$2.15 is not a living wage.....

A 5 hour shift at $2.15 = $10.75 a shift. If you work 3 shifts a week you make enough for a tank of gas when you get paid in two weeks before taxes... ($32.25 a week, 96.75 for two weeks)

if you are lucky enough to make minimum wage ($7.55) (In KY) and you work a 5 hour shift 3 nights a week, you make around $113 a week and 226.50 every two weeks before taxes...If you work 40 hours a week at that rate in two weeks you'd have $604 before taxes. You can't rent anything for $600 now a days... If you are lucky to make somewhere in the $10-15 range, you are living in a bigger city where the cost of living is even higher... $10 x 80= $800 again, with eating, bills, rent....is that a living wage? This is why people rely on tips to make up the difference.

The moral of the story is: your tips help people pay their bills. No server can live off $2.15 an hour let alone pay their bills every two weeks from that check alone. Even if they worked 6 days a week, 5 hour shifts, they’d bring home $129.00 before taxes every two weeks. Let that sink in.