Look I'm all about telling whiners to shut the hell up with their first world problems. Waiters should not complain about money. Actually never. But being a waiter is not an insanely high paying job. Now waiters shouldn't complain because:
a) Kitchen pay is so lousy many restaurants can only find immigrants/migrants from poor Latin countries to fill them. And these are the people making the food! You should get punched in the face for complaining about money when Enrico works for $8, 70 hours a week and sends all his money to his wife and kids (oh and he has to use his day off to travel to a major city to get his visa renewed)!
b) Waiters still out perform other unskilled workers, like fast food employees. Don't pretend you're better. I went to college too...
c) Complaining gives you a bad attitude and you cannot bring a bad attitude to work. (Not even going to explain this)
So I'm all about hating on waiters who complain. But waiting tables is not regularly a $17 an hour job and even when tips are that good there's a million other costs no one knows about. Tipping out the rest of the business (either kitchen or a host or pooling all tips with other servers) is part of it. Another part are the hours and the uncertainty in even when there is work. A restaurant will sometimes need more and sometimes fewer staff. Unlike some perfect economic world where workers just materialize out of thin etc. a restaurant has to constantly consider how many workers it needs that week or even that day. So if you are dependable you will be on call seemingly all the time. Another cost are hours. A server might have to work 10-12 hours to get the occasional $17 or 20/hr day. Balance this with the 10-12 hour days to get 10 bucks etc. Keep in mind too that some places are more seasonal than others. Finally, let's not forget the little bits of unpaid labor that go into making a restaurant function. And if you get responsibilities, it means more of this.
Finally, everyone and their mom knows that tipping culture has serious problems and we would be better off if it was removed in many places. However, that's not the world we live in. The cost of everything in a restaurant is obscured from you and price on the menu not only does not include tax, but it does not include labor costs, Guatamalan cooks and whiny servers alike. Don't be crazy generous if the service sucks, but don't refuse to tip out of some theoretical principle. Redditors might exaggerate a little, but servers do need tips to live. Waiting tables is not some glamorous, well-paying job where money just flows into your pockets. And unless you operate some chain of high priced restaurants and have an island in the Caribbean, as an owner you might not be making money hand over fist either. For an owner, the whole thing is also a never-ending 24/7 nightmare of work, exhaustion and anxiety. If you have a good system and you're lucky, maybe you can have a good yearly profit of 100k to divide between yourself and your spouse or your partner. But that and the tips don't come easy.