ok happy gramps doesn't know what he's talking about. if you are a good server, you can make well over 9 an hour. it just depends where you're working at. at my job i have regulars that come in all the time, and generally speaking i make anywhere from 10 to 30 an hour. i usually average 15-20 an hour. But, it is a stressful job, you have to deal with a lot of people, some who are just nasty, and be on your feet every minute of your shift, whether its seeing if you've been sat, someone needs a refill, even petty things like napkins or ketchup which net you nothing towards the bill/ which = your tip. So you can have a lower paying lower stress job, or higher paying high stress job. i would honestly say go for the server job, set your goals high, and see what you can make of it b/c if it ends up being a fit, you can make decent money. some waiters say "its in your blood or its not", but i disagree. its a learned discipline
edit
something i want to add to jake's answer
i believe tip pooling is illegal, i dont know for sure, but look up your state's laws, and steer clear of a job that tip pools if its illegal, as there's likely other illegal activity going on within management
some questions you may want to slip into the interview:
Do we pool tips?
Are there many regulars that come in here?
Maybe visit the place on a monday morning and a friday night to gauge how busy they get on the slowest and busiest times.
After that you can also ask what days/times they are needing people.
Try to ask a server there just how the tips work, in some cases like yours, you are paid below min wage and tips go toward making the federally mandated minimum hourly wage. You can expect tips to go through management, perhaps pooled and split by servers, and bus boys. What the workers actually average is what you need to know, if tips are pooled, your being a super likeable server might not end up earning you much more.
you would have to work at the rest an average of 90 hours to earn the same 275
====>>tips --->>>>> http://x.co/9XNvz
====>>tips --->>>>> http://x.co/9XNvv
