I work at a restaurant and have to tip out 7.5%(2% for the bar, 3.5% to the bussers, 1.75% to the food runners and .25% to the hostess) on my sales whether i make tips or not, which is a lot. And now the owner is making us tip another 15 to the maitre de who is actually a manager, by the way he does not do anything what can i do
Find another restaurant to work in. It's a private establishment. The owner calls the shots, and there are no "laws" about tipping that I know of, so you don't have any legal recourse. Jim
Nothing you can really do about it, if this is a privately owned restaurant the owner makes the rules. Although he may have problems keeping servers if he keeps that up.
In California, and other states as well, there are laws against tip pooling with managers (people who don't service tables). I work with some people who are handling class action lawsuits on this very topic. If you would like more information please PM me. However, it sounds like the restaurant you work is engaging in legal tip-pooling. Q. I work in a large restaurant as a waiter. My employer told me that I am required to share my tips with the busboy and the bartender. Am I obligated to do this? A. Yes. According to a California court, Labor Code Section 351 allows involuntary tip pooling. Therefore, your employer can require that you share your tips with other staff that provide service in the restaurant. In this regard, it’s DLSE’s position that when a tip pooling arrangement if in effect, the tips are to be distributed among the employees who provide "direct table service." Such employees could conceivably include waiters and waitresses, busboys, bartenders, host/hostesses and maitre d’s. Employees who do not provide direct table service and who do not share in the tip pool include dishwashers, cooks, and chefs, except in restaurants where the chefs prepare the food at the patron’s table, in which case the chef may participate in the tip pool. Additionally, tip pooling cannot be used to compensate the owner(s), manager(s), or supervisor(s) of the business, even if these individuals should provide direct table service to a patron. http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_tipsandgratutities.htm
that has to be illegal. Say you make $1,000 in sales... That means you have to give away $75 to other employees, but what if you only make $50 in tips? You have to pay the restaurant $25 just to be there that day. hmmm, Im smelling a form of slavery.
You aren't paying the restaurant the rest, you are giving your fellow employees a share, since they are also serving the table but usually don't get their own tips from customers. It all depends on what state you live in, but as Browntwn points out, it's explicitly legal in California, and, in fact, is the normal way restaurants operate here. But as a side note: if you have $1000 in sales and are only making $50 in tips (5%), you should quit and find a better restaurant. Standard tipping percentages are 15-20%, and anything less is cheating the wait staff.
I worked in Restaurants and bars for many years and that is standard to tip out your support staff and those rates are pretty standard as well. I never had to tip a Maitre'd, or hostess. My advice...if you are not making enough to cover the tip outs, then get another job. I have heard waiters complain that they didn't make any tips before , which is ridiculous...if you are really not making any money in tips, then you are a bad server, or you work at a bad place. I am sure that the tip our percentage is based on sales..so if you have sales, yet are are not making any money, then maybe Hospitality is not for you. If you just don't want to tip out, then get another line of work, because there aren't many places in the Hospitality Industry where you don't tip your support staff....or you can work at a place with no bar, where you seat your own tables, do your own busing and food running, and keep everything.
That's because in other countries they don't tip. We are talking about The U.S. so the laws where you are don't apply. I worked for tips for many years in Miami and Las Vegas, and if you work in the right places, and are good at your job, you can make bank..high 5 to 6 figures...all cash..
I would normally red rep someone for suggesting that others cheat or lie their way through life, but since you are brand new I will just let you know that dishonest people are not welcome here.
You have to know how to work the system. The IRS only requires you to report 8% of you total sales as tips, and that usually comes out of your paycheck anyway. Standard rate of tipping is 15%-18% on a check or bar tab, and the better you get at your job, the more you will make by giving better service, speed and knowledge so you can take on more tables or bar patrons and growing a stable of regular/repeat customers that request you and will take care of you when they come in. Work in places that attract a good clientele, High Dollar restaurants, Hot Night Clubs, etc If you take care of your support staff they will take care of you, which will enable you to make more money. You can't make money without them, and they don't have direct contact with YOUR customers, so they don't make tips, but they still do the grunt work for you, so that you don't have to. If you treat them like crap, short change them, or bitch about tipping them out, they will make it extremely difficult for you to make any money, and you won't work the better shifts. I can see that you are new in this business, but after a while, you will learn how to maximize your efforts. I've had $100 night jobs, and $1000 a night jobs. I've been stiffed on big checks, and tipped $1500 for a 5 minute Limo ride. It all depends on how good you are, how you present yourself, and where you work. But you have to be good, to work at the better places.
I just find the whole business of tipping in the states ridiculous. Who says that I have to tip?? If, and only if, the service has been excellent will I tip and tip well. I expect the price of bring the food to my table included in the price, I don't think that this is asking too much. I sell my services to clients all the time but never have I received or expected a tip, I quote a price and that is it. I remember last year at LAX and at the taxi stand there was a guy working, keeping the taxi line. He basically said 'there's your cab' and held out his hand looking for a tip. WTF for? you did hee-haw, my friend. And up to 20%?? jeez, maybe I should move to the states....
When you quote a price, you are working in all your costs. Restaurants don't have that business model (you may not like it, but it is what it is). Your bill is paying the owner for the food - the tip is basically paying for the service you receive. If it didn't work this way, the price of your meal would be higher. Some states have no minimum wage, and restaurants are allowed to credit all or a portion of their tips against a minimum wage. 10% in the minimum you should tip, and that would be for sub-par service (10% is telling the server they did something wrong). 15% to 17% is the standard - 20% is not uncommon. No tip means you are expecting the person who serves you to do it for free. If you think that is unfair, then I would suggest you get a job as a waiter and "gloat" about all the money you are making with your 15%. You could also open your own restaurant and try charging 20% more than everyone else and pay the waiters a competitive wage and not allow tipping (a lot of high end restaurants are already making a 17% tip mandatory for groups of 6 or more or on any room service - you have no choice but to pay it even if the service is horrible - which really removes the waiters incentive to give you the very best service and get a bigger tip). It's a crappy job and most service people deserve what they make - and more.
At most places, you don't have to tip, but that is the way wages work here in the states in the hospitality industry and if you stiff your waiter or bartender, especially in a busy nightclub, don't expect them to fall all over themselves getting back to you over the patrons that are appreciative. LAX ! That is Vegas where I live and it's the tipping capitol of the world. Vegas is ALL hospitality, with a few hundred thousand service workers. If you notice there are many things in Vegas that are offered for free, that are a charge in other places. Tipping the staff keeps those things affordable to the average tourist, or cheaper than including the price with the meal, or service. If that guy at the cab line wasn't there, it would be a free for all and no one would be able to get a cab in an orderly fashion...not to mention the cabbies would most likely rip you off, and you would constantly be hassled by limo drivers as well. Doormen in Vegas are a different story, as an ex limo driver, I have a certain disgust for them and the extortion that they practice against Limo drivers. The bottom line is serving people is a very tedious and frustrating job (especially in Vegas) . People are Rude, Drunk, Unappreciative, Arrogant, and they always want more than they pay for, and it's usually the server that gets the attitude. It's not a new concept. At many resorts and cruise lines around the world, gratuity is included automatically for the staff. Always has been. As was pointed out, you pay the company for the product, you tip the server for the service. If it wasn't like that, everything would be self serve, or the price would be exorbitant. And if you think about it, it keeps service standards high in most places since the staff wages are based on their performance, and not automatic.