Tough times if you wait tables
Filed under: Food
Tighter economic conditions are giving waitstaff a double whammy. Not only are food and gas prices rising rapidly, many who work in restaurants are earning less than they used to.
As consumers become more thrifty and eat out less, this hits waitstaff right in the pocketbooks. And when diners do show up, they're often likely to order less (decreasing their bill and therefore the tip if they do a percentage) and some even tip a lower percentage than usual.
Check out this video for some insights on just how much this can hurt restaurant employees:
Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.
As consumers become more thrifty and eat out less, this hits waitstaff right in the pocketbooks. And when diners do show up, they're often likely to order less (decreasing their bill and therefore the tip if they do a percentage) and some even tip a lower percentage than usual.
Check out this video for some insights on just how much this can hurt restaurant employees:
Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-22-2008 @ 6:02PM
Dan Ray said...
There's another way that wait staffs are being pinched: The move to credit cards. It used to be that those who relied on cash tips could, how should I say, overlook some of that cash when it came time to file their taxes.
Credit card tips are recorded by management and reported, so no more fibbing on taxes.
The flip side to that development, though, is that people using plastic tend to be better tippers.
We wrote about the topic at CreditCards.com (I'm an editor there): http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/cashless-society-impact-1264.php
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