sharing your waitress tips?

[yougetthesmiles]

Originally Posted by Baby Blessing

Wish we had energetic young folks here in our area, we would be happy to hire one and pay a minimun wage, can't find any one to do. Maybe Branda could look into working for elderly people and get paid minimum wage and in doing so be appreciated at the same time. Many elderly people can use help in one way or another. I know for myself it is getting harder for me to keep up. What does she think of this suggestion?

She knows were all right! but she says, "Mom, I have to work and go to school with these girls" so I see where she is coming from not wanting to confront them, but she needs to confront her boss and let him know she is not a door matt! With gas being over 3 bucks a gallon, I cant afford to run her back and forth, granted she does give me gas money, but thats not the point.

[Amber_lv]

Well this is what i think yes if she had a buss boy then she should tip him but since she does not and the other girls get min wage she should not share her tips this is her money she earned not the cashier or a cook what she needs to do is this Tell her boss i don't mind sharing my tips but i do mind when i make less than they do for more work if you would like to move me up to min wage i would be more than happy to split my tips.This is wrong she should not have to split her tips with anyone unless it is a buss boy or they were helping her out i do believe this is illeagal and they are taking advantage of her and her age. Really this is like if you worked really hard on a project and the other person didn't they get paid anyway it's not right and if i were you i would put a stop to it now. AAAGGGHHH this makes me so mad when people take advantage and your daughter she needs to stand up for herself there isn't very many honest people left in this world and they will take advantage of her any way they can i'm sure your daughter loves her job but i bet she will love making more money else where. Where she can keep her hard earned money not give it to someone looking for an easy buck.Sorry if i got a little carried away it just gets my goat the nerve of some people! Good luck let us know how it goes.

[cheryl000]

Your daughter is so pretty. I think it's horrible how some places take advantage of high school kids which sounds like what's going on with her. I know it's tough because you're in a bad position. You're still her parent and you're doing the natural protective thing for her because you care. But this can be a big learning experience for her. This can help her practice becoming more assertive. If she's not happy, then I hope that she does end up standing up for what she believes is right. She definitely isn't getting enough money from that job. She could work at McDonalds and come home with MUCH more money than that.
But I hope that she can figure out a way to talk to her boss since she likes the job so much. She should be able to speak to her boss confidentially so that the other girls won't find out. Tell her to describe the problem to her boss and how it effects her. Maybe she can figure out a win-win situation for them both. Tell her to keep practicing in her head what she's going to say if she's nervous.
I am a firm believer in high school jobs. I think it really prepares a young person for the future. Let her know that conflict isn't always a bad thing as long as it's handled correctly. Feeling animosity and being nonassertive because of this is worse. I really think that they can work something out. If anything I'm sure she'll walk away from this experience feeling more like an empowered adult than ever.
Oh yeah, and if they don't do anything about it tell her to score as much free food from the place as possible! J/K!

[Shanatink]

Originally Posted by yougetthesmiles

Ok, I need to vent!! My daughter (16) is a car hop (waitress) for a rootbeer stand, it's just a summer job, something so she can earn some money for the summer. She makes $2.15 a hour plus she gets tips, when she started she was told she is to keep the 1st $20 then she has to split the rest. The other girls make min wage so my question is why should she have to split her tips with the others that make more money then her? Even if she makes $20 a night the girls are still taking her tips, like last night she said she made about $20 the whole night and the girl gave her $11 and took $9 from her. I got mad at my daughter cause I told her she is letting them take advantage of her, she wont say anything to them cause she is scared to, my daughter is not a out spoken person, so how can I get it across to her that this is not right of them. I told her she should talk to the owner but she wont. I want to call them myself but I think this is her job and she should handle it.
What would you all do??? Please I'm at my wits end with this, it has been going on all summer.

When I waited table at Chilis we had to "tip-out" to the bartender, bus boy, and expo. Each one of those people make more money than I did per hour and it was pretty annoying. ANd I have to admit I was cheap, I wasnt going to give them more than I had to but yet they each had thier own way of sort of "harrasing" you for money most of the time using peer pressure. You need to tell her she HAS GOT to stand up for herself.

The worst issue I had was tipping the "expo" person. The Expo was someone that helped gather the food for each order and got it ready to send to the table but they dont do anything besides that. Well they made like $10 an hour in comparison to my $2 and yet they expected each server to tip them out at least $10-$15 each at the end of every shift. They would end up walking away with $100 a night plus $10 an hour while us servers were lucky to make $50. It would make me so mad. Well Chilis recently got sued by a server saying she felt harrassed to give a certain amount for the tip-out and that this wasnt fair, and she won her lawsuit. So now they no longer can force a server to tipout to the expo. Its kind of ridiculous it had to go to court but I wish someone had stood up for us back when I was workgin there.

SO moral of the story: You have to stand up for yourself! There will always be people trying to get your money!

[yougetthesmiles]

well I think I have gathered enough info to take this to the bank lol I hope she see's everyones opinion on this and really decides to stand up for herself. If she don't nip this now she will continue with life and let people take advantage of her and I sure dont want to see that happen.
Thanks everyone for your great suggestions and opinions, I knew I could count on all of you!
Hugs
Missy

[Highlans]

Being from the uk what is a busser??

[yougetthesmiles]

Originally Posted by Highlans

Being from the uk what is a busser??

A busser is someone who clears off the tables after the people has ate.

[cheryl000]

Originally Posted by yougetthesmiles

well I think I have gathered enough info to take this to the bank lol I hope she see's everyones opinion on this and really decides to stand up for herself. If she don't nip this now she will continue with life and let people take advantage of her and I sure dont want to see that happen.
Thanks everyone for your great suggestions and opinions, I knew I could count on all of you!
Hugs
Missy

I agree. I think this will be a great learning experience for her. I'm sure she'd rather learn how to resolve conflict now without much on the line than if she had to resolve a big conflict at work with her real career later on with more risk involved. I think that she'll be fine. The worst they can do is say, "No."

[lolabella]

Okay, I did not read the entire thread, but here is the deal with wages in the U.S. The servers need to be paid the minimum wage at the least, no matter what. If the agreement is that the server gets 2 dollars plus tips, and there aren't enough tips to make the pay minimum wage, the manager is legally required to pay whatever amount necessary so the server gets minimum wage. Let's say I worked for an hour at 2 dollars and didn't get any tips. The store should pay me 2 dollars PLUS 3 dollars and change LEGALLY so I get paid minimum wage. Or what would would be the point of minimum wage to begin with? The restaurants never ever tell their servers that they are required by law to pay up in case the tips are low. They get away with a lot. I remember reading this info in David Shipler's "The Working Poor" or Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed." I'll try to find the exact quote.

Sorry this happened to your daughter. I know I would have felt cheated. Unfortunately, I don't think there is much you can do because they can always just hire someone else that doesn't ask questions.