A Spur waitress has taken to TikTok to share her earnings from tips over the past few months and it seems not all waiters are having a tough time out there.
“Me as a waitress after my 14 hours shift,” she captions the short clip reflecting her bank balances over the past few months.
In June, the waitress, who appears to work for a Spur in Johannesburg, made a whopping R20,176, while in August she managed to make over R17,000. Her September earnings amounted to almost R10,000.
She shared screenshots from her bank statement.
The waitresses earnings are a far cry from the R100 in earnings that forced Babel waitress Mihlali Nobavu to quit and prompted her to expose the Menlyn restaurant for failing to abide by basic employment laws, failing to pay salaries and accused managers at the restaurant of harsh treatment towards the staff, imposing fines on the tips they made.
In September, the waitress exposed the terrible working conditions and how she and her colleagues were exploited, leading to sweeping actions from the Department of Labour, Home Affairs and the Hawks, who conducted raids at thousands of restaurants.
Over R10 million in fines and over 80 undocumented foreign workers have been imposed so far, Labour Minister Nomakhosazana Meth said earlier this week.
At Babel, Nobavu exposed how staff were paid solely on tips and had no basic salary, a payment structure the Department of Labour says was against the national minimum wage provisions.
Whereas Spur waiters at least earn a basic salary and then depend on tips from customers to bump up their earnings at the end of the day.
The video posted by the Spur waitress @_sharonzondi has gone viral with 1.6 million views.
@_sharonzondi Please tip waitresses and waiters.🥹 #sama28 #tiktoksouthafrica #waitressing ♬ original sound - M.Kedits
Her video has received mixed responses.
“You just messed up tips for all waiters, if you are earning so much. Really there’s no need for tips,” wrote one person.
While another who was impressed by her earnings wrote: “How do we apply for waitress job.”
“We love that for you. Must mean you have great customer service,” praised another.
Another viewer pointed out that there is a big difference in how much waiters make in general saying: “Not all waitresses get this. Some more and some way less depending on where you working.”
“Impressive. May God bless you for trying so hard to take care of yourself,” praised another viewer.
IOL Lifestyle