Hooters waitress claims she is making well above the average salary thanks to her tips

A Hooters waitress took to TikTok to reveal the amount of money she makes a week on tips - and the amount was surprising.

Kirsten Songer— a University of South Carolina graduate (who now attends medical school) and Hooters bartender who went viral recently by showing the differences in the Hooters Girl short designs - took to the platform to divulge her tip earnings across multiple shifts.

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Presumably working in South Carolina with a $2.13 hourly wage, her tips ranged from $50 to $408 per night during the week in question - plus an additional $60 from “a guy at the bar” who tipped her for talking to him.

In total, that meant she took home a little over $1,308 in tips for the week.

Across a year, the earning potential could be close to $70,000, which is similar to the salary earnings of transportation inspectors and insurance underwriters.

That’s pretty impressive because according to data this year from Ziprecruiter, the average median salary for people in South Carolina is $54,672.

Despite the good chunk of change Songer receives in tips on average, people in the comments were taken aback by her hourly wages.

“$2.13 an hour!!? How is that legal,” someone wrote.

“Servers in BC Canada make $14 an hour wtf,” another added.

Anyone who works in a restaurant, regardless of state, must be paid a minimum of $7.25 per hour, including tips, as of 2019. Restaurant servers may be paid a “minimum cash wage” depending on the minimum wage rules in their respective states.

The federal minimum wage for servers and other tipped employees is $2.13 per hour in South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, and Nebraska.

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