Proposed law would make “tipping out” illegal at restaurants
The gravy train could be coming to an end at Toronto’s restaurants, as well as at city hall. Many restaurant owners are in the habit of pocketing a portion of their servers’ tips—a practice some call “tipping out” and others call “stealing.” A private member’s bill introduced by Toronto NDP MPP Michael Prue (Beaches–East York) might put an end to all of that. The proposed law would ensure that the money clients leave as a gratuity would go entirely to the people who served them. The bill is being greeted with enthusiasm by all parties at Queen’s Park.
The bill wouldn’t affect tip sharing between servers and those who actually help them—bussers or food runners, say—but it’s hard to say how the bill would be enforced if it were passed. Tip sharing is quite arbitrary, and the government doesn’t really monitor gratuities, anyway.
Prue’s proposal comes hot on the heels of another private member’s bill, this one from Liberal David Caplan, that would keep restaurants from automatically adding gratuities to the bills of large parties. The Elimination of Automatic Tips Act has just passed its first reading.
It’s called house tipout and I wonder if they actually consulted any real restaurants to find out why restaurants take house tipout and where the house tips actually go (hint: they’re not pocketed). Also wonder who they consulted in the industry about adding gratuities to large parties. Have any of these people actually worked in a restaurant before?
ARGH. That last mention of the Automatic Tips elimination is a great example of where government should butt out and leave industries to self-regulate. There is a REASON why restaurants do this with large groups. Thats because people always skip out without tipping, or leaving miniscule tips because 15% on a large total looks like a lot of money.
Large groups are usually more work for the servers. They deserve every penny of tip.
So if I’m part of a large party some people feel that I should be made to pay a fixed tip just because of the size of my party, I think NOT. I tip on the quality of the service, if my party had bad service the tip should reflect that. Also, I expect my tip to go to the server/wait staff and NOT the restaurant, they already get the 100%+ markup on the food and drinks. I hope this bill passes and I think most servers and the public will agree with me.
Arby,
I can’t count how many times the tip I was going to leave for a large dinner party was more than the auto-grat that restaurants apply. It might ensure a 15% tip, but it loses anything above that.
Also how many times are you out with a bunch of friends and their individual amounts might be $18/19 or $37/39 and they leave $30 or $50? I see it all the time.
Robert.
so, exactly why do restaurants get away with paying their staff so little that the customer must ‘tip’ to make the wage worthwhile for the servers?…it sounds like the only ones really benefiting are the restaurant owners…the customers pay for food, overtaxed booze (not their fault mind you) AND service…what other industry works like this…makes no sense…
I’m a former server who’s had the opportunity to tip out the house and tip out the support staff.
When the money is going towards support staff – then it goes directly in the hands of the bartenders and bussers who get paid the same wage as a server (currently 8.25), but don’t benefit from tips (something that realistically should be addressed by these bills as well.)
When the money goes to the house – the reasoning is often the money is going towards paying for lost food and broken dishes.
At my last job I was tipping out 5 per cent. Two to the support staff (sometimes that meant splitting 30 dollars four ways depending on how many people were on), and THREE to the manager. I never once broke a plate while I was there and paid for all the food I ended up screwing up.
Let me put this into perspective:
In one shift, say a five hour shift (at $8.25 an hour = $41.25 before taxes), if I sold $1,000 I would expect $150 back in tips (although I did tend to average a bit higher than 15 per cent). That’s $20 for the support staff (so average night was 2 people, so $10 a piece), and $30 for my manager – who already paid me less than the average worker.
If I work 5 days a week, that $150 for him based on tips people think they are leaving me. In a month, that’s $600 (one month’s rent for me).
Granted, this is just averages and some nights were better than others, but if you look at it like this – the manager is recovering an extra 30 dollars on every thousand he sells.
Even if I only sold $750 a night, every night, five nights a week, I’m pretty sure my broken dishes and food screw ups don’t come anywhere close to the $5,400 a year my manager was making (on one server.)
I support this bill because servers work hard and deserve to keep the money. Restaurants can be very profitable if run right, and managers don’t need to be taking more money from their already underpaid staff to line their pockets with.
Yeah that is a weird type of policy? I’ve heard of ‘sharing’ the tips between all the staff, but I don’t think the owners ever take any??
(glad you liked my photo!) That was a recent trip to Vancouver.. :)
Some of these comments are simply incorrect, particularly Megan’s. The minimum wage for alcohol servers is $8.90, not $8.25, Busboys and Barbacks earn more at $10.25, again not $8.25.
Even after tipping out management, Megan would make $28.90 per hour for serving tables. Would that be considered ‘above the average’? And how much income tax would she pay on this hourly wage?
Often house tip goes to kitchen staff, hosts, maintenance, security etc. Surely there are some poor operators who pocket the money, but this is simply not across the board.
Given Megan’s calculations…I am going to tip a lot less now. Because at $28.90 per hour (that is over $50 000 per year before taxes) that is making a heck of a lot more than many people, and now I demand much better service!
Mr. Caplan you sir are an @$$hole. I wish you could work one shift at a restaurant doing a large party. I can guarantee you would end your proposed bill.
For those who are dumping on servers for making too much, I suggest you too give the job a try before you judge. Long and late hours, zero job security, no benefits, poor working conditions, cutthroat competition, no holidays, crooked owners and managment, high stress atmosphere, getting treated like sh*t by jerks etc etc. High risk for alcohol and drug abuse. And if you do make a decent living at it everything can change in an instant. Most restaurants are not successful and those that are usually don’t stay that way more than 5 years. You can see why many people in the biz are desperate to get out. The job eats people alive. On the other hand if you work hard and play your cards right it can be very rewarding. But you have to make sacrifices that most people in most other jobs don’t have to do.
Anyway, if you’re on this website I would expect you to know this.
Graham….quit your crying and get me my dinner. Boo…hoo…
For those thinking that the server above is making over $50 000, I will point out that she talks about 5 hour shifts, not 8 hours. That is typical, there isn’t 8 hours to work often, but, also, I found that I would be at the restaurant 8 hours but only get paid for 5. Your time on the clock doesn’t start until there are guests to serve so you might end up waiting a hour or so and you might be off, unpaid, 2 or 3 hours between meals but not allowed to leave the restaurant in case they need you.
It’s a very tough job, physically and mentally.
Auto gratuties on large tables ensure that someone doesn’t steal money from his/her co-diners by offering to pay on their credit card, pocketing the money and stiffing the waiter. Happens a lot and is especially scuzzy because that person has stolen from friends as well as the waiter.
I apologize – I was mistaken. It’s been a few months since I was on the floor. The min wage for servers HAS gone up to $8.90 – still 1.30 less than the average minimum wage in Ontario for other workers.
And I don’t make any qualms about making $25-$30 an hour – it’s what I make in my current job – but I worked damn hard to get that kind of money! I was on my feet running around for hours on end. It’s hard labourous job.
Other workers – contruction, oil workers, garbage collectors – make just as much, if not more in labour intensive jobs. I find it’s always the upper class lawyer-types who seem to think it’s too much to pay a server their just-wages.
Some jobs – no matter the job type will always be underpaid. Tip your server what they deserve – whether it’s for good service or bad service. They work hard (or at least should,) and you should respect the system currently in place in Canada. And $50,000 is the average wage of Canadians.
However, don’t mistake properly tipping serving staff with managers stealing money from them.
I’ve worked in the industry for years now – and it’s not until I came to Toronto that tipping the house became a problem. I repeat I have NO problem tipping out to bussers, cooks or barkeeps. I was at one point a hostess who got tipped out – I appreciate that the money goes to the right people.
But that doesn’t take away from my earlier point that the managers shouldn’t be taking that sort of money from the pockets of their hard working servers. They already charge a ridiculous overhead on meals and drinks (on average 20 bucks a bottle at lower end restaurants upwards of 50 bucks a bottle at higher end places.)
They make their profit. If they do it right and are good there is no reason they should be taking the money out of the servers hands.
This is not always the case. I worked for an excellent manager who made sure the money we paid for tip-outs went into the right hands. But I’ve worked for others who were not so trustworthy. And I’ve yet to work somewhere that pays the bussers/cooks/hostess proper wages. Because of “Tip out” these folks are paid $8.90 an hour like the rest of the staff. It’s legal – it’s in the Ontario Employment Standards Act. In their cases, however tip out often only results to $40 a night.
The problem with the current serving/restaurant industry is that there is no proper regulations in place to make sure staff are treated properly or even that food/drink laws are properly adhered too. There are so many restaurants out there that skimp on booze in drinks (If you order a rum and coke – good tip is to ask for the shot of rum on the side of your coke glass – it insures you get your full ounce you pay for.) This means people (read: restaurant owners) take advantage of the system.
And for the record, I paid $9,500 in taxes last year – on top of what was deducted from my pay check each week.
To the a-hole who posted “quit crying and get me my dinner” – Screw you. You dont even have the balls to attach your name to your comment, coward! I know you’re an insecure coward because you’re probably the type of person who treats servers as servants to make yourself feel better than others, exemplified by your degrading comment. Thank you for making yourself look like the ignorant jerk you are.
Owners- don’t steal from your staff. You would
have NOTHING without them.
Managers get paid a very pathetic salary vs all
the bullshit they put up with on a day to day basis.
Customers (I prefer to use the term “guests”), deserve
are the reason why we have our jobs in the first place.
There will always be a rude, ignorant, whiny twit or two
but most of the time, guests are just fine.
In my many years of working at all levels in the
industry, the biggest whiners are the Servers themselves.
Don’t whine, it makes you look like a spoiled ass.
Auto grats are a necessary evil. Tipping out your
support staff is beyond important. Often it is the
support staff that saves the day, we have all seen
it time and time again.
Customers, praise your servers/bussers/ food runners/ Managers/Bartenders by tipping out well when you
receive good service. Your $20 tip gets divided at least
4-6 ways….
Owners, don’t steal from you staff. It’s a dochebag move
and guess what? I know of one HUGE Chef/Owner
in Toronto who is soon to be pillaged with a fine
tooth comb by Revenue Canada…(can anyone say Forensic Accounting?)
for being a lying douchebag for many years.
You’re welcome Marilyn. No tip for you.
Wow, I could write an entire article on this subject, but let’s just get down to brass tacks, shall we?
Most restos…
Bar – 1-2%
Bussers/Hosts – .5-1%
Kitchen – 1%
Managers/House (in my 20 years in the industry most places don’t do this) – 1%.
Of course there is minor fluctuations depending on the establishment/corporation, but that’s the ballpark.
I categorically refuse to work anywhere where the house is tipped out. They generally put it down to covering breakage, dine and dash, staff parties, etc. Sorry, but that’s just part of the cost of doing business so swallow it or get your insurance to cover it. If I have to pay for it that should make me a part owner in my opinion. I don’t mind tipping out managers who help out expediting, running food, bussing, hosting, et al. Those who don’t don’t deserver anything. Managers – at good establishments at any rate – are paid decently and make bonuses if they can keep their costs down and profits up. People go into management knowing they won’t make as much as they would on the floor or behind the bar because they believe this will lead somewhere – acquiring the skills required for their own resto at some point.
As for no auto-grats on parties? Are you insane? It’s an immense amount of work with no guarentee you’re going to make decent sales – and thus a decent grat. I can’t cound the times when a party of 20+ people turned out to be a bunch of cheapos spending virtually nothing – so even with the auto-grat you’ve still made bupkiss and lost out on your sales for the evening. So for a server/bartender to work their asses off for several hours entertaining a group of people with no guarentee they’re going to be tipped accordingly is too big a risk to take. No one will ever want to work a party if that’s the case. So, good luck with that. You’ll either see restos not hosting parties or turning over staff like you wouldn’t believe because people just won’t work them anymore.
And make no mistake, this is a sales job. Any monkey can take an order, but it takes a professional to really know product for food and drink and offer them in a manner which enhances the overall dining experience. It also takes considerable skill and patience to deal with a great many people over the course of a busy evening – most nice, but some just plain rude if not outright hostile – and make it all appear seemless and done to ensure that you, the customer and your friends/family – have a terrific evening.
The only people that don’t get the “tip” thing are people who have never worked in this industry. If everyone had to work at a restaurant once in their lifetime, for a few months to a year, I can damn well guarentee you that’d you get it, and be a hell of a lot nicer to restaurant staff to boot.
I’ve had the good fortune to work some rather long stints at good places over the years (5+ years), and these are the places that stick around because they know a happy staff is the difference between everyone making money and having a good time and closing the doors, which is a huge part of why so many restos fail overall.
Like everything else in this world, you get what you pay for.
I haven’t read the bill, just the post here and on thestar.com, but it sounds like it would not affect tipping out to other service staff, like bartenders and busboys, just owners and managers.
Interesting and thoughtful comments, Megan. To anyone (like me) who has never worked in a service industry, it’s hard to tell what’s going on behind the scenes at an apparently well-run establishment. Waiting tables is obviously a job that can take its toll physically and emotionally, and managers/owners wedging themselves between appreciative customers and service staff — clearly the intended recipients of tips — just seems gross, subversive and desperate.
Since gratuities aren’t regulated anyway, I’m thinking the practice actually amounts to theft. I’m hoping it isn’t the norm.
I was once a server and it was a difficult and demeaning job. You are like a begging dog hoping to receive a few scraps from the customer. I decided that I didn’t want to do that, returned to school and learned a trade where I make good money and I don’t have to depend on the whims of the customer. Perhaps the solution is that the restaurant staff is well paid as in Australia and eliminate tipping. Another solution is to try unionizing the hospitality industry, then you’ll even get health benefits and some power hungry manager won’t be able to berate or threaten you. I realize that the great thing about receiving tips is that you don’t have to declare them on your income tax and that’s where servers have an advantage on the rest of the population who receive a pay cheque. I realize that the owners want to steal some of the tips and to me that is a lowlife move but most of the owners are lowlifes who consider their serving staff as expendable.
I work in a very well known and popular steak house. We tip 3% of our total sales. So if we sell $1000 then we ‘tip out’ $30. It is supposed to go to the support staff but when we have inquired about how much they really get, we have been told ‘a couple dollars every 2 weeks.’ On a saturday night we generally have 25 servers, so on average they would sell about $1500. That means that on a saturday night, the ‘house’ is getting about $1125. This is just for one night a week, the busiest in most restaurants. The very large majority of our tips does go to management. The owners then don’t have to pay them as much in wages because the servers pay them!!! We have brought this up countless times at staff meetings but we are told nothing will ever change.
So, if we serve a table and their bill is $500. Just say they don’t tip us at all..we still have to pay the house $15. We just paid to serve that table!
This whole ‘tip out’ has been so infuriating but we all have been at their mercy for so long.
I for one would really love for this law to be passed. It would mean about $6500 more for me and my family each year!!
I don’t think there is a “good” server who doesn’t appreciate how important their support staff (bussers, hostesses, bartenders) are and will gladly tip them out for their hard work.
I have also been in the industry for many years. I have to agree that the whole idea of the “house” taking tips for breakage and food mistakes is absurd.
My observations and experiences:
Experienced servers rarely break dishes.
In most establishments, servers pay for any mistakes they have made, and sometimes are told to pay for food returned by customers.
I have been told to pay for a bill that a customer refused to pay because the price was not listed and she considered it to be too much.
Servers often work during the hours when alcohol is not served yet still get paid the alcohol server wage.
Servers in most cases, are instructed to wash floors, vacuum and clean beyond the “normal cleaning duties” while being paid the alcohol server wage. This can add up to hours a day.
“House” tips are actually quite common, not “unusual” as some would lead you to believe. I have come across few restaurants that don’t demand a house tip out.
Depending on the management/ownership, servers are often treated with disrespect. (dishwashers too)
You can provide excellent service, but if the customer is unhappy with the food preparation and you do everything you can to fix it, they will still show their dissatisfaction by not leaving a tip.
Servers will have hours cut back during off peak seasons, and slow periods. There is no guarantee of a regular work week.
Some restaurants do not pay 1 1/2 times for working a holiday nor do they pay statutory holiday pay (as required by law)
And yes… no matter what tip the customer leaves, a server is required to tip out based on sales.
All of these factors, can cause a server’s tips to be lower than what people think they are. I have yet to meet a server who makes $50,000 per year. That is almost $1000 per week.
Why then do we do it? It can be a rewarding lifestyle. Customers in general are pleasant and you get to meet new people every day. It can be very interesting. Some have returned to serving after losing their jobs (often due to a recession). There are many reasons for choosing this lifestyle and it is a lifestyle. Not everyone can do it and I have certainly come across enough “bad” servers.
What many restaurant owners haven’t figured out, is that good servers are extremely important to the business. It is their lack of respect towards the servers and the attitude “I can always get another server” that is their downfall. Servers are not willing to complain about “house tips” because there is no job security and there will always “be another server” to take their place. It has been suggested that if a restaurant is gouging you for tips, you should leave. That is good advice though in recessions, it is not always easy to find another job. High turnover of staff should be a good indication of how the management and/or owners treat their staff. And you can be very sure that if the owners have little respect for their staff, they see the customers only as dollar signs.
Be nice to your server. He/she works very hard often under less than ideal conditions. A smile from you, just might make his/her day a little better and you can always ask if he or she gets to keep the tip you are leaving. And if you don’t agree with tipping your server, stick to drive through fast food joints.
hi there..i really enjoyed reading about this..my girlfriend works in a place in Oshawa and they take 30% of her tips..i hate it as she works to hard for this..i mean 30$..is this legal even i wonder..please emailme back..let me know our rights
Chad you appear to be very controlling. You seem to be inquiring about “your girlfriends rights” but you call them “our rights” I suspect your girlfriend is supporting you /you are taking her money so she is lying to you about them taking her tips. If not she should find a better job and quit.
..actually, every bar, restaurant and club club I’ve ever worked AT LEAST SOME of the sales % charge……a few did not release ANY to any other works and pocketed it themselves!! …DOn’t forget, this is NOT regulated by the government in any way…therefore restaurants and bars are doing whatever they want and calling the shots based on what they like…there is presently nothing prohibiting any of their allocations of OUR tips!
Hi. I work in a buffet rest in london and we tip out 2%. This place is good, but it could be better, if we only have a tougher manager! Servers here who work 25-28 hrs/week ( but have 1-2 hrs break without pay), makes an average $2000/month “NET” including wages. I think it’s a good money, but when it comes to wages, we shouldn’t blame the owner/manager, because this pay comes from the government, it’s the law. So for me it would be good if servers get paid the minimum wage “or” take out the tipping out policy.
I think that tipping out should not be banned. Support staff and kitchen staff work hard and are the ones behind the scenes helping to ensure that you are given good service. However, given the vast range of tipping out policies (and the great difference betwee tip-out amounts), there do need to be some regulations. I think it would be fair to impose a maximum percentage for tip-out (such as 3.5%) based on total sales (before tax) and allow restaurants to decide how that tip-out is split up among support staff (NOT managers or owners) based on how the restaurant operates.
Auto-gratuities are helpful to both staff and customers as it helps the former in not getting f****ed on a tip from large parties where not everyone intends to tip fairly, and helps the latter in calculating how much is due without busting out a calculater. I don’t find that I miss out on potentially larger tips either. If someone chooses to, they tip over the required amount (much appreciated). Tipping out to the house is standard everywhere I’ve worked. I have no problem giving cash to support staff but it is impossible to know exactly how the money is distributed. However, banning it is also impossible to enforce. Also, considering how prevalent house stealing from servers is, I doubt servers would benefit from banning tipout. Owners/managers would just find other creative ways of doing it.
Also, anyone who feels that dinning out is too expensive and that that is reason enough not to tip according to standard, I would urge them to stay home. Honestly. You are just going to make the staff as miserable and outraged as you are. Restaurant staff are providing a service and it is not an essential one. You don’t have to eat out. At all. For those who enjoy eating out, service staff enjoy having you. And thank you for helping us students/artists/musicians/actors/parents/husbands/wives ect ect ect make a living.
This is theft, but right now it is legal theft. It has become the norm and now restaurants feel totally justified taking money from the low wage earners to pay their business expenses.
Bill 114. “14.1 An employer shall not take any portion of an employee’s tip or other gratuities.” Michael Prue has put into motion a private members bill. It will only pass if we all call the premier’s office and tell them we support this bill.
PREMIER’S OFFICE- 416- 325-1941.
PLEASE CALL AND STOP THIS FROM CONTINUING ALL OVER THE CITY OF TORONTO. BRITISH COLUMBIA HAS MADE IT ILLEGAL AND THERE IS NO REASON WHY WE CAN’T DO THE SAME IN ONTARIO.
Well all of this demanding that laws be in place for the banning fo tipping out! I would like to know what servers are obeying the law of Canada Revenue and claiming their tips….hmmmm…the silence is deafening…..shall we obey those laws first???? You can’t have your cake and eat it too. The underpaid cooks have to do their taxes according to their paycheque and they aren’t in cash..blood,sweat and tears more likely. The minute that it becomes a law I’m becoming a whistle blower and calling Revenue Canada and have them do forensic accounting on all the servers! Whiners.
Personally call Revenue Canada and have them do forensic accounting on an entire profession, because R.C. employees will a) thank you for your input while b) rolling their eyes and c) not giving a s***. Definitely call because… You have nothing better to do? Way to fight the good fight! Worthy cause! Good on you!
I currently work as a server for a restaurant owner who has questionable morals. I have been working for him for some time and recently realized he pays me the wrong minimum wage. He pays me 1.25 an hour less than he is legally obligated to pay. When I confronted him, he told me that he doesnt under pay me because he wants to live a grand life style, he does it because he could not keep the restaurant operational paying the right wage.
I wish there were more laws to protect servers. When I explained to him that I might involve the labour board he said he would just pay me severance and “see me on my way”. One server did go to the labour board and I was hoping they would then investigate all the servers pay but they stopped with her. There is no real way that servers pay is regulated.
Again my boss pays me 1.25 an hour less than he should, I do not get vacation pay, no stat holiday pay, plus I tip out 5.5% per shift. 1.5% goes to him alone. I would love to quit but I need the job and servers are a dime a dozen.
I hope this new law is passed. You are right that servers make good money “usually”. But we run for hours, work terrible hours, sometimes deal horrible people and it’s not fair. The job is not rediculously hard but its not that easy. Plus then I get to tip out $5.50 on every $15 I make.
Is that fair?
Joan,
The point is that restaurant owners are charging their staff to work. Servers have to claim tips on their income tax and I do know people that have been audited. I don’t see how you can’t find this outrageous? Cooks deserve the money they are paid and in the restaurant I work at they get tipped out- we are not against tipping other staff that work hard and aren’t paid a great amount. We are against paying tip money to cover business expenses. If you went to work tomorrow and your boss said at the end of the day o.k. that will be $12 wouldn’t you find that crazy? Tips are for the low wage earners not owners and management. There is nothing wrong with demanding fairness in the workplace. PLEASE SUPPORT THIS BILL>
I work in a busy upscale restaurant downtown in the kitchen where I make $90/day working on average 11-12 hours five days a week which i $450 for an average of 55-60 hour week so I average $7.50 – $8.18 an hour. Now servers do tip-out the house at my restaurant but most of the servers assumed to was split between the kitchen staff/bussers etc. Only recently one server asked if we saw any of the money and was shocked when I informed her we saw none of it. So owners/managers are pocketing the money so it is probably happening in many places where servers don’t know because they assume their tip-out is shared properly and not going to managers/owners. So either this bill needs to be passed or minimum wage/salary for restuarant staff needs to be raised. Kitchen employees are not paid nearly enough considering how mentally and physically demanding this typr of job is we depend on the fact we will be tipped out and when we are not it is a financial hardship.
i waitress at a very busy place in richmondhill. i tip out four percent each night, there is no cap on my tipout and sometimes it can reach $90.00. this should go to a hostess, foodrunner, bartender and one percent to kitchen. These people all work just as hard as i and i have no problem tipping them out, but they dont see all the money i give them because the owner decides what they are worth and keeps what he thinks they don’t deserve. Management is stealing from all areas of our restaurant and i don’t know how to prove it, and if i question it i have been told i will be fired. Does anyone have any idea what i can do?
I have worked in the restaurant industry for many years. I have worked as managment and non management postions. I know that me as a manager I work very hard for my servers. I am seating, clearing, running food, checking on tables, and sometimes even serveing and doing the whole order. So in fareness I feel I deserve to be tiped out. BUT I have a GM above me that does ntohing but sit in the office and never helps out the serving staff. He also takes a bit of the tip out and I disagree with that.
I worked at a place with a 7.5% tipout!!! For anyone saying they were going to tip less, please realize if you tip 10% of your bill, only 2.5% is actually getting to the server!!! Like many have said before, as a server, you can’t even complain about it, you’re a dime a dozen after all…. I would literally be in tears sometimes, if I had a guest who “didn’t believe in tipping” or left me a religious playing card or something (seriously it happens), and I ended up having to tip out anyways based on my sales.. Paying out of pocket, to do your job!!!!??? Imagine working a sales job at a call center. At the end of the day, would they say, “So you sold $1000 worth of magazine subscriptions, and now you have to give us $7.50 to cover the cost of the telephone line”?
Tipping out the house!! My boss just started this idea and I Refuse!!! do I have the right as a bartender to tell him he’s not getting my money, that people gave to me… He has the worst stoked bar I have ever seen, somedays it’s more embarassing then anything to tell someone a ran out of Vodka…. They do nothing for the staff.. now if he buses tables for me or cleaned up, but I’m not paying him money to employee me that just seems ridiculous. If the till was under I would have to pay that as well, any loss they still pin on the employees, this being said I think most tip outs are good to other poorly paid staff not the owner though…
As for the tipping out done by restaurant owners – some are legit and others pocket it. Gonna be a pretty hard bill to monitor. Usually when the server is making money they don’t care how the tips are split as long as they make good money.
Large groups should be charged gratuity – they require more work, generally run up larger bills where ‘service’ can seem to be lacklsuter when the tip on their $1000 bill comes to $150. That same service on a bill of $40 with a $6 tip won’t seem so bad. Also, people in large groups tend to leave at different times and leave the last man standing with the gratuity to be covered – which on a large bill can be a large sum. I think restaurants should choose whether they want to implement the auto-gratuity or not and then large groups can decide whether they want to go there. As a restaurant owner I can say that restaurants which choose to not implement it will have servers running when a large group shows up because more often than not, large groups tip poorly.
Crabby Joes…alot of corporate corruption…servers signing waivers agreeing to show up for work and not neccessarily be allowed to even start their shifts…to agree to leave in such case without pay….and agree to pay 2% of their gross sales for each day, before they are allowed to leave. One more example of one corrupt franchise.
I have 6 years experience as a server and bartender, and have just started back in the restaurant business after a 4 year break. I am pissed off after my 1st few shifts about the amount I have to tip out! In my prior experience, I’ve only had to tip out 1% of my net sales to the kitchen. Now, I have to tip out 1.5% to kitchen (well deserved for them), and 1% of net sales to the expo line (well deserved again), but what I don’t get is why I have to give bartender 1% of my net sales, and not my alcohal sales! This enrages me, because I’m tipping them sometimes 13% of my total tips when they only make me 1-5 drinks! I want to know if they can fire me with “just cause” if I refuse to tip on net sales and only tip on booze sales?
I’m a restaurant owner in America and I have to say, I’m not sure everyone knows the profit margin of a restaurant? It’s 10-12%. I thought we could make 25% but I picked up a book “An Idiots Guide to Running a Restaurant” and it’s best number was 12%. Our gross sales are half million dollars (Wow! SO MUCH MONEY), our profit is $50,000 for a family of four AND my husband works at the restaurant every day. It works ok because we can pay the servers less and they still make $16-$18 an hour without the $2.15. So they make $20/hour. To work at our restaurant you probably should have one year’s experience. Do you know of any job that you can get where you can work for one year, have no college education, and make that kind of money????? We’re not even fine dining.
And this is exactly why bartenders and servers SKIM and find rationalization for it… It’s a self perpetuating cycle.
I am a server and worked in many restaurants in NYC and Toronto. yes you will see some dougebags owners more so in Toronto i noticed they take your tipout for broken cutlery and all. I experienced that first time in toronto. Hospitality law states that employee is not responsible for risk of doing business so we shouldn’t be paying for it at all. when it happened with me you know what i used to do everyday while dumping dirty dishes in dishwasher i throw one knife or fork or something in garbage so this way my money is going at right place. You take my money i break your stuff. Imagine how much he loses in a month if i work 5 nights a week. that’s 20 knifes or whatever.best way to deal with dougebags
I am a cook, and i do not make much over the $10.50 (i think min wage is could be wrong). When a server kicks out at the end of a shift it gets split amoungst all of the people behind the scenes not just managers and owners. The chef, cooks dishwashers and hostesses also see a portion of the kick back so please don’t forget. We work very hard behind the scenes to make sure every dish comes out looking and tasting of passion. At least i do. That small $80 biweekly incentive is what keeps me working harder pushing to make it $90 the next time. So when you see a bad server that reflects on the entire house and we as cooks frown upon this behaviour. I would never work at a place that didnt care about every employee fairly. But making tipout illegal is unfair to the people who do the real work, not just walk it to the table! Mind you we are a team and one without the other … Well you get my point. This is focused too much on where you think the tips are going and not where they actually are. It would be nice if we saw more as opposed to the 2-5% but thats like finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, its just never going to happen.
People have to realize that servers and cooks have other peoples lives in there hands when it comes to food. So we pay them crap money… that doesnt make sense.
I have been a very lucky person to have done so well in this industry. I have been a chef for 17 years. I have to say that owners do take large part of tip out and I agree that’s not right. I also feel that servers are over paid by a huge amount. Most of mine make about 50 000 a year working what anyone in a kitchen would consider part time. If the goal of these laws are to even out the pay scale in a bar or restarunt then I’m all for it but I hope that the people making these bills understand that it will change nothing. This industry is completely unregulated..is no breaks , no sick days andyou can be fired for anything. I hope they understand bills like this will anger owners and managers and will cause dip theft to increase in my eyes.