Quote Originally Posted by Jessweeee♪ View Post
As far as I know, in some places they can deduct your pay so that your deducted pay + tips = minimum wage even. I hear it's better to split the tips evenly because there's less backstabbing that way, but I've never been a waitress before, so I wouldn't know.
I'd disagree, in a restaurant you divide the floor in to sections such as R1 - R6, G1 - G6 etc. Now some sections will see more customers than others but because of table size the bills will be lower and thus generally speaking the tips per table/customer too. Other sections will have larger parties and thus less turn over but the tips in general will be bigger per table/customer in return. This means someone who has a series of smaller tables to manage can make on average the same per night as someone who has a series of larger tables. To be fair though you rotate the staff so each time they work they're not just doing the same section. If there are too many waiters and not enough customers on an evening it is common to send some staff home but only if they really want to go (on a saturday night being given the choice between working or going out drinking with friends it's not so hard to find those who wish to leave for the evening) their section is then absorbed by the remaining staff so that they will be busier. I was never asked to go home early but then, I was sleeping with one of my managers at the time.

In regards to staff backstabbing each other? Really just doesn't happen, at least not that I've ever seen in London. There is competition certainly for who can get the next customers in to their section. But you know your limits as a waiter, if you have trouble managing 6 tables at once then why fight to get a 6th table in your section filled when you've got 5 already? Tips from the 6th table will suck if they even exist at all due to the fact that you have no ability to serve them as well as the 5 you're focused on already. Though normally in my restaurant the only real competition time came up when myself and the other male waiters would spot a group of very attractive girls in the area waiting to be seated. If however you've got a full restaurant and someone is struggling more often than not you end up helping each other out either by collecting the order for that person from a table and passing it on or asking "do you want me to take table R6 because you're really busy and I see they're waiting to be served?" if the person says no then fine, if they say yes then you run that table whilst those customers are there and any tips generated from it are yours. If a person helps you serve a lot of drinks/food to a table (for example parties require drinks and food generally speaking together and so 2 or even 3 waiters will go at once getting the food to the table in swift order) then it is customary to give them a percentage of whatever tip you make but not enforced.

So yeah in general, as PG said: Shared tips are stupid and don't promote good service.