[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

Some restaurant owners will stiff their wait staff horribly. There's one in particular near me. Wait staff and bartenders are paid the "tipped" minimum wage of $6.98/hour.

The credit card tips are all pooled, and /most/ customers pay by credit card and include their tip with their card payment.

The pool is then distributed evenly to all employees, including kitchen staff and the hostess who all get paid $10 minimum wage (since they are not considered tipped employees and therefore their minimum wage must be the standard minimum in the state).

Most waiters in this restaurant will end up earning LESS than the $10 standard state minimum wage after the pool has been evenly distributed. The restaurant has to make up the difference between the average hourly pay and the minimum hourly wage of each employee, which means that no matter how amazing your waiter is, he's only going to earn $10/hour if you and everyone else pays by credit card and includes the tips in the card payment.

Most customers don't know this, and don't think about it, don't wonder about it, and don't think to bring the "right amount" of cash to top their waiter if they're planning on paying by credit card.

And then - they don't see any of that tip money til it shows up in their paycheck, with 25% taxes taken out.

This particular restaurant has an insanely high turnover and can't ever get enough people to work for them during any shift, on any day.

They need a different structure, in my opinion. They should pay ALL employees $10/hour, before tips. And then ask the wait staff and bartenders to kick in 10% of their nightly tips to the kitchen staff. Tips should be paid out either the same day, or the next day if it's for a closing shift employee.

If you're getting paid "$10"/hr", there is no way you're paying 25% in taxes...