Tips for owners bar tending

[d_striker]

Interesting. The waiters that d_striker knows may make $100 on a slow night, Apparently d_striker's friends are near the top 10% of incomes for waiters. The waiters the Bureau of Labor Statistics knows: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes353031.htm make on average $9.95/hr, or $20,710 annually.

I'm not going to play into your antagonistic troll attempt with all of your insinuations and accusations.

But I will say this. I have worked at many fine dining restaurants and managed a couple. I have also worked at a couple of chain restaurants.

My sales at fine dining restaurants were easily $1000. Do the math with a 20% average gratuity. At chain restaurants, my sales were easily $500. Again do the math.

It wasn't until I wanted to buy a house that I started reporting my tips. It is very common for servers to not report their tips. Maybe this is where the Bureau of Labor is getting their statistics from.

I made more money waiting tables four nights a week and going to school full time than I currently do working 40+ hour weeks as a Supply Chain Analyst at a manufacturing company.

[nateo]

I made more money waiting tables four nights a week and going to school full time than I currently do working 40+ hour weeks as a Supply Chain Analyst at a manufacturing company.

Even if that's true, why exactly does that mean it's OK to steal their tips?

The issue is, under the law, tips belong to the person the tips are given to, unless the person is in a qualified tip pool. An owner cannot be in a tip pool. Therefore, if you're an owner, and you take tips from your subordinate, you are taking property that does not belong to you.

"Taking property that does not belong to you" is normally called "stealing."

I'm not "insinuating" anything. I'm being very direct: what you're proposing is both illegal and immoral.

Don't take my word for it. This has been discussed to death previously, but I guess you didn't care to read the whole thread:

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/tip-pooling-credits-service-employees-29804.html

"The basic rule of tips is that they belong to employees, not the employer. Employees can't be required to give their tips or any part of them to the company, except as part of a valid tip pooling arrangement (see "Tip Pooling," below) -- and even then, the tip pool must be divided only among certain other employees. The employer can't be part of the pool."

"Only employees who regularly receive tips can be part of the pool. Employees can't be required to share their tips with employees who don't usually receive their own tips, like dishwashers or cooks. And no employers are allowed in the pool: Tips from a tip pool can't go to employers or, in some states, managers or supervisors."

[d_striker]

Even if that's true, why exactly does that mean it's OK to steal their tips?

The issue is, under the law, tips belong to the person the tips are given to, unless the person is in a qualified tip pool. An owner cannot be in a tip pool. Therefore, if you're an owner, and you take tips from your subordinate, you are taking property that does not belong to you.

"Taking property that does not belong to you" is normally called "stealing."

I'm not "insinuating" anything. I'm being very direct: what you're proposing is both illegal and immoral.

Actually, you ARE insinuating that I'm stealing tips. I was speaking to the discrepancy between your Labor statistic and my own personal experience. Again, you're jumping to conclusions and insinuating that I'm saying it's ok to take tips based on actual wages.

I made my original post to get direction. You've made it very clear, albeit in a very aggressive manner, that it is not legal. That is the answer I was looking for. I could have done without your aggressive accusations.

Thanks, sort of.

[ChesterBrew]

FWIW, I interpreted nateo's usage of "you" in any cases of stealing from employees to be hypothetical (If "you" do x, then y will occur") and not a personal attack.

At any rate, glad you received the clarifications you were looking for. Good luck...

[nateo]

FWIW, I interpreted nateo's usage of "you" in any cases of stealing from employees to be hypothetical (If "you" do x, then y will occur") and not a personal attack.

That's true, I meant "you" in that context as an indefinite personal pronoun, like "one."

D_striker, I understood you weren't currently stealing from your employees, but that you were considering doing so. You apparently didn't know that was illegal, "stealing" and/or wrong.

In any case, I'm glad we got that straightened out. I apologize if my moral opposition to stealing came across as overly aggressive.

[dantose]

I would like thoughts on tap room bar tenders splitting tips even if one of the tenders is an owner and one an employee.

Short answer, No, don't do it. There may be a couple weird special circumstances where it would be technically legal, but even in those unusual situations, it would look bad.