Tip problems - using tip to top up till shortage

Provided you are being paid minimum wage (9.65 per hour if you have worked for two years since you turned 18, less if not), then tips, she has the right to do so. You have no rights in respect to tips.

Sometimes tips can be pocketed and not all handed up where there is supposed to be a pooled system in place. I have seen this happen when I did waitressing as a student. Not just by other waiting staff but management as well. It can be a hard system to make fully transparent and more difficult where customers are allowed to add a gratuity via debit/credit card.

The thing to do OP is to have all waitresses keep a log of every tip they get for the week, and then add them together at the end of the Week, and work out how it's being split. I'd imagine the Head chef and the manager are taking a larger cut for themselves because of their hard work.

I have issues with this for so many reasons, but TBH you won't change the system.

I work in a place where waitresses keep every single tip.... if I'm on the bar, I could make upwards of 20 drinks for a table that orders 2 apps and I'll get not a cent out of these waitresses. It's happened that a table had cocktails all night and didn't actually order food and a waitress tried to keep it, but I saw the credit card slip and argued til she ponied up.

JeffKenna wrote: »

I fail to see why the kitchen staff shouldn't get a portion of your tip?

That's a bit of a random interjection, seeing as nobody in this thread said or implied that kitchen staff shouldn't get a portion of the tips

Legally you should be paying Tax on gratuities, and declaring the income. So really you don't have a leg to stand on.

I worked in a restaurant in Galway city for 2yrs where I got tips . During the summer months I could earn upwards of 300-400 in gratuity and during the winter would go down to between 100-200 depending on events happening etc.
Place was extremely busy and you would be amazed at all those 1 &2 euros coins would add up at lunch time.
Used work a split shift 4 days a week and 1 day shift. You got paid a 39hr week but often worked in the restaurant to 3am while customers kept drinking. Plenty of 50-60hr weeks and the tips made up the difference. None of the other staff got a share of the tips.
I hated that job because you relied on the tips so much it used to feel like begging.
Now I'm working in engineering many years with decent salary never needing to supplement my income with tips.

I would think there is something wrong, unless said manager asked all staff before doing..

Hate this crap... Lots of ways to avoid this. If the till has a set number of people working on it during the evening then it is taken out of whoevers working the tills tips, not everyones. if it is something re-occurring all the time then I would be seeing red lights, someone is messing with the till...

Or everyone should be asked do they agree that €20 can be taken from everyones tips.

mahamageehad wrote: »

I'd say the thinking is, if the till is now money one of the staff is responsible and they're punishing the many.

I've worked in hotels, bars and restaurants for years and I've no problem asking staff about if they get their tips, I don't think it's rude at all. My problem especially is tips on a card, many of the places I worked in in Ireland never gave these to the staff so I'm wary of em.

OP, unfortunately, getting a good tipping system is difficult. I've seen many systems, most have flaws. The best place I ever worked was a pub in Germany where I got to keep all tips as I essentially had my own till. At the end of the night I had to hand up 20% to the kitchen and 10% to the bar. I don't know how they split it after that. I got the full 70% for myself then. However, if my till was down it must have been my fault (undercharged, gave wrong change, walk out etc) so that would come out of my tips. Why should the business be down because a server or bar man is making mistakes?

That is exactly the best way to run the system and if I ran a restaurant I would do it this way. I wish all owners of restaurants would read your post.


There is no way that mistakes in the till, made by an unidentified person, should be paid for by all. All members of the floor staff should provide themselves with their own float, and therefore be responsible for their own cash. It is an (almost) guaranteed way that there will be no mistakes on the till. This operates on the very basic premise that every member of staff who uses the till has their own clerk ID.



And, you mention this restaurant in Germany saw that the members of staff who were not waiters got tipped out too. This is absolutely perfect, especially if, as in many places, they get a higher wage per hour (justifying the fact that the waiter only tips out 30%).


For the OP - I am sorry that I do not have a direct answer to your question. But there is certainly a systemic problem that could be easily rectified by every member of staff who uses the till having their own clerk ID and providing their own float. It is simple and eliminates 99% of cash shortages on the till,but I understand you may not feel in a position to suggest to management

The problem I have with this is that the till is under and rather than work out why they are using tips to cover it up. Anything could be happening here.

TheDoc wrote: »

I always make sure when I'm tipping, I hand it directly to the staff who served me and usually a "Now that's for you, don't be putting that into a jar".

I actively avoid the jars, or the card gratuities option. Too many stories of staff getting shafted by owners or management.

If I'm tipping I'm giving my money directly to someone else as a thanks and/or appreciation for their work and service. Nothing to do with the restaurant, property, management etc. They've got their $$ when I paid for the meal or whatever

Thats putting the person receiving the tip in a very akward situation tho if someone saw you doing that?

figuss33 wrote: »

im getting paid 9,5 e/hrs

tips are not money the employer provides to employees. It's money customers give directly to employees. They can't legally confiscate it.

I'd like to see the law, technically tips are giving to a person who is employed by the establishment and revived as a result of them fulfilling their terms of employment, so they should be long to the establishment.

In our contracts we are not allowed to receive bribes and gifts over 20 euro must be declared and then possible returned.

What does it say in your contract

JeffKenna wrote: »

Thats putting the person receiving the tip in a very akward situation tho if someone saw you doing that?

In what way?

As a patron/customer I've paid my meal and any related charges to the owners. This is a payment I'm making, citizen to citizen, for satisfactory service. That's how I interpret it, nothing to do with management.

And if management were flaky and wanted to inquire what was happening, I'd happily inform them.

TheDoc wrote: »

In what way?

As a patron/customer I've paid my meal and any related charges to the owners. This is a payment I'm making, citizen to citizen, for satisfactory service. That's how I interpret it, nothing to do with management.

And if management were flaky and wanted to inquire what was happening, I'd happily inform them.

No it's not citizen to citizen, it's citizen to employee of said shop as a reward for doing his duties of employment. You would not give it to him if you were not a customer and served by the employee