Real-life MMD: Should I ask to keep my tips?

JeremyCH

I spent 2 years running a pub and tips were pooled and shared equally between the staff at the end of each shift and this policy was made clear on the menus.

I have a number of concerns here. Firstly, over the course of the year tips can amount to a considerable sum so how many people are actually benefitting? Even £10 a day for tips amounts to £3650.00 so, depending on your venue, even if a meal costs £20 a head that's 180 odd people who should be getting fed at retail price or (given that the mark-up is typically 3 x the net value) around 500 people at cost. In my pub at the weekend staff would easily get £10 each with just a small resturant of 30 covers.

So, how much is being collected? Is a record being kept? How many people are benefitting? How is the employer accounting for it? I'm not a tax expert or an accountant by any stretch of the imagination but I hear lots of alarm bells ringing. Of course I could be mistaken and everything is totally kosher, but I think there's some questions you need to be asking

After that, it's your decision as to how you proceed. If all is above board then, morrally, very difficult and I simply don't know which way I would jump if faced with the same situation

Avon2001

Hi,

Personally I'd post to a legal forum to see if it's actually legal for your employer to do this. If it is you can ask, but there's not much else you can do except ask customers not to leave tips for you. If, as I suspect, it's not. I'd tell your employer that you want to opt out. If your employer wants to support a charity, that's their business, but unless everyone agrees, which you obviously don't then they've no business forcing it on their employees.

Regards,

Kit

gayleygoo

I used to be a waitress in a small restaurant, and we could have made maybe £20-£30 each per week in tips, much more round christmas etc. I like to think we did our job well and that it was rewarded by people who appreciated our good service. We were paid very little, so the tips amounted to £1500+ per year just for one of us, I certainly wouldn't feel happy about all of that going to charity out of my pocket without a choice! Especially if the company management is taking credit - and paying themselves "full price" for the meals so they don't give anything at all, and therefore financially benefit from their "charity" dinner because the staff have already paid them?

Don't get me wrong, I think it would be lovely for staff to donate some or all of their tips to charity, but only if they wished to because it's a personal choice. Tips are an incentive for staff to do their best for customers, whether they're pooled or not.

OTOH if this is a company policy and customers know about it, there's not much you can do. If you do decide to confront your boss, have other colleagues on your side and a good argument to present.

ptrichardson

That's not right. The owners are giving to a charitable course, using other people's money.

That's if its even a registered charity at all.


The customers would not be happy if they knew this - I certainly wouldn't be.