Restaurant Sign Says Servers Make $3.50 an Hour and ‘If You Can’t Afford to Tip, You Can’t Afford to Dine Out’ — X Pushes Back

An X post from the account @KhanSaba1278 shows a photo of a sign posted in a restaurant window where a sign reads, “Our servers make $3.50/hr… If you can’t afford to tip, you can’t afford to dine out.”

The user responded with their own caption, “If you can’t afford to pay a living wage, you can’t afford to own a restaurant.” Commenters debated who bears responsibility for service workers' wages.

One commenter wrote, “If you can’t afford to pay your workers a decent wage you shouldn’t be in business, that’s slave wages that is[sic].”

A commenter noted, “I don't think you understand. The law says, Servers get paid a lower min [sic] wage then [sic] everyone else due to the assumption they are being tipped.”

Under federal labor law, employers can pay tipped workers a cash wage as low as $2.13 per hour if tips make up the rest of the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

The U.S. Department of Labor says employers must “make up the difference” when tips plus that base wage do not reach the federal minimum, and many states set their own higher floors or require standard minimum wage on top of tips.

A third commenter wrote, “That’s not how it works, Sweetheart. Just say you’ve never worked in the service industry.”

Another reply talked about how the restaurant calculates wages, “I get that math, I really do. And I learned it in a one-room country school house, one teacher for eight grades. If I can do that, you can start doing some math yourself.”

The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the pay practices or location of the restaurant shown in the photo. The details above reflect the account as shared on X by @KhanSaba1278 and comments from users responding under the post. The identity of the business and its full wage structure have not been confirmed.