On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 17:34:39 -0500, potatoman
> wrote:

>Interesting. That's before they even get tips? No wonder standard
>tipping is much less...these guys already make a pretty good salary.
>Before tips, in the US, the average full-time (40hrs/week) server makes
>somewhere around 340USD/month. Considering a medium sized 1 bedroom
>apartment in my area costs about 600USD/month, that's not even close to
>being considered liveable (hence, the high tipping standard).

Math challenged?

160 hours into $340 is $2.13 an hour!

I think you meant 340USD/week, huh? Not that that's exactly a
screaming wage, but at least it's the federally mandated minimum wage.

As for higher wages in Scandinavia: the taxes in Denmark come in at
around 55%, and if they're being taken out of the wages (which I'm
sure they are), suddenly that big salary doesn't look that much
better.

On the other hand, there's Denmark's cradle-to-grave health care.

JJ