For the past two years, I’ve worked as a server at a restaurant in Ogden, where I earned less than the minimum wage, at the “tipped wage.” My hourly pay was $2.30 an hour, unlike other servers in the state, who typically earn $2.13. The two-week paychecks I brought home ranged between $0 and $25. And on multiple occasions, I’ve owed my employer money from my tips because my paychecks didn’t fully cover taxes.
My experience isn’t unique. Ask any Utah server earning tipped wages: our pay is unstable and not guaranteed. No matter how hard we work or how well we treat customers, we have to rely on the generosity of others to live. Unfortunately, Utah law allows for employers to pay workers earning tips a sub-minimum wage. But no one’s job should rely on tips because tips are not a living wage. They never have been and they probably never will be.
Working as a server is incredibly stressful, especially during college. I did it because I loved the restaurant I worked at. It’s upsetting when people ridicule me for choosing to work a job based on tips. How can one demand a service and then not pay for it? After all, people don’t have to tip a doctor or police officer for their services. We shouldn’t reduce people’s pay for doing their job in the first place.
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