GOP's Emmer Would Like To Cut Waiter Wages

[Joanne98]

Run time: 01:30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kux4ILtTVew   Posted on YouTube: July 07, 2010 By YouTube Member: UpTakeVideo Views on YouTube: 98   Posted on DU: July 07, 2010 By DU Member: Joanne98 Views on DU: 1878

 

Waiters are making 100,000.00 dollars a year in tips! YEAH RIGHT!



Republican Candidate for Governor Tom Emmer says he was surprised to learn that waiters can earn more than $100,000 a year, a good portion of that from tips.Emmer: Restaurant owners...I don't know if you call them restraunteers or ... but I've heard this from others that are running small businesses all around the metro area, and I haven't talked to them as much outstate, just maybe Duluth and Moorhead, but smaller towns . I hear mostly here in the Twin Cities and I didn't realize that it could be that great. Somebody could be taking home well over a hundred thousand dollars as a server.Reporter: Isn't that the free market at work? People reaping the benefits of hard work?Emmer: You know Brian, the answer to that would be yes if you didn't have a minimum wage law. Then you could say that it was the free market working. "Cause then they could hire employees at a living wage taking into account the tips that they're taking home. But what we've done essence is set the floor as to what they must get paid, regardless of what they get to take home in tips. We love the people that are serving. But you know when you could kill the goose that lays the golden egg which is the owner of the business, they're going to end up suffering as well. If these guys can't continue to operate then they can't continue to take advantage of the opportunity. So you've got to keep both in mind. And I would agree with you, it's the free market only up until you start talking about the minimum wage law.Reporter 2: Are you suggesting we repeal the minimum wage law?Emmer: Well, I don't know if you could do that. I mean we talked about that before.

[SpiralHawk]

1. "You little people proles are getting too much." - Republicon Fat Cats

[donco6]

2. What does he care what a waiter makes in tips?

So, because he heard somewhere there's a waiter making $100k with tips, he wants to eliminate the minimum wage?

That's making an asshole look good.

[Warpy]

3. If somebody needs to work six months waiting tables at Denny's

it's this clown. Most wait staff are barely hanging on, and it's hard, hard work.

[Enthusiast]

27. You said it!

I don't believe I would want this creep waiting on me though.

[msongs]

4. another republidem lol nt

[sandnsea]

5. MN waiter minimums, $5.25 or $6.15

It's disgusting that some states still let waiters be paid a lower minimum. Oregon's waiters make the same minimum as everybody else, plus tips. I haven't heard of any waiter, anywhere in the state, making $100,000 a year. Frankly I think the person who told Emmer that is a liar - and Emmer is just a plain fool for believing it, or believing that it's got a thing in the world to do with paying a worker a minimum wage.

At least people are starting to fight the right targets.

[louis-t]

8. It's an excuse for him to not leave a tip.

Cheap bastard.

[AlbertCat]

29. Frankly I think the person who told Emmer that is a liar

What... you mean his media adviser? Because nobody who owns a restaurant told him that. And no waiter did. It's an urban legend one of his research people dug up on the internet.

[phantom power]

6. Yeah, and I heard millions of welfare queens are driving around in cadillacs too.

:eyes:

[TheEuclideanOne]

7. Am I missing something here?

As far as I know, waiters make something like $2/hr because it is assumed that the majority of their money is made from tips. Is he suggesting that the restaurant doesn't pay the waiter anything at all? After all, the average salary is $100K. If not, is he suggesting that the restaurant increase their salary and eliminate tips?

For the record, I live in Miami and we have a Joes Stone Crab restaurant around here where I have heard that the waiters do make well over $100K. It is probably 100% true. That does not mean that every waiter makes that amount. In just about every other restaurant, the waiters can barely pay their bills. Joes is very exclusive.

[TreasonousBastard]

9. You're not missing a thing-- there are some waiters in exclusive...

places making that kind of money, just as some doormen an limo drivers do. And many of those waiters are union, where their base wages are higher.

But, it's certainly not typical if you're looking at every restaurant in the country. Base in Joisey was $2.16 an hour to stand around and do side work, hoping your tables would fill up. Everyone in a decent place made a living, but they worked for it and six figures was a dream to most.

[sandnsea]

13. It depends on the state

Federal minimum wage for waiters can be as low as $2.40 or somewhere in that area. But many states require a higher minimum, including Minnesota as I posted above. Oregon requires the same minimum for everybody, it's around $8.05 right now. And still, wait staff don't make $100,000 a year. Hell the owners of the restaurants don't usually make that much, at least the small local ones don't.

[LiberalFighter]

10. How do the tips that help the waiter earn nearly $100k hurt the restaurant owner?

The owner is not paying the tips.

[stillrockin67]

17. Too much thinking

Did you expect a Republican to actually apply logic to his comments?

[MineralMan]

11. Ain't He a Peach?

:sarcasm:

[burnsei sensei]

12. The less a waiter or waitress earns,

the more dependent they are on tips.
It's a convenient way for a rich man to turn a worker earning a wage into a slightly privileged beggar.

[droidamus2]

14. Republican logic?

If you follow this fools logic to it's ridiculous end you would think that the way to help employers stay in business is for all of us to work for free. If you get rid of the minimum wage it just becomes a race to the bottom. It makes it a 100% employer driven market where you get whatever the employer decides to pay you. What's next (it's already started) get rid of all benefits, no unemployment, no social security, no medicare and we just all become serfs to the mighty lords of corporatism.

[Plucketeer]

15. What an ass-hat!

Heck, one probably could find waiters making TWICE that amount - if they'd own up to it. But at places I can afford to eat, I feel sorry for those folks.

This Replijerk is a lowly liar - plain and simple! :dunce:

[Guilded Lilly]

16. How can he open his mouth without a large amount

of BS dribbling down his chin?

Good Gawd.

If a server makes that much in tips, it means the business owner is doing a damn good business. Servers work harder and longer than most politicians on any given day.

Let's pay the politicians minimum wage and allow their constituents to tip them if they do a good job. Do away with any lobbyist funds, any political contributions. Those aren't tips, those are bribes.

Put in a good day's work serving the people well, Emmer, and see how good your tips are at the end of that day.

[wilt the stilt]

18. I was a professional waiter

for 8 years. I worked at such places as the Brown Palace in Denver and top notch restaurants in Atlanta. Waiters are rarely making $100,000 a year and because of the new POS systems( I sold them) they have to declare way more tips than before.

Whatever a waiter earns they deserve it. It is really hard physical work. It also takes a pretty good mind and you have to be able to keep multiple things in your mind at one time. Top waiters can think about 7 things at once while mediocre waiters can think of three things at once.

The other thing that waiters are fighting over is the turn. If you can turn your tables you make more money than the other waiters so basically you are competing all the time.

Isn't that what republicans are always saying- competition.

waiters earn everything they get.

This asshat would collapse if he ever tried to wait on tables.

If everyone worked for tips they sure would learn a lot.

[herbm]

19. As a waiter who works in upscale restaurants, I've never made half a

hundred grand in one year. He may love us, I loathe him and wish I could get him at one of my tables.

[wilt the stilt]

23. too funny

I can only imagine what you would do. It's probably the same that I would've done. Before James Watt went to Washington he was at the restaurant I worked in at The Brown Palace. I am glad to say he was at the worst table in the house.

[era veteran]

20. If a server pulls 100k, the owner is making so much money

that they wouldn't give a shit. The 100k server is pretty much an urban legend. My server are doing ok because we are always busy but most servers in my city are definitely down over last few years. He is a customer that I would add gratuity and not let a 10% tipping POS add his own tip. Servers generally struggle to get by like most working people.

[wilt the stilt]

24. He's the guy who would bring in a 2 fo1 coupon

and tip on the smaller amount and not on the amount before the coupon.

[chocolate ink]

21. Dirtbag

Nothing can set me off more than any politician(or person)opening their stupid mouth about wait people and their tips/wages.

I'll bet you anything this asshat thinks taxing inheritance is not a good idea...you know that money already has been taxed(duh)so why tax it again..the same could go for tips right...The good old Reagan Revolution couldn't stand it that the 'little people' making tips had all that untaxed money and were living it up on all those monumental tips they made so they just had to pass a law that said everyone had to pay their fair share and have their tips taxed. Thank you Reagan for one more thing I hate about you..not only do wait people have their tips taxed they get taxed even if they don't get a tip-if you pay by credit card and don't leave a tip that server still pays a percentage as if they did get a tip..wrong in so many ways.

And as some have mentioned above yes some states don't have to pay even minimum wage and pay less than 3 dollars an hour to servers cause you know they make so much in tips.

This is one guy who should definately have to work in some burger joint during tourist season and hustle for tips and see how much fun it is and then have to share his tips with someone else who only made half as much.

Jesus, I despise people like this guy.

[RBInMaine]

22. Typical fucking asshole Republican who could care less about workers and worker rights. Fuck them !

[spedtr90]

25. $100,000 NOT true

The restuaurant owner who suggested this to Emmer is getting lots of nasty phone calls as well as people asking for jobs! He admits his waiters could make $30,000 - maybe. ( MN Public Radio)
Emmer won't release his tax records either. 2 Democrats running for governor have.
How stupid does he have to be to come up with this pressing "issue"? Gotta "level the playing field for restuaruat owners". Uffda!

[Downtown Hound]

26. LOL. $100,000? Please.

Maybe at some upper Manhattan restaurant where a beer sells for $20. But most waiters, like the OVERWHELMING majority of them, don't make anywhere near that amount.

[AsahinaKimi]

28. He sounds like

The kind of fun loving guy who would not skip on the tip, but steal the entire tip jar!!
meh Republicans! :mad:

[Capitalocracy]

30. What a thinly veiled, pathetic excuse to advocate against a minimum wage.

Oh, those fatcat waiters and their minimum wage!

Now, I don't know if it's the same everywhere, but where I come from, waiters are entitled to a minimum wage if their tips don't add up to a minimum wage. Like I earned $3 per hour, but if my tips didn't add up to a minimum wage, theoretically (not in practice) I could demand extra payment to make up for the difference.

So apparently in this guy's fantasy world, waiters have to be paid a minimum wage even though they're earning $100,000 a year in tips (yeah, right) and they're going to break the restaurant owner because of it (in the magical land of 10,000% tips). Actually, waiters only earn $100,000 a year in the most expensive restaurants (like maybe the ones this joker eats at?) and in some cases, rather than being paid by the restaurant, they have to pay out part of their tips TO the restaurant or pay a fee to wait tables there.

In any case, if we're talking about the same rules I was working under, you have to declare your tips in order to force the restaurant to pay the difference to make the minimum wage. So if you're making $100,000 and declaring tips equalling less than minimum wage and trying to make that restaurant owner pay out the difference, you're likely to be fired and reported to the IRS.

Complaining about waiters getting a minimum wage. Would you like some cheese with that whine, sir?

[JoeyT]

31. I hope he doesn't like eating out.

I have a feeling from now on he wouldn't want to know what they're going to be stirring his drink with.

[Ganja Ninja]

32. Waiters respond to Elmer:

"We may have to take your shit but you have to eat ours.":hurts: