Servers and Tips

That bottom part (of the very AI picture *sigh*) where it says “It’s not my job to serve you for free!”… They get paid. Servers get paid. Now, I *personally* don’t think they get paid enough, and that we should be paying servers the same wage we pay any person doing a high skill but low training job (meaning you don’t need to incur a university cost or college cost to become a server, but recognizing the personal effort required to become skillful as a server).

Again, my opinion (not fact) is that $7.25 (NH’s minimum wage) is not a decent wage for servers, at least those working as a server full time. School kids working part time and those who are brand new have not yet developed the skills, and their pay should reflect that. Or rather, those who’ve put the time and effort into becoming good at their chosen career or job should be rewarded for doing so.

Currently, NH law says this: “A tipped employee of a restaurant, hotel, motel, inn or cabin who customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips directly from the customer will receive a base rate from the employer of not less than 45 percent of the applicable minimum wage.” (https://www.dol.nh.gov/inspections/wage-and-hour/minimum-wage)

Indeed said, “The average salary for a server is $19.53 per hour in New Hampshire and $100.00 tips per day.584 salaries taken from job postings on Indeed in the past 36 months (updated June 8, 2026).” (https://www.indeed.com/career/server/salaries/NH)

I know averages sort of bork our understanding of what most servers ACTUALLY make, but that does seem to match what I’m hearing from people in my area (Jaffrey/Rindge/Peterborough NH and Gardner/Westminster/Leominster MA, none of which are “high income” areas) who are working as servers.

If someone is making the equivalent of $19 an hour, they are most definitely not working for free. Implying that they are doing so is disingenuous, and morally corrupt. Now, if there is someone who is not making enough to survive, then that definitely needs to be addressed.

I’ll tell you what I’ve personally witnessed in the past couple of years, though. This will be unpopular (and frankly, I don’t care). I’ve seen people become servers because “they couldn’t find anything else” (quotes because it’s what I’ve directly heard, not because I’m being sarcastic), and they do a poor job. They don’t seem to be attempting to get better at it, learn techniques to improve on their service, etc. They just want to complain that people at the restaurant don’t tip enough, or are rude.

I, myself, have been called rude and unruly because I pointed out that a hot dish I ordered arrived stone cold (like, not even warm, never mind hot), and that I had asked for that burger to be cooked medium and it was a hockey puck. I didn’t say so rudely, I simply asked the waitress to take it back to the kitchen and ask the cook staff to fix the problem. She got snarky, waved her hands in my face, called me some four letter words, and basically slammed dishes on the table the rest of that visit. Here’s the thing… I would not return to that restaurant until that server was gone. She ruined a meal. I wasn’t blaming her for the food; I simply wanted a hot burger cooked correctly. I was polite; she wasn’t. And that seems to be a theme, the past couple of years. No, I’m not tipping that kind of service, and I am going to be talking to the manager about it. A couple of times when food was excellent but service horrendous, I have asked a manager to give the tip to the chef(s) and not the server.