TBH I find the earnings of NYC waiting staff ridiculous. It's not like I want them to be on the breadline, but they're just bringing you food or opening a beer cap. I'm not sure what the logic of their earnings is.
It’s spectacularly expensive to live in NYC. It doesn’t surprise me that waiting staff demand high pay. Lots of people there have to work more than one job to get by.
I'm sure that was to pay their staff a decent wage