Re: Last night was "surf and coop."

On 3/8/2025 7:45 PM, Bruce wrote:

On Sat, 8 Mar 2025 19:08:42 -0500, Dave Smith
<adavid.smith@sympatico.ca> wrote:
 

I don't know exactly how the IRS does it  but up here is the CRA and my
understanding is that they have some sort of formula to estimate the tip
income that would be expected for a server.  My son was waiter in bar
for a while and later managed bars. At one time one of his cousins
worked for him and the  guy was making a lot in tips and apparently not
declaring them all. He got audited and ended up owing thousands of
dollars in income tax.  This nephew had worked part time as a waiter
while studying restaurant and hotel management at university.  After
graduation he kept waiting tables for years because he was making so
much more than he could have as a manager.

 He must have provided additional services besides waiting tables.
 

Why do you say that?  My granddaughter turned down manager for the same reason.
Tips vary.  Three men sat at a table, she brought them water.  They did not order anything, they just wanted to have a meeting. It was not a busy time so not a detraction.  They left after a half hour and tipped $20.
Church ladies, eight of them come for lunch.  Every one paid cash, exact change, except one.  Bill was $19.72.  She gave GD a twenty and said "keep the change"
Balancing that, she has gotten $50 top on a $20 bill and $100 tip on about a $50 bill.
The church ladies cost her money.  5% of her sales amount it taken from her tips and goes to the food runner.  If the eight ladies spend say, $160 total, she still pays $8 to the runner.  The idea of having runners is that she can handle more tables.  Seems to work.
Most tips are on credit card.  Cash tips are reported every night for tax purposes.
Being a server is not a prestigious job.  Most people would rank it much lower than say, a school teacher.  However, being a teacher would be a big pay cut!  Not every server does as well.  She happens to like it, does it well.  She also trains new servers and there is a fairly high turnover.
If they did away with the tipping structure, she would quite too because they would not pay as much as she presently earns.