A bartender has taken to TikTok to reveal just how little she was paid for 70 hours of work to stress the importance of tipping.
Texas mother and bartender Aaliyah Cortez recently worked 70 hours, but she was shocked to see her paycheque which showed that she'd earned just $9.28 in this time.
As per Bored Panda, she said: "I cannot afford to live off of $2.13 an hour, so I solely rely on the generosity of my customers."
Watch the viral TikTok below:In the TikTok, she explained that while she was paid a base wage from her employer, she was left with almost nothing after social security medicare and income tax were deducted.
She then concluded her video by saying: "This is why you tip."
She captioned the post: "PSA #psa #fyp#foryou #bartender #server #work #tips #chooseone #CleanFreshHype #photography101 #hardwork #viral"
However, while she might have posted the payslip to stress the importance of tipping, TikTok uses thought differently and said the problem was with her employer, not the customers.
One wrote: "no mam, your bar/restaurant is getting free labor and that's not ok."
A second added: "This is why the US should be like EVERY other developed nation and not have a tip culture. Businesses should pay your wages. Tips shouldn't be a thing."
Alongside a laughing emoji, a third wrote: "what state has min wage as low as $2!?"
A fourth added: "No we tip when we're given good service we don't tip because you're getting paid two dollars an hour that's a you problem tbh [sic]."
However, some were more sympathetic to the bartender's plight, with one pointing out that it is simply part of a wider, well-known problem in the US - implying that's why people should tip.
They wrote: "Most states minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.13 it's not just her restaurant or state it's almost all of the US."
Cortez herself is more than aware that she is working for a broken system and says that despite it, she does love her job.
As per Bored Panda, she said: "This is just how laws are set up, and if you’re going to restaurants that do abide by these laws, you are feeding into the broken system. We don't like relying on the customer but until the laws can get changed, we still need to be paid."
This just reinforces the important message that we need to be tipping our servers.
