Yeah the irony of America, waiters and bar staff there literally live on their tips however it's not against the law for the owner of the restaurant or bar to say: "Ok tips go in the till" or "Tips go in this jar and we all take equal share including me" or "tips go in the jar, I will divide them as I see fit" sucks really. I truly think there ought to be something similar to the UK where after a campaign by a certain tabloid (it was the sun ok) caused a change in the law whereby it became illegal for many of the same practices to be done in the UK. It used to be that you could have your wages topped up to min wage by your tips, now your tips go on top of the min wage. This still leaves several undesirable troutty tips systems in place such as the "tips go in the jar and we all get equal share" or "tips go in the jar and I will divide them as I see fit" having worked as a waiter before I was lucky to work in a company where your tips are your own. So long as your takings for the day are correct and present at the end of the shift (if you're down, you gotta pay the difference, if you're up then you can keep the extra but if others are down by the same amount it will be asked back from you considering it's clearly just you ended up booking a table off on their sign on accidentally, tips are always kept separate to your takings to ensure it's not a mistake) you keep anything tip wise you've made, the boss won't even ask you how you did because that is your business. This means tips are non-taxed earnings and a good waiter can make in the region of £50 - £100 in them over the course of a weekend (2 shifts, sat night and sun night) that can allow someone to live for a week tax free whilst not dipping in to their wages at all. I am grateful to say I was a very good waiter and so literally could live on my tips for around 6 months whilst saving the paycheck from both of my jobs at the time.Originally Posted by Pike
Wait do they seriously make a lower minimum wage? For once in my life I'm glad I'm stuck in retail hell.
If anything, if the restaurant was always as busy as a saturday and sunday night and I worked the same number of hours I work now in retail? I would be earning on average £300 more per week than I do now based on earning 50 - 100 in tips every 2 days. I would also be fatter than fat because working as a waiter made me gain 2 stone in weight over the course of 6 months.
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