don’t have to look anorexic or wear makeup to work at your restaurant. I really hope more states adopt laws that do not allow discrimination based on weight and/ are not allowed to impose unhealthy weight requirements as a condition for employment See- Hooters putting employee on weight probation who wasn’t even overweight! Meanwhile obese male managers are not required to meet the same standards.
- I wanna know who my Daddy is!! I wish the state of New Mexico would enforce the same tip restrictions as the Federal government. The loop hole leaves many tipped workers confused to where they should go for help when tips are stolen. NM min wage statutes are vague, inadequate and promote loop holes that encourage wage theft. Can NM policy makers please update state statutes, or release an official opinion so that Wage and Hour administrators are clear if NM is on the same page as the Federal government? To have a state sub minimum wage that matches the Federal but does not offer the same protection is hideous!
- Can you say TIP CREDIT? More State and Federal agents are hired and trained to understand the laws that protect the rights of tipped employees.
- Can I please have a sick day? More tipped and non tipped restaurant workers receive benefits such as paid time off for sick days so you know the public’s health safety will be less at risk as most sick servers still go to work because they can not afford to take the time off.
- Bone up People! I wish that more tipped employees would learn about the tip credit, their rights and speak up. Apathy and Ignorance is NOT Bliss!
- Pass the feather! We find our voice and more media outlets are utilized to educate the public about the true working and social conditions of all servers.
- PLEASE PASS THE BUTTER! Maybe just a little bit of the $650 billion dollars in sales the restaurant industry generates annually could be spent on enhancing benefits for its workers and pulling workers out of poverty by raising the sub minimum wage for tipped employees. 19.4% of servers who earn a base wage of $2.13 live below the poverty line.
- Whats in your wallet? I wish all Servers could be protected under the FLSA regardless if they swipe a credit card or not.
- Employers: Ditch your Personality Test! Applicants shouldn’t have to spend two or more hours completing a personality test online when applying for a $2.13 or more hourly wait staff position.
Revised 3/30/2016