[fdpaq0580]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

If all the Servers in Central Florida who are making $72,000 a year decided to go on a road trip together, during their 4 weeks vacation, they could all fit in a golf cart.

You might be very surprised at how really good tips can be.

[Velvet]

Originally Posted by VApeople

Because they work hard and they treat all of the customers very well.

Excuse me but doesn’t one need to do that to get a job in the first place? Or perhaps I’m just old fashioned.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580

You might be very surprised at how really good tips can be.

Fun with mathematics:
The shift has 4 waitresses, 1 bartender.
Also 1 grill cook, 1 "other" kitchen worker who puts together salads and such, 1 hostess, 1 busboy.

Only the waitresses and bartender get tips, but the tips are pooled and divided among all non-management employees.

One waitress hustles like crazy and serves 20 parties during her shift, 10 of which are parties of 4, 6 are parties of 2, and 4 parties of 6. Her total tips for the night is $500.

Two waitresses do a pretty good job, not as good as the one above, and they earn $300 each that night, for a total of $600 between the two.

The fourth one is having a bad night, dropped someone's water glass, and had one party of 2 stiff her for a tip completely. She only took in $100 that night.

The bartender took in $1000 in tips, because bartenders can actually do that sometimes.

Total tips that night are $2200. Now divide that by the 9 employees who each get a cut of the tips. That rounds up to $244 per person in tips. Even though only 3 employees actually EARNED more than $100 in tips. Why should the bartender only get $244 when she busted her butt to earn $1000? Why should the chick who had a lousy night and broke a water glass get more than the $100 she earned? Why should the guy who makes salads get the same amount as the waitress who earned $300, and why should she get less than the $300 she earned? Why should the hostess, whose only job is to grab menus and bring customers to tables, get any tip at all?

Answer: they shouldn't be getting these amounts. They absolutely should not. You earn it, you can keep it or pool it. The only people who MIGHT be earning less than minimum wage are the waitresses and the bartender. They are the only people who are entitled to any tips at all. But when you pool tips, the one who does a lousy job gets the same amount as the person who busted their butt.

That is unfair, and wrong, and doesn't give anyone an incentive to do a good job. Why should I do a good job, if I can do a lousy job and get the same tip money that the chick who does a good job gets? Why should I do a good job, if the best I can hope for is whatever the lousy chick gets?

[VApeople]

Originally Posted by Velvet

Excuse me but doesn’t one need to do that to get a job in the first place? Or perhaps I’m just old fashioned.

When I meet any service worker who is pleasant and trying to do a good job, it makes me happy, and I want to show my appreciation.

[Eg_cruz]

Originally Posted by Gpsma

Good question. But this is the Villages…many cheap tippers here. My guess..75% tip almost nothing or substandard tips. 20% tip the recommended amount. 5% tip too much and love to brag on totv that they are as generous as Frank Sinatra in his heyday.

Personally…i tip no more than 5%. Why tip to just bring a plate over.

Time to stop this tipping nonsence. Wait…next year it will be suggested u tip 25%.

Because most restaurants have to pay taxes on sales. Back in my days 35 years ago, we had to pay taxes on 10% of our sales. So if you tip 5% you are hurting the server.
If you or a regular anywhere I sure the servers know you and give you what you pay for.
Here’s what tipping right gets you. I walk in to my favorite place before I even sit the servers have my club soda in hand, they care how am doing, and the smiles never stop. They are very kind to me and my family because they know I appreciate that they are taking care of us. Tipping right is a big win win for everyone.

[Eg_cruz]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

Fun with mathematics:
The shift has 4 waitresses, 1 bartender.
Also 1 grill cook, 1 "other" kitchen worker who puts together salads and such, 1 hostess, 1 busboy.

Only the waitresses and bartender get tips, but the tips are pooled and divided among all non-management employees.

One waitress hustles like crazy and serves 20 parties during her shift, 10 of which are parties of 4, 6 are parties of 2, and 4 parties of 6. Her total tips for the night is $500.

Two waitresses do a pretty good job, not as good as the one above, and they earn $300 each that night, for a total of $600 between the two.

The fourth one is having a bad night, dropped someone's water glass, and had one party of 2 stiff her for a tip completely. She only took in $100 that night.

The bartender took in $1000 in tips, because bartenders can actually do that sometimes.

Total tips that night are $2200. Now divide that by the 9 employees who each get a cut of the tips. That rounds up to $244 per person in tips. Even though only 3 employees actually EARNED more than $100 in tips. Why should the bartender only get $244 when she busted her butt to earn $1000? Why should the chick who had a lousy night and broke a water glass get more than the $100 she earned? Why should the guy who makes salads get the same amount as the waitress who earned $300, and why should she get less than the $300 she earned? Why should the hostess, whose only job is to grab menus and bring customers to tables, get any tip at all?

Answer: they shouldn't be getting these amounts. They absolutely should not. You earn it, you can keep it or pool it. The only people who MIGHT be earning less than minimum wage are the waitresses and the bartender. They are the only people who are entitled to any tips at all. But when you pool tips, the one who does a lousy job gets the same amount as the person who busted their butt.

That is unfair, and wrong, and doesn't give anyone an incentive to do a good job. Why should I do a good job, if I can do a lousy job and get the same tip money that the chick who does a good job gets? Why should I do a good job, if the best I can hope for is whatever the lousy chick gets?

Wow in my day, we didn’t pool but we had to tip out to the bartender, bus boy and host and then we kept the rest.
I would not work in a place if I had to share my tips with other servers……period

[Eg_cruz]

Originally Posted by Gpsma

25%…that is ridiculous. For what? Just because they smiled at you?

Do you tip when you carry out?

Yes I tip when I order curbside 5-10%.

[Rainger99]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

Fun with mathematics:
The shift has 4 waitresses, 1 bartender.
Also 1 grill cook, 1 "other" kitchen worker who puts together salads and such, 1 hostess, 1 busboy.

Only the waitresses and bartender get tips, but the tips are pooled and divided among all non-management employees.

One waitress hustles like crazy and serves 20 parties during her shift, 10 of which are parties of 4, 6 are parties of 2, and 4 parties of 6. Her total tips for the night is $500.

Two waitresses do a pretty good job, not as good as the one above, and they earn $300 each that night, for a total of $600 between the two.

The fourth one is having a bad night, dropped someone's water glass, and had one party of 2 stiff her for a tip completely. She only took in $100 that night.

The bartender took in $1000 in tips, because bartenders can actually do that sometimes.

Total tips that night are $2200. Now divide that by the 9 employees who each get a cut of the tips. That rounds up to $244 per person in tips. Even though only 3 employees actually EARNED more than $100 in tips. Why should the bartender only get $244 when she busted her butt to earn $1000? Why should the chick who had a lousy night and broke a water glass get more than the $100 she earned? Why should the guy who makes salads get the same amount as the waitress who earned $300, and why should she get less than the $300 she earned? Why should the hostess, whose only job is to grab menus and bring customers to tables, get any tip at all?

Answer: they shouldn't be getting these amounts. They absolutely should not. You earn it, you can keep it or pool it. The only people who MIGHT be earning less than minimum wage are the waitresses and the bartender. They are the only people who are entitled to any tips at all. But when you pool tips, the one who does a lousy job gets the same amount as the person who busted their butt.

That is unfair, and wrong, and doesn't give anyone an incentive to do a good job. Why should I do a good job, if I can do a lousy job and get the same tip money that the chick who does a good job gets? Why should I do a good job, if the best I can hope for is whatever the lousy chick gets?

You can do whatever you want with mathematics. Is this what happens in real life? How many places pool tips? 10%, 50%, 100%? I am sure that if this actually happens, the bartender and good waitress would be gone after two weeks.

Even under this example, even the lousy waitress working 5 nights a week for 48 weeks, would make over $58,000. And I have heard some people don’t report all of their income on their taxes.

Looks like you are going to need a bigger golf cart.

If anyone has worked as a waitress or bartender, please provide your input.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Eg_cruz

Wow in my day, we didn’t pool but we had to tip out to the bartender, bus boy and host and then we kept the rest.
I would not work in a place if I had to share my tips with other servers……period

When I worked for a resort one summer, our tips were pooled. It was horrible. I did a pretty good job most of the time - had a bad day here, a bad shift there, but mostly positive. We weren't even allowed to see how much tips we were getting, the meals were billed to the customer's room and they paid tips when it was time to settle at the end of their stay.

The first week, I got less than $20 in tips. That was for two tables of 12 people, mixed guests from different rooms, for breakfast and dinner, for 7 days. No explanation of why it was so low but I didn't care, I left that job.

I've worked in small restaurants as well, where I might get $50 in tips for a shift. I bartended in a place where I got around $80 in tips for early afternoon/suppertime on a Friday, and maybe $10 on a Monday lunch (never bartend on mondays - it's the worst tipping day ever). This was when the normal minimum wage was $6-something, and tipped servers got $4-something. So $80 was definitely a good day, then.

We weren't required to tip out the busboy but everyone did. Usually 10% of whatever our tips were. The busboy got normal minimum wage, but he worked almost as hard as the waitstaff did. He'd usually end up between $30-50 in his pocket on a good night on top of his wages.

Because the bartender had his own customers, and was the only waitstaff that got normal minimum wage, we didn't kick in anything to him. He took in more than we did.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Rainger99

You can do whatever you want with mathematics. Is this what happens in real life? How many places pool tips? 10%, 50%, 100%? I am sure that if this actually happens, the bartender and good waitress would be gone after two weeks.

Even under this example, even the lousy waitress working 5 nights a week for 48 weeks, would make over $58,000. And I have heard some people don’t report all of their income on their taxes.

Looks like you are going to need a bigger golf cart.

If anyone has worked as a waitress or bartender, please provide your input.

Most waitresses don't get 5-night shifts. Any waitress who works on a monday afternoon can tell you - you won't be making bubkes that day. If the managers doesn't like them, OR if they're a new employee, they will generally not be scheduled for Thursday-Sunday dinner shifts, because those are for more seasoned (or more liked) employees. Those are the money-making shifts.

Happy hour shifts are the worst. People are looking for a bargain. You tip 25% of the bill - but it was a BOGO happy hour and you actually received 4 drinks and only tipped for two of them because the other two were free and 25% of 0 is 0.

If you had tipped 15% of the total before discounts, they'd be ahead of the game. But that'd mess up your "get stuff cheap" strategy for happy hour.

But yes tips can be pooled 100% - unless they're cash tips. And then, that's only because smart, but disobedient wait staff pocket that cash tip and don't report it to the manager. The only tips that are guaranteed to be spread among the staff are credit card tips, because the manager sees those automatically.

The tipping pools differ from one place to the next. In some, bartenders get to keep 100% of their own tips, and only the waiter tips are spread. In some, the kitchen staff doesn't get any tipped funds, only the busboy gets a piece of that. In some, the hostess gets something, others, they don't. But whenever there is pooling, you know for absolute sure, that the person who EARNED the most of the money that gets pooled, will not get that much. And the person who EARNED the least, will get more than they earned.

Also yes, turnover is horrendous in many restaurants because the servers learn after they're hired that their earned money doesn't necessarily all go to them. That's one of the reasons some restaurants are so short-handed, why customer service in them is so horrible, why it looks like some of the servers are always annoyed, or make so many mistakes. Managers will hire almost anyone, just to fill the position. And then they either quit or get fired within a few weeks and they have to start over again.

[fdpaq0580]

That is unfair, and wrong, and doesn't give anyone an incentive to do a good job. Why should I do a good job, if I can do a lousy job and get the same tip money that the chick who does a good job gets? Why should I do a good job, if the best I can hope for is whatever the lousy chick gets?[/QUOTE]

I agree! Tip pooling needs to be done away with. A gift to one person becomes the property of that one person, imHo, and what they agree to do or chose to do with their gift is up to them. Forcing the "gifted" to share their gift is robbery. Forcing them to share their gift under threat of losing their job is extortion But, that is not my responsibility. I walked in for a hamburger and a Coke.
This whole issue wouldn't exist if wait staff were paid a
full wage and tipping didn't exist.

[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580

That is unfair, and wrong, and doesn't give anyone an incentive to do a good job. Why should I do a good job, if I can do a lousy job and get the same tip money that the chick who does a good job gets? Why should I do a good job, if the best I can hope for is whatever the lousy chick gets?

A gift to one person becomes the property of that one person, imHo, and what they agree to do or chose to do with their gift is up to them. Forcing the "gifted" to share their gift is robbery. Forcing them to share their gift under threat of losing their job is extortion
[/QUOTE]

A "Tip" is not a "gift", it is a voluntary payment for services and it is NOT rendered to a "person", but to a company that person works for. If a server in a "shared tip" environment chooses to keep a cash tip to herself/himself, they are thieves.

Simply to prove the lack of logic to your position: If you pay in cash for an item with a $50 bill and when you get home, you found you were only given change for a $20 bill ... who do you call and who do you hold responsible? If you hand cash to a person who is working at a business, that cash is the property of the business.

[retiredguy123]

///

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

A gift to one person becomes the property of that one person, imHo, and what they agree to do or chose to do with their gift is up to them. Forcing the "gifted" to share their gift is robbery. Forcing them to share their gift under threat of losing their job is extortion

A "Tip" is not a "gift", it is a voluntary payment for services and it is NOT rendered to a "person", but to a company that person works for. If a server in a "shared tip" environment chooses to keep a cash tip to herself/himself, they are thieves.

Simply to prove the lack of logic to your position: If you pay in cash for an item with a $50 bill and when you get home, you found you were only given change for a $20 bill ... who do you call and who do you hold responsible? If you hand cash to a person who is working at a business, that cash is the property of the business.[/QUOTE]


I would point out that both Federal law and the courts have determined that, when a customer gives a tip to a restaurant server, the tip is the property of the server, not the restaurant. There are a few exceptions where tip pooling is allowed, but they would be exceptions to the general rule.

[Velvet]

In the past before I knew about pooling I strictly tipped the server. If I knew that “the company” was taking it, there would have been no tip at all.They can raise the prices if they need it so much and pay proper wages. The servers are not working on commissions.