To think DDs new employers are being CFs with her tips?

[Tippingcforno]

DD (18) started a new job in a nice upmarket Italian restaurant 1 month ago, she was really excited about it as it’s a lovely place.

They often get large parties of 8 or more who leave generous tips. Over Christmas DD worked loads of hours, she was mainly in charge of drinks and taking payments at the end of peoples meals. She also stayed behind to clean up when the restaurant closed.

She was looking forward to getting her first wage slip this month as she was told by a few colleagues that the tips are accumulated over the month and are split between all staff including chefs which I thought was great, with it being Christmas as well she thought she would get a particularly good extra tip amount on her wage slip.

Well she got it on Friday and there was no tip extra, just her normal (minimum wage) hourly rate with the hours she did.

She was working Saturday so she asked one of the managers about this. He said that because she was new she was classed as training for her first 12 weeks so wouldn’t get any tips for that time.

DD was training for the first week but she’s pretty much by herself with serving drinks etc it’s not as if an extra member of staff has to follow her around helping her, infact a few shifts she has said she was completely alone at the bar! So hardly training, and for 8 more weeks now as well.

AIBU to think the managers are being CFs here?

DD put in the hours and made a real effort over the last month and it seems her efforts have been unrecognised, I just feel it’s a bit nasty of them to do this to all new employees

Is it fratellis near the airport in the north of england by any chance? Just your story sounds very similar to the one my friends DGrandD had while she was working there last year for part time money before going to uni. Shes not there now, doing her degree but it was a family run Italian restaurant, where we dont go anymore after the waiter shoved some "extra" drinks on our bill. The tips were shared amongst all staff, she was hired for one shift a week but invariably spent all weekends and a few days during the week there. She usually ended up doing a lot by herself, so didnt end up getting what the customers wanted her to get. She ended up leaving, cant say I blame her.

@Tippingcforno I thought it was classed as theft if a restaurant kept tips, as they are essentially a gift from the customer as thanks, and not part of a hourly rate of pay. Hope your daughter gets a better job than the one she has now.

I worked as a waitress in a family run italian restaurant...

I was told on the trial shift that the tips were put in a pot to be shared between all staff, but that i would get 50p extra per hour i worked to act as my share of the tips.

Naive little me said ok no problem.

Even on a Saturday, high staffed night (maybe.. 15 staff total including kitchen etc), my measley 50p/hour didnt come close to the tips given. Each table was leaving around £20.

I was fuming and stopped working immediately.

Ha, another reason why customers shouldn’t tip!

There is another thread on here tonight debating the issue of tipping.
One of the the main points given for tipping is to top up the low wage of staff.

If as illustrated here the staff don’t get the tips why are we doing it?

There was a big ding dong in the press last year about a celebrity French chef withholding tips from staff in a very high end restaurant in London. All died a death soon after.

It would appear this industry absolutely stinks. Needs sorting.

We pay our bill, leave a monetary thank you to the workers and the owners rob it from them. Fraud I say.

In a service industry like this I really think it a very poor way to treat new staff. Don't they realise just how demotivating this is. Your business is totally dependant on the quality of the service your staff give, so to piss them off like that is just stupid.

My ds gets a share of the tips In the pub he work in as a 17yr old mainly doing washing up in the kitchen. It’s been this way since day 1.
I think a 12 week training period is ridiculous let alone 12 weeks not sharing out the tips. That’s just not fair.

We aways take cash & discreetly tip waiting staff. My kids also worked in hospitality & they said not to put tips on card as often it doesn't get to staff.

I don't know the industry, but that's a question for her to ask her next employer once they've offered her a job. "How are tips divided?" "Is it different whilst I'm training/in a probationary period?"

I'd be prepared to accept as potentially reasonable new staff being excluded from tips whilst they're very new, but that should be made clear at the start of the job, not be a disappointment when they get paid:-/

Distribution of tips is a notoriously difficult area, but a 12 week ‘training’ period is ridiculous.
Many years ago I worked in a successful family run pub/bistro type place - on the food side of things, weekend evenings were the owners (couple) and me, taking orders, serving, clearing. As you can imagine, I did very little order taking and lots of serving/clearing! The tips were split 3 ways between the 2 owners and me - I wouldn’t have minded if I’d got to spend half the evening smoozing and sitting drinking with the customers as they did!
We had a regular couple who came in every Saturday evening (early, before the owners were really ‘working’) and they made a point of putting their generous tip in my hand and saying “that’s for you”. I had no qualms pocketing that money 😁

Where I work we split all tips equally at the end of each shift.
We pay cash for a trial shift plus share of tips

Dd works in a family run restaurant and tips are shared out equally between all staff except the owner who worked that night.
Never realised this isn’t the norm!

@mantlepiece that's why I always ask the staff if they receive the tips. If they say no, we either pass them a tip discreetly, or if we can't do that we don't leave one.

I also refuse the discretionary service charge that gets added to the bill.

My young daughter worked at a local pub ..she was left on her own with some very crazy customers (mental health issues ,also a football pub ) as she was a nice girl and worked hard the customers most often regulars would leave her a tip or buy a drink for herself ...etc ..normal practice for a pub ...they knew she couldn’t drink on the job so we’re quite happy for her to have the tip &were just being nice ...I advised her to be up front and say I can’t drink on the job or would you mind if I kept the tip etc and they didn’t mind ...BUT ....
The landlord made her put every tip through the till even though he knew she wasn’t drinking it ,put the receipt under the counter and TOOK the money !she never saw it ...the customers never knew ...she was too shy to say anything ,(first job) and stayed a long time before it became too dangerous to work there and she got another job ....

My DS worked in a Cafe Nero during his gap year and was doing 50 plus hour weeks but as he was on his probation he didn’t get any tips for the first three months. The rest of the staff were happy to shaft him even though they worked far fewer hours. Tight bastards. Some people have no shame. It wasn’t loads of money but still... Once he was out of probabtion he kicked up a fuss about it and the new staff are now included.

I try to remember to ask how tips are shared when I’m in a restaurant or cafe.

This is a relatively new thing, and it smacks of exploitation. If she wasn't to be included in the tip share out, she should have been notified. For them to claim that she doesn't get it for the first 12 weeks because she's being trained is awful.
There was an article in one of the Sunday papers a few months ( maybe a year) ago about certain restaurants and chains where they actually charge the staff for the tips the management think they should have earned, calculated on the amount of covers they have served and the size of the bills. So if a tip is not left, it's assumed that the waiting staff are lying.
I have not been into our local branch of this restaurant since, and will try to find the article to link it, as it names and shames.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/aug/23/restaurant-tipping-policy-forces-waiters-to-pay-to-work

How mean, when she has worked so hard!

Just as a comparison, my daughter is at Uni and started a part time waitressing job in October.
She had one 'Trial Day' where she shadowed another girl, which she not only got paid for, but she also got a share of the tips for that day too.
She always gets a fair share and has never had to query it.
They have been incredibly fair and, as a result, have a loyal, willing staff.

This is a naice restaurant/bar, part of the Mosaic pub and dining Group.

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-restaurants-tipping-policy-forces-1033229

Neither of these are the article I originally saw. Looks like there is a campaign, and apparently a bill which is not yet law, which will hopefully protect waiting staff in the future.
I just think it is so scummy to take advantage of teenagers working on minimum wage.

unitetheunion.org/campaigns/fair-tips-for-waiting-staff/

It’s a place in Lincolnshire in the uphill historical area, thank you everyone for your responses. Shocked at how some of you have been treated also.

I will have a word with DD, she’s only doing the job alongside uni so she doesn’t desperately need the cash as she’s living at home. she can easily get another.

Very mean. I control the tips where I work and we let them accumulate for three months. I then share them based on hours worked between everyone. Pot washers, glass collectors, bar staff, chefs and waiting staff all get an equal share. New starters included.

My son worked this summer at a local pub in my Norfolk village and the tight cow that manages it took the tips and gave them to 'charity' if the pub got a bad review on trip advisor...the bad review was often to do with the food....something the waiting staff had no control over....so unfair and tight....happy to name and shame so it The White Horse....South Lopham.

If you leave a tip you want it to go to the person who gave you the good service that warranted it. ie the waitress who served you.

I worked in a (five star) hotel with a breakfast and evening shift before I went to uni.

Evening staff got to keep their individual cash tips but breakfast had to pool theirs!
As breakfast was included in the room price very few people tipped. Wouldn't have been so bad if they rotated breakfast and evening staff, but they didn't so it was effectively a two-tier staff and you only made the dinner shift if the boss liked you.

We did get a share of the credit card tips, based on hours worked, however it later transpired that the manager (same one as above) was dipping his fingers into that pot to finance handmade Italian shoes and the like.

Dd works in hospitality through an agency so works all over London and the SE doing big events

She is one of the management team so doesn’t expect any tips but sometimes comes home with £20-£50
The waiting staff can get far more.

There isn’t any sharing of tips