Are Tips illegal???

laurel7172

breadlinebetty wrote: »

I've read the article too and it doesn't just say the service charge can no longer go towards the employees wages, it says that the service charge is in ADDITION to the basic wage.

You're wrong on this I'm afraid.

Actually, if I've read the article correctly, Unite recommends paying all the tips to the staff on top of their wages as best practice. They wouldn't need to promote a voluntary code of conduct if it were the law.

It must be nearly 20 years since the Independent started a campaign to let employees keep credit card tips. The legal situation then was that cash tips belonged to the employee, credit card tips to the employer. I haven't paid a service charge since, and never enter a restaurant without enough cash for the waiter.

Based on this thread, that's what I'll keep doing.

pickledpink

Sparhawke wrote: »

No restaurant is going to take my tips at all and call them a service charge, why should I work my backside off for hours and come in an hour early, leave an hour later so my covers are set out perfectly to simply hand over tips that should be going in my pocket and the pockets of those that help me to people who are lazy, arrogant, bad tempered and perpetually hung over?

The reason most waiters don't see their tips is because most people have been suckered into thinking the word "tip" is an evil word...and no one ever talks about it anymore.

So for the opening poster again, simply take the situation head on...you know tips happen, customers do so simply make it easier for them to give you a little.

I agree with you! But how could a waiter say to their customers that the service charge actually went to the restaurant, and they themselves never got to see it? That would be difficult to do, surely?

Sparhawke

Nor particularly...all I would do while handing them the bill is tell them to take 10% off matter-of-factly, simply because it is unlikely I would ever see it anyways, they will then ask me to explain which I would.

I am not doing anything illegal by telling them they don't have to pay it, though I am sure at least one person trolling this thread would disagree lol

rumbaba

Sparhawke wrote: »

Nor particularly...all I would do while handing them the bill is tell them to take 10% off matter-of-factly, simply because it is unlikely I would ever see it anyways, they will then ask me to explain which I would.

I am not doing anything illegal by telling them they don't have to pay it, though I am sure at least one person trolling this thread would disagree lol

I bet the managers would get suspicious if all your covers was suddenly deducting the services charges! I think most waiters would end up getting a lot of stick and bad atmosphere from the management if they told every cover to deduct it. Easier said than done.

zzzLazyDaisy

In some restaurants it is a disciplinary offence for a waiter to ask customers to strike out the service charge and pay him/her a cash tip instead. The restaurants know when this is going on because they check the service charges on the waiter's bills. There will be the occasional customer who refuses to pay the service charge, but it isn't the norm - where one particular waiter's service charges are way down compared to his/her colleagues it is fairly obvious what is going on, and ultimately they could be putting their job at risk.

pickledpink

I can't see how a waiter could get away with that for long, either.

You know, this really is so shocking. Shouldn't something be done to stop restaurants from exploting their waiting staff, and keeping their tips? It's outrageous!:mad:

zzzLazyDaisy

The thing is 'service charges' are not tips. It is a charge levied by the restaurant for the service provided - the actual bill is for the food.

Now, I know that most customers would think that 'service charge' and 'tips' are the same thing, but that isn't the case. Personally I always tip the waiter in cash, if s/he has given particularly good service I will say 'this is for you, it is not to be shared'. If the food has been especially good, I might say 'put this in the staff tip box'. But I never include a tip on a credit card slip, for example, as I want to make sure the staff will receive it.

I have to admit though, I'm a bit of a wimp with service charges - I usually pay up unless the food/service has not been up to standard.

Anihilator

I don't see how its exploitation. They are being paid NMW and there are far more responsible and important jobs who only receive NMW. I fail to see why waiting staff deserve more than NMW. Its not exactly a majorly difficult or important job.

zzzLazyDaisy

I have to be honest, I agree as far as service charges are concerned.

BUT if I put a cash tip in the hand of a waiter because, as a customer, I wish to reward him or her for the service that individual has given me, then I expect that person to be allowed to keep that money (or at least share put it in a tip box to be shared with other staff).

In the same way, if I tip my hairdresser, or a taxi driver, or kennel maid, or I give a christmas tip to my window cleaner or dustbin man or milk man, I don't expect their employers to take it off them to help fund their business overheads.

Sparhawke

Anihilator wrote: »

I don't see how its exploitation. They are being paid NMW and there are far more responsible and important jobs who only receive NMW. I fail to see why waiting staff deserve more than NMW. Its not exactly a majorly difficult or important job.

But you yourself have not once stated here what job you actually do, will we ever get to know?

If you are a doctor or nurse or someone else in the medical profession I don't see why you would hide that fact as they are amongst the great professions, and I would have to agree with you on that score...

And I would agree with you that waiters cannot expect to get money handed to them for lacklustre performance, much like a conciege shouldn't expect a tip for simply showing people the way from the elevator to the room across the hall.

If a waiter is worth anything at all though they will figure out what a customer is doing in the area and give them options of what to do while they are there, if I heard someone talking about the West End while I was working at the very least I would get them the booking office number for a show...if they are chattering away about their horses I would make sure that a couple of tickets to a showjumping trial or other such horsie event found its way onto their breakfast cart, or dinner table the following evening...

It is all about doing things that are not expected of you yetcan make peoples lives easier, yes it might be contrived, but would you rather have someone who takes an interest in what you are about and what you might actually enjoy rather than someone who merely throws a dish of cold soup at you?