US waitress earning less than $3 an hour explains why it can cost her money if a table leaves a low tip

A waitress earning less than $3 an hour in the US has revealed why it can actually cost her money if a table leaves a low tip - or no tip at all.

Whether you're in the UK or America, tipping is always a bit of a debate.

Some people only tip if they believe they've received good service, while others *always* tip and in some cases, tips are added to the bill automatically.

But it's often a huge debate, with many disagreeing over the appropriate amount to leave, too.

But in America, tips are seen as part of a server's salary, considering the hourly rate they receive is often so low.

The minimum hourly wage in the States is $7.25 per hour (£5.79) but if you're in a role where you can earn tips, this plummets to just $2.13 (£1.70).

Waitress Savannah, who is based in Tennessee, explained on TikTok that if she receives a poor tip from one table, she can sometimes lose money herself.

"Off of my gross sales, I have to pay six percent of that to the host, bartenders, kitchen staff, other support staff, food runners, like people in the restaurant that are helping to make the restaurant happen, I pay them," Savannah said.

"Why the restaurant doesn’t pay them? Why restaurants don’t pay all of their staff appropriately? I don’t have the answer to that."

Savannah clarified by explaining if she sold $100 (£79.85) worth of food and drinks to a table, she'd have to pay $6 (£4.79) of that to other staff.

"So hopefully on that $100 bill I get a $20 tip (that’s 20 percent) and then I would actually only make $14 (£11.18) because the $6 goes towards the rest of the team," she explained.

"If I had a table that I served and their check was $100 and they do not tip me at all. [...] I have to reach into my own pocket, money that I’ve already made that day or money that I have yet to make, and still give it back to the restaurant to pay the rest of the staff."

People were completely blown away, with many admitting they had never realised this system exists.

One person wrote: "I’ve never heard it explained this way. It’s your Govt that is to blame. So glad that in Australia a tip is a BONUS for great service not an expectation bc of a messed up system."

While another said: "In the UK there is a minimum wage that employers MUST pay, I am flabbergasted at what I’ve just heard."

And a third added: "I can’t believe this is real. How do restaurants have employees?"

In the UK, the current minimum wage is £11.44 per hour.