I work for a private club, and get paid $2.50 an hour plus tip shares. There's a 19% gratuity tacked onto everything, and the cash from that goes to the theoretical tip share pile. It's then split among all of the servers based on hours worked. this means that we get paid somewhere between $8 and $15 an hour. It's a great system, because it means you can't get stiffed, but the people that come have been encouraged to not tip, so regardless of how good a job we do, we tend to get the same amount. Now, getting coats for people (especially at functions) I get tipped reasonably well ($1-$2) considering I'm just getting someone's coat.
The problem is that the idea of the tip has changed from what it used to be. There used to just be a jar at the front that said "To Insure Prompt Service" on it, which was basically a bribe to get seated and served faster. Somehow this mutated into the system we have today, where people get paid less than minimum wage on the basis that they'll be getting tips to make up for it.
Now, on a good note, if you're making less than minimum wage before tips, they tax you as if you were making minimum wage (as far as I know, our tipshares get taxed since they're on our paycheck
) but if you're making more on tips you got untaxed funds!