Nope. Swear to God. I thought the same thing, this was back in 2006 when minimum wage was like...$5.50 or some shit. But they made less than three dollars per hour but kept 100% of their tips.
^not possible. you have to get paid at least minimum wage. most places (unless the pay is higher) are minimum wage + tips. no place is less than minimum wage. if so, and you have legal documents, you're in for some lawsuit cheese.
If you are a server at a full time restaurant, the hourly minimum (depending on each state) is $2.13 an hour. And the whatever the server claims (into the computer when they cash out) is what they take taxes out of-- which is taken from paycheck. They earn their money from tips and pay their taxes from the checks.
Theres a little more to it, but im on my phone and dont feel like typing out. Google it, itll explain better.
Edit:
http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm
There i think that link has it.
In fact, the worst thing is when they come around every 5 minutes asking how I'm doing. I'D BE DOING BETTER IF YOU LEFT ME THE FUCK ALONE BITCH.
^not possible. you have to get paid at least minimum wage. most places (unless the pay is higher) are minimum wage + tips. no place is less than minimum wage. if so, and you have legal documents, you're in for some lawsuit cheese.
Kentucky - $2.35 hourly circa 2006
Michigan - $2.65 hourly
California - All I could find was "between 2-3 dollars hourly"
Texas - Two dollars and some change.
Florida - One girl claimed she makes a whopping $4.25 hourly.
I guess every state is "shitty," eh? I obviously didn't go through every state. I also went to Hooters in Mexico, guess I should have asked how many pesos they make an hour (I know they charged $2 to use the toilet if you weren't ordering food) Go to Hooters and
ask an employee what she makes hourly. Note: Cooks get paid well above minimum wage.
And I agree - if she asks repeatedly if you need anything it starts to get annoying. Or trying to refill your drink while it's obviously barely been touched. Still better than bad service - but not much better.

From the internets, regarding the federal minimum wage:
A tipped employee is one who customarily and regularly receives more than $30 per month in tips. An employer of a tipped employee is only required to pay $2.13 per hour in direct wages if that amount combined with the tips received at least equals the federal minimum wage. If the employee's tips combined with the employer's direct wages of at least $2.13 per hour do not equal the federal minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference. Many states, however, require higher direct wage amounts for tipped employees. Georgia does not.
If an employer wants to use the tip credit allowance, the employer must:
1. Inform each tipped employee about the tip credit allowance before applying it to the employee;
2. Be able to show that the employee receives at least minimum wage when direct wages and tips actually earned are combined. This means keeping accurate records of the tips and wages; and
3. Allow the tipped employee to keep all tips (unless the employee participates in a valid tip pooling arrangement with other tipped employees). Under no circumstances is the employer permitted to keep any part of the tips.
Importantly, if the combined amount of tips and actual wages is less than minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference. Many employers do not make up the difference, and are therefore unable to claim the tip credit allowance.
In addition, it is common for employees to engage in both tip producing work and work that produces no tips. For example, a waiter or waitress may wait tables all shift and then have kitchen cleaning duties after the restaurant closes. As the waiter/waitress has no ability to earn tips while cleaning the kitchen, the tip credit allowance cannot be taken for the hours spent cleaning the kitchen. For these hours, minimum wage must be paid.
Further, under no circumstances may a non-exempt employee be paid tips only, no matter how much in tips may be earned. This is a common violation of the FLSA.
Actually, all those states do suck lol. I'd let Texas off the hook thanks to Perry's bullshit non-existent Texas Miracle, but any state with cheap housing is a shitty state because well, you get the point, few want to live there.
But I don't want to be a dick. I honestly didn't know about that law regarding tipped employees because here I never heard of it. I knew that tips get taxed but what waiters do is simply report the bare minimum for tax purposes and that's it. My heart goes out to them. I met a group of girls last night who work at a relatively nice restaurant/lounge downtown. My friend is dating one of them and tells me they're making over 4 grand a month.
Funny note regarding Hooters...a girl from high school worked at a local Hooters. It closed down so she started stripping.
yeah, that's sad. fuck america.
%15 is standard here for tipping, I'll go over that if the service is great. I'm a good tipper overall.