I believe it! The disparity is crazy between an IHOP, a Chilis, and the upscale places.
That’s nuts about the comedy club. I don’t think I could have stuck it out as long as you did.
I generally worked 4 or 5 nights a week, and usually was able to pocket $200-300. But I was 18 and didn’t need the money so it felt like a lot. I can’t imagine supporting a family on that.
The tipping structure seems to create an unnatural disparity in earnings for waiters.
Even worse, A restaurant with great food at a low price gets substantially less in the way of tips than one with overpriced food.
I seem to remember as a kid that the average tip was 5% and a good tip was 10% . The price of food used to be higher. Higher wages and lower tips would be more civil.
BTW: There is a style of restaurant called One World Everybody Eats . These buffet style restaurants don't charge for the food. You go in to the restaurant. Slop food on your plate then pay what you think the food was worth. Some of the restaurants welcome the homeless and many of the patrons know that and overpay for the food knowing that they are feeding hungry people.