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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

96 replies

Tippingcforno · 06/01/2020 19:13

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

OP posts:

BodenGate · 07/01/2020 06:55

Your daughter needs to take her hard work elsewhere!

Thunderpunt · 07/01/2020 07:14

That's ridiculous, training for 12 weeks for a start for this kind of job is ludicrous.

Also the owners shouldn't have anything to do with the tips (by law) I believe. They should be managed and distributed by a member of staff. (Or if the owner does manage them they should be declared and pay tax on them I think.)

Very hard though as she probably doesn't want to risk her job especially at this time of year when it's quieter and they could just ditch her.

If she's anywhere near north London however let me know - we've been trying to recruit someone decent for our restaurant for months! (And tips shared between just 3 members of staff!!)

BlaueLagune · 07/01/2020 07:36

One reason i don't really like giving tips is that I don't know who is getting them and who is raking off a big share of them.

Certainly I think if you give one person a cash tip they should get to keep it, it's obviously more complicated if you add the tip to your card payment. I think it was mentioned in the Queen's Speech though, the government wants to do something about it.

MustardScreams · 07/01/2020 07:47

It’s not training for 12 weeks, it’s a probationary period. The same as with most jobs. Employers can and often do give tips during this time, but it’s not illegal not to.

Job benefits don’t usually kick in until after the probationary period. It’s very normal!

healthylifestylee · 07/01/2020 07:52

It seems harsh
But company's have policies, yes it should have been known.
Does she have a contract? If it's not in there she may be able to raise it again

healthylifestylee · 07/01/2020 07:54

However as people above have said it is common
Places won't give a Christmas bonus if you have only just started and are still in your probation period

coldwarenigma · 07/01/2020 08:47

When DS was s teenager he worked in a pub...the tips went in a pot...the then landlord took them as his DD aged 10 pocket money! The staff didn't get them at all!

differentnameforthis · 07/01/2020 09:43

"12 weeks training" nicely covers their busiest and biggest tip earning season, doesn't it?

Dorsetcamping · 07/01/2020 09:45

@coldwarenigma that is shocking! The guy my teenager works for has similar aged children so can't believe he is being so lax over promptly paying DS

bakedbeanzontoast · 07/01/2020 10:17

I'm 36 now but this situation mirrors my first job in a family run Italian when I was 16 (obv not assuming all places are like this) but the similarities are there. Boss also liked us to wear super short skirts 😳

TheFoxAndTheMole · 07/01/2020 11:28

It’s not training for 12 weeks, it’s a probationary period. The same as with most jobs. Employers can and often do give tips during this time, but it’s not illegal not to.

Just because it's legal doesn't make it moral.

Christmas bonuses are from profit the company has made.

Tips are from customers who 99% of the time assume that the staff will served and cooked their food will get them.

This is why I ask if I'm not certain the staff get them, and why when I worked in places like that I'd make damn sure that I told the truth and in a way that if the bosses were sooo comfortable about it they'd not be able to pull me up on it.

"Aww thank you sooo much for the tip, I don't get any for the next three months because I'm considered too new, I'll just put it in the pot over here for the bosses!"

"Thank you sir, the landlord's daughter's pocket money fund is doing well today!"

"Here's your bill, with the discretionary 10% already added to it. If you pay that entirely optional service charge it'll go to the restaurant's revenue not the staff. Would you like me to leave it on there or get it taken off for you?"

WoWsers16 · 07/01/2020 18:42

So bailgate Lincoln ? Some lovely places there!

Dorsetcamping · 07/01/2020 20:16

So DS has finally picked up his wages but doesn't think all his hours have been included
Big learning curve for him to make sure he records what he works (as opposed to assuming the pub will do it for him )

Parttimewasteoftime · 07/01/2020 21:25

Wow I worked at pizza hut the kitchen staff got paid more per hour all tips were mine from day one! I did very well people are really kind. Your poor DD not fair she did not get a share at Christmas.

TheHoundOfWinchester · 07/01/2020 21:27

That's terrible! My 15year old works in a pub kitchen and all tips are shared equally at the end of the night between kps and wait/bar staff

MissEliza · 07/01/2020 22:04

What bothers me is the tips don't belong to the restaurant to do with as they please. As a customer, I pay the restaurant for the food and drink but I tip the waiter for his/her service. It therefore belongs to who served me. No one has a right to withhold it.

PumpkinPie2016 · 07/01/2020 22:26

That's awful -your poor daughter! I'd be tempted to tell them where to shove their job but that's with the advantage of being older and wiser. As a teenager, I accepted loads of things I wouldn't now and I wouldn't have wanted to say anything.

I started waitressing when I was only 14 and the owner of the place used to share the tips out and give them with our wages each week (all cash). Thing is, the amount was exactly the same every week! If I worked Fri eve, sat eve and sun afternoon, which I usually did, I got £10. Just sat/sun, I got £5. Same with everyone else. In my head,it wasn't logical that the amount never varied no matter how busy we were but I didn't dare question it (the owner was a right dragon haha!).

Years later, I heard that the owner used to use the tips to pay wages and just add whatever was needed to make the wage up It was a big, busy restaurant and we used to get a lot of tips, including some very big ones so there must have been a lot of money there each week.

Dutchesss · 07/01/2020 22:34

I agree with name and shame. When I tip, it's for good service and I wouldn't eat again at a place that withheld my tip from whom it was given to.

Inappropriatefemale · 08/01/2020 16:49

Greedy fuckers but what can she do?!

MissEliza · 08/01/2020 19:11

A lot of people I know now ask waiters if they will get the full tip because that's where people want it to go. I do feel it's a bit unfair to put them on the spot though.

Inappropriatefemale · 08/01/2020 23:52

There is a cafe near me that pretend the waiters get the tips but I know a lady that works there and she told me that the cafe take it for themselves and I went in weeks later and said something to the manager about it (I didn’t say who told me) and her face went red and she said that it wasn’t true!

So many employers are greedy as hell and if they could get away with paying the staff a wage of £5 per hour then so many would.

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