Nashville waitress claims she made just ONE cent over 6 weeks of her restaurant job
A TikToker sparked a debate on social media after she revealed she made only one penny in six weeks at her waitressing job.
The woman, identified only as Liny, of Nashville, Tennessee, raised eyebrows after she shared a video of herself on TikTok displaying the paychecks she received from her job and said she earned one cent in total over the last couple of months. The clip caused an uproar on social media, with viewers debating whether or not consumers ought to tip their waiters. Some claimed servers deserved a tip as they barely made anything from their basic salary. Meanwhile, others contended it should be the restaurant's decision and that they should pay their employees more.
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The 25-year-old waitress placed three different paychecks in front of the camera. One of them was missed on August 30 for a sum of zero dollars. Another paycheck from September 13 showed it was for zero dollars too. Finally, a third check she received on September 27 was for a measly $0.01. "The f*** Ima do with one penny Steven!" she wrote in the caption. "Life of a server... this is six weeks of 'pay'. Tip your servers!" she added in the clip.
It's worth noting that the federal minimum wage for tipped employees across the US is $2.13 an hour. However, 6.2% is removed from every paycheck for social security taxes and 1.45% is deducted for medicare taxes. Meanwhile, paid employees are also expected to pay income taxes, and the federal government determines how much one owes based on the amount of money received from earned income. This means that in Liny's case, she was essentially left with nothing after taxes despite having earned a reasonable gross income from her job.
The clip went viral on social media and garnered millions of views since it was posted last month. Furthermore, it also launched a debate in the comments section about whether or not customers should tip their waiters.
"Blame the business you're working for, not the consumers. In other countries, they don't need to tip because they pay a living wage," one wrote. "I'm already paying overpriced prices for mediocre food. I shouldn't have to also pay out of my pocket for your salary. That's your boss's job," another added.
“I’ve easily made $4400 a month being a server. Don’t let those empty checks fool you if you’re serving and making so much more than you get as an hourly rate," a comment read. "It's not my job to pay your bills. I got my own to pay," another claimed.
Some argued that tips were necessary for waiters and waitresses to sustain themselves.
"If you can't tip go to McDonald's or cook at home," one responded. "Y'all did not pass the vibe check. When someone is taking your order and bringing your food, they are providing a service," another wrote. "People don't understand that servers have to [give] a certain percentage of sales to kitchen and bar. If you don't tip, your servers are paying for you eat," someone else offered. "If [servers] don't work, y'all can't eat out. No one is gonna serve you. We don't control how much we get paid," another chimed in.