This system, in Europe at least, disappeared in the years following the Second World War. Unlike in the US, where waiters still earn the bulk of their income from tips, waiters in Europe survive first and foremost on a fixed salary. Tipping is now mostly symbolic, a vestige of another time.
Pep Martínez, who requested that his real name not be used, has worked for the past 20 years as a maitre d’ at one of Barcelona’s finer restaurants. When asked if he’d heard of how waiters once paid to work, he chuckled. “Believe me,” he said with a wink, “I know places where waiters still pay their quotas.”
Now in his late 50s, Martínez has worked in restaurants for over 40 years. “I began waiting tables at the age of 13 in Madrid and have been working in restaurants ever since,” he told Metropolitan. “I have to say there’s been a progressive degeneration of the profession. The service, in Barcelona at least, is a disaster.”
Martínez put the blame on restaurant owners. “Except for top-end restaurants, most places in Barcelona will hire just about anybody,” he said. “No one has any training. In my opinion, restaurant owners don’t pay good waiters enough. In the end, if you have to work weekends and mealtimes, and you’re not well paid, most people will look for other work. The good waiters end up leaving.”
Martínez, at the pinnacle of his profession, earns €2,000 a month, plus tips, which in his case amount to over €1,000 a month. Most waiters, however, don’t make anywhere near that. The going rate is between six and seven euros an hour. After working a 40-hour week, an average waiter thus goes home with about €1,000 a month. And, perhaps, an additional €100 in tips.
“It’s not great pay, but that’s the going rate,” said Tessy Enrietti, a 24-year-old waitress from Grenoble, France. She works at the Resolis, a relaxed, mildly trendy restaurant in the Raval. Despite the low wage, Tessy is happy with her job.
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