Hooters Waitress Reveals Exactly How Much She Earns in Tips: 'Easy Mode'
A Florida Hooters waitress has gone viral online after detailing exactly how much she earns in tips from just one shift.
In a TikTok video with over 10 million views, Leah Fennelly updated viewers throughout her shift on each and every tip, revealing the surprising total at the very end.
Working an eight-hour shift, Fennelly started at 12 p.m. with three tips—$3, $7 and $8 along with loose change.
Three more tables earned her $43 in tips, along with another $4, $6, $5, $4 and $50 from the rest of her "morning" shift. One table, she explained, even left her a $31 tip "because he asked for my number."
Another $20 and $7 tip came rolling in before she found herself serving a famous face, with a somewhat disappointing result.
"Okay, I didn't realize, I'm serving a hall of fame pitcher for a baseball team so i'll let you guys know how much he tips me," she told the camera, adding that she "had no idea who he was but customers starting going up to him and asking for pictures."
The baseball pitcher, who Fennelly did not name, tipped $7. Although some felt it was a lowball, Fennelly explained that it was still 20% of his total bill.
$52 in seven separate tips finished off Fennelly's tips for the day, but she waited until the next morning to reveal her grand total. Counting in her kitchen, she shared that she amassed $282 in tips from the shift in cash but that one of her regulars also tipped her $100 through CashApp for simply sitting at one of her tables for too long.
Therefore, Fennelly earned a total of $382 in tips, but added in a comment that she doesn't work every day and simply works in Hooters to earn extra money while studying.
In a follow-up video she explained that all servers keep their own tips, but tip the bartender one percent of total sales. Credit card tips are given to waitresses in cash from the manager at the end of their shift.
The U.S. follows a tip credit system in most states, that expects tips to make up most of a server's wage. Servers start with a small wage, much less than the hourly minimum, but earn more thanks to tips. If their tips don't reach the minimum wage point, it's the responsibility of the employer to top up their wage to reach it.
The insight that Fennelly's video gives of tipping culture in the U.S. was a stark surprise to some viewers overseas.
"In the U.K, those tips would be 0,0,0,0,0,0,0 and some change," commented one user.
"These comments saying 'don't feel ashamed for not being able to tip', y'all realize servers make $2 an hour? All taken by taxes? You're paying their bills," remarked one user.
"This is actually way more realistic than I thought it'd be," wrote one TikTok user.
While some were less-than-surprised by the amount earned in tips, others were and even made comparisons to their own wages.
"I'm a nurse and you make more than a starting nurse in a 12 hour shift," noted one viewer.
"Playing life on easy mode," joked a user, while another vowed: "That's it, I'm applying."
Hooters waitresses have found something of a viewership on TikTok, where videos of the job regularly go viral. Last year, Hooters even made changes to their uniform policy after waitresses took to the app to express their upset at the new, shorter shorts.
Leah Fennelly has been contacted for comment.
In : #EssexCounty
Tags: hooters waitress reveals exactly how much she earns in tips: 'easy mode'
comments powered by Disqus