You . You know they were being sarcastic right ? <| sep |> That depends a lot on how busy the bar gets . I ' m currently working at a restaurant that has a bar . On a good night , the bartender can make bank . But on a bad night you can make absolute shit . I ' m a waiter , but the bartender who ' s looking at leaving was talking with me one night saying he only made $ 20 in tips in a 5 hour shift one night recently , and most of that was from what the waiters tipped out . Our restaurant has its good nights but lately there ' s more bad than good . Fortunately we ' re in a state that set its tipped minimum not too far off from regular minimum $ 7 . 50 hr vs . $ 9 hr , but that night he still only made $ 11 . 50 an hour with his hourly wage included . If we were in a state that set their tipped minimum at the lowest allowed by the federal government $ 2 . 13 hr , he would have pulled in $ 6 . 13 hr . which is terrible . It ' s below the federal nontipped minimum . Yes , employers are supposed to make up the difference , but that ' s unfortunately not as common as it should be . Also , hours can be sparse . You need to fight for more shifts at some places .