Candidate for governor Tom Emmer has been taking some heat for his suggestion that the state do away with the minimum wage for a lot of waiters and bartenders.

He proposes that waiters and waitresses who get $30 or more a month in tips could be paid the federal minimum of $2.13 an hour for that business.

If a waitress worked 160 hours a month and got $30 in tips it would work out to 17 cents an hour, skyrocketing her hourly pay to $2.30. Seventeen cents an hour in tips means she’s either a bad waitress or serving retired German Lutheran farmers.

Emmer said some servers and bartenders now make $100,000 annually, a claim that left many scratching their heads. Even if given a good 20 percent tip by every customer, a waiter would have to sell $500,000 in food, and not share any of the tips with the kitchen staff, which is the custom at most restaurants.

The state website says the average waiter in Minnesota, working full-time, earns $19,000 a year including tips. It’s a bit less in much of southern Minnesota.  

I went to a drive through at a fast food place and got a cheeseburger and fries. I asked the young man at the window, “Are you one of those servers that makes a hundred thousand a year?”

He gave me a puzzled look. He apparently doesn’t follow the news closely. I told him a guy running for governor said waiters can make $100,000 a year. “Not here,” he said. 

We probably shouldn’t be too harsh on Emmer. His idea could actually be expanded to make Minnesota more business friendly by making tips an integral part of income for a lot of people.

With skyrocketing health care costs and complaints of too-quick medical visits, doctors could start working for tips.

Doctors are highly trained, so it would only be fair to start them at the state minimum wage of $6.15 an hour rather than the $2.13 an hour. Patients could judge for themselves, based on bedside manner or how well the appendectomy went, what to tip their physician.

If, at my next physical, Dr. Gee told me to ease off on the exercise because I’m in about as good a shape as possible, I’d gladly slip him an extra $20. If he told me it wouldn’t hurt if I enjoyed some more deep-fried foods, he could score some serious money.

Consumers would certainly be for a tip system for mechanics. If he nurses your Dodge along with a rebuilt alternator and lets you know the brake pads really would be good for a few thousand miles more, you’d gladly give him a generous tip.

And maybe if they relied on tips you wouldn’t get a new PCV valve every time you had your oil changed. No one knows what a PCV valve is, but it’s always “looking pretty dirty and you might wanna replace it” whenever they change your oil. There may not even be such a thing as a PCV valve — they’ve never actually shown me one when they “replace” it.

Cops could earn their tips based on how things turn out for you after you’re stopped for speeding.

Ministers could earn tips by inspiring congregants or by not giving those downer sermons about how even thinking lustful stuff about your neighbor’s hot wife is a sin.

Politicians should get $2.13 an hour and make the rest from tips based on how well their constituents think they’re doing their jobs.

Just about every profession could benefit from the sub-minimum wage plus tips system. It would make them work harder, be more friendly and provide better service. And business owners could save a ton.

I don’t think the tip system would work for reporters, though.

Nobody likes us.



Tim Krohn is a Free Press staff writer. He can be contacted at 344-6383 or tkrohn@mankatofreepress.com.