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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

what do you make of this?

15 replies

drlove8 · 14/02/2009 13:19

sorry this is a bit long! i work as a barmaid in a hotel, part of the job is to host parties and functions,i set up the bar, make sure everything is ready forthe guests.this involves heavy lifting(creats of drinks ect)and cleaning up at end of night! last week i did the birthday party of an 80yr old lady. this was arranged by her daughter. the "party" involved a three course dinner and drinks , no music but it was lovely all the same. the daughter had requested that almanac brandy be served for her father and elder brother for "after dinner liqures" and had phoned the day before and was assured by management that indeed the hotel stocked the brandy.when the night came low and behold, NO almanac! by this time im getting at the management! how ever the disapointed guests were lovely about it and told me not to worry! at the end of the night i got the coats from the cloakroom(not strickly my job but did it anyway as , cloakroom attendents and waitresses are always sent home by 10pm.helped thebithday girl and her very elderly husband on with their coats and thanked them for being such lovely guests.their daughter had asked me about paying the bill for the night,and as usual i directed her to one of the managers(#3).she said to me she wanted to settle and leave a tip for the staff.fair enough- everyone invoved in the night worked hard, there was two chefs, two waitresses and me- barmaid. the daughter spoke to manager and handed him a wedge of notes, i assumed it was payment of the bill(free bar all night, so must have been a lot. asthe guests were leaving, the daughter took me aside and gave me £10 and said "thats fo your hard work, my mum enjoyed herself, thanks" i was also tiped £10 and £5 from two gentlemen in the party, again with regards to the service i'd given. the guests left and i cleared the room. this involves cleaning up the mess, washing the glasses ect, removing and emptying the bins,taking the table clothes napkins ect to the laundry, stacking the chairs moving tables ect. locked the bar up and then i went to reception to clock out- its after 12:30 pm by then. manager #3 is there i mentioned i recieved £25 in tips to him .then i went home.DH came to pick me up, so i didnt have to wait for a taxi!. the hotel didnt cover breaks for me so i worked from 6pm to 12:30pm , they stoped staff meals and taxis home and dont give lifts even though the owner of the hotel as provided a car for this purpose, (i know because my mate is his niece).the hotel manager #1 uses i as his "company car" instead.so i goes back to work on thursday as usual , im in the public bar , and do the shift and go to head home at the end of the night. firstly im told that my till is out by £15, ok i stand and argue with them that its not and to re-check. so office staff re-checks in front of me and i point out she hasnt checked for company charges( we send them to a pre-arranged table number and post the bills at end of the night). so thats been found and my till is proven to be ok!. then the #2 manager pulls me up about recieving a £25 tip , and says that the daughter(from the party) came in the next day to pay her bill, and said she hopes i shared the tip with the other staff! WTF! manager #2 also says that its notthe point that i got given tips ,its that i kept them to myself, and manager #1 isnt pleased with my behaviour!i told him no-one said i was to share the tips and i got £10 from the daughter,£10 from one man and £5 from another, IF the bill was payed the next day, wat was the money that was handed to manager #1 ? if the woman had said to me the £10 she gave me was to be split with the staff, it would have been, but why bring up the other tips i recieved from the two men? Am i being unreasonable to think somethings not quite rght with all this? and what should i do about it? .im thinking i should split the £10 from the woman with the two waitresses, just to be nice to them, not becuse i have too.

OP posts:
drlove8 · 14/02/2009 13:23

sorry that should hve been" what was the moneyhanded to manager #3, not manager #1 ,he was'nt there! lol

OP posts:
wasaconventgirl · 14/02/2009 13:30

Next time pocket the tips and say nothing.

wotulookinat · 14/02/2009 13:33

that's a long post with no paragraphs. I can't be bothered to read it so I shall agree with wasaconventgirl.

drlove8 · 14/02/2009 13:34

wasaconvent girl, ive had other members of staff tell me to do that!. its just the attitude that im getting from the management is as if ive done something wrong!.

OP posts:
oldraver · 14/02/2009 13:34

Cant you contact th woman on the grounds of.."sorry I missed you when you came in to pay your bill the following day, but I would like to thank you for the tip and to let you now I shared it with the waitresses"

I'm sure she would correct you if you think the manager is telling porkies

scienceteacher · 14/02/2009 13:38

Do you have a policy of sharing tips? If so, you should have put it in the pot. It would have been clear that the other staff you were with didn't get anything.

Your working conditions are not good though - they should pay for a taxi home etc.

But it is well known that your industry is not well paid.

cornsilk · 14/02/2009 13:38

Yes sounds weird to me.

drlove8 · 14/02/2009 13:39

oh the same manager (#2) also pulled me aside and accused another member of staff of stealing because she got tips on a regular basis! her tills were never out, but he ws convinced she was giving the customers drinks and pocketing the money instead of ringing it through the till!. i told him he's off his rocker and shes no thief and just good at her job, its not the girl's fault shes popular and well liked by the customers
the "office politics "in the hotel is appalling.

OP posts:
drlove8 · 14/02/2009 13:47

theres never been a surcharge or a put all the tips in and share them with everyone policy.the management have been caught not handing out tips given by wedding parties before( end of night groom at one particular wedding handed in £2oo) to be shared by the bar and waiting staff, - ten of us in all working that night, 4 on bar 6 on tables) we only found out because the brides cousin works in the hotel and she asked if we got it, we didnt so bride phoned up and told managers " can i have the £200 back as you havent given it out to who it as ment for?" next day we got £5 each in an envelope......management swear it was sitting in safe all along( for 3 weeks).

OP posts:
scienceteacher · 14/02/2009 13:48

Maybe it is time to look for another job, drlove.

kiddiz · 14/02/2009 13:49

I used to work in a hotel in similar circumstances. I learnt very quickly to pocket any tips and say nothing. Managers, ime, never share tips out fairly anyway. They always take a cut which far outweighs the amount of work they do!! If the customer hadn't meant the money to be for you personally she would have added the tip when she paid her bill to be shared amoung the staff. Put it down to experience this time and keep quiet about any tips in the future unless you want to share them.

drlove8 · 14/02/2009 13:58

oh im looking, and when i go else where will be having a quiet word to the owner of the hotel. hes providing staff transport and petrol /meals allowance for the staff and where is that going? there riping him off , i know he's loaded but it would be him that gets fined if anyone lets slip about breaches in the employment laws! about that too, he's a nice old man, who worked very hard for what he has. deserves better from his employee's.( i got £70 tip off him at new year, wonder what will happen if the management found out )

OP posts:
electra · 14/02/2009 14:05

If a tip is handed to you personally, and you have done all the work for that person you keep it imo - unless the customer specifies otherwise.

drlove8 · 14/02/2009 14:11

thats exactly what happened( short version) electra. management are just arses! think #2 is on the warpath with the staff, he's had warnings for harrasing the waitresses and use of very sexual language!- should be sacked IMHO, so might be him sh*te-stirring?, ive got a shift again tonight, that going to be fun. i need to have a word with manager #3, if he's got a problem with my conduct he should have said to me, not get #2 to bitch about it.TBH i feel like just not going back!,

OP posts:
melpomene · 14/02/2009 18:30

Also, the law says you shouldn't have to work for more than 6 hours without a break.

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