restaurant service charge - where it goes

Aloysius60

At a very busy bar/restaurant in Bankside, service staff are paid minimum hourly rate (£5.52), the company adds a discretionery 12.5% service charge, no one knows how this money is used; but staff are told some of the money is shared out to the service staff dependant on their sales as taken as a percentage of the total weekly sales. A friend worked out that his weekly sales were £9,500 one week, 12.5% service charge was therefore £1187.50; and he received £174.00 in his pay. He received 1.8% of his sales, instead of the generally accepted 8% of his sales; which would have been £760. The company stole £586 from this person - in one week. DISGUSTING, IMMORAL, UNACCEPTABLE, but under our current laws, not illegal!! Did somebody say we had a Labour Government?

Aloysius60

At a very busy bar/restaurant in Bankside, service staff are paid minimum hourly rate (£5.52), the company adds a discretionery 12.5% service charge, no one knows how this money is used; but staff are told some of the money is shared out to the service staff dependant on their sales as taken as a percentage of the total weekly sales. A friend worked out that his weekly sales were £9,500 one week, 12.5% service charge was therefore £1187.50; and he received £174.00 in his pay. He received 1.8% of his sales, instead of the generally accepted 8% of his sales; which would have been £760. The company stole £586 from this person - in one week. DISGUSTING, IMMORAL, UNACCEPTABLE, but under our current laws, not illegal!! Did somebody say we had a Labour Government?

newsgroup_monkey

Sorry mate but what does politics have to do with it? I worked in the Hotel / Catering industry for a few years and yes it does stink.

But that was under a Tory government.

I'm not picking sides either way, but it's certainly not politics!

Interestingly, one of the hotels I worked in during my student days had a policy whereby noone got tips BUT we all got a bonus of £50pw if we stuck out the season (or in my case, my 3 month contract).

Interesting way of holding on to your staff!

Coming back to the original problem, it stinks. It's a worse problem in France because most restaurants put a 10% or 15% service charge on. Most places over here (certainly the larger chains) leave it at your discretion.

Problem for me is that most of the time I'm eating in restaurants, I'm on expenses and have no choice but to eat out. Therefore when I pay a tip, it's out of my own pocket. So the "included" bit suits me because I can claim it back.

I think you ought to name-and-shame the company. I don't see why not, you're stating fact (and it's hardly giving away company secrets if everyone's at it). Then, next time we all go into one of these places, we can refuse to pay the service charge and leave a tip instead.

Aloysius60

Your right, it doesn't have anything to do with politics! It has to do with greed and exploitation. It has to do with the misleading terminology 'service charge', which I believe most people believe is another term for 'tip' or 'gratuity' - because when they pay the service charge, they don't leave a 'tip'. This a huge free profit earner for the companys that just pocket it. Service staff definitely work for their 'tips' - so why pay service charge ever!! Just tip the server.