[true_religion]

The framing here is odd. Even when a restaurant doesn't take many orders per hour, it has to stay open or else people will stop coming there due to inconsistency. That's just the cost of doing business.

Waitstaff understand this and build it into their concept of what their true hourly wage is. Many people will scramble to get jobs at $200/plate places, even if you have to wait around for 5 hours during the day time doing almost nothing till dinner comes. On the contrast, hardly anyone wants to work at busy diners that charge very little per plate. You'll be busy yourself, working non-stop and you'll take home very little since that's all they charge.

Reality is somewhere in between those two examples, but its a known reality.

[vips7L]

The framing is not odd. Have you ever been cut and had to do hours of side work while only getting paid $2.13/hr and not getting any new tables?

[true_religion]

It’s been a long time since I was in a position to think about being waitstaff… so can you tell me what does being cut mean in this context?