Server Accuses Restaurant of Stealing Tips Amidst Debate About Minimum Wage; Sparks Debate

Tipping culture in the US has been the subject of a heated debate with customers complaining about restaurants relying on tips instead of paying fair wages to workers. But now a restaurant worker recently took to the internet to call out the restaurant that they work at. In the viral video that has amassed over 40,000 views as of Monday morning, user Katootsie (@I_cant_I_wont) made the allegation and accused them of stealing tips.

"I think this is gonna become a bigger thing," the man began in the clip. "So I’m gonna get you on the ground floor of all this drama that has been unfolding."

He also talked about how when he enquired he was told that not all tipping policies are straightforward. "There’s tipping out and a lot of places do tip pooling, which is like everybody just puts all their tips into a big pool and then management disperses the tips amongst the servers, and the bartenders, and the barbacks and the bussers," he said. He was shocked to hear what the manager had to say.

"The manager was like, 'We lump tips in with the sales, and that all counts as net sales,'" he said he was told. "And then they disperse six percent of that total to everybody."

The worker said the explanation left him confused. "What happens if all the tips added up is greater than 6% of net sales?” he asked. As per the creator, the manager dodged the question and never really gave him an answer. Instead, he said that she was trying to talk the new hires into believing that they could make more money if they stayed with the company.

"I don’t see any way that this is anything but this restaurant just taking tips," he said. The creator then tells his viewers that he is going to wait the first month to see if this arrangement is a scam. 

"I’m gonna wait until I get that, then I’m gonna start asking some questions," he went on to say. Many took to the comment section to talk about the poor arrangement. Many customers also talked about how they always tip in cash because of concerns like this.

"I always tip in cash because I don’t trust the restaurant to distribute tips left on credit card sales," one user commented. "Never have," while another writes, "I worked at a place w/tip pooling. Your % was based on your hours worked. The Mgr got the biggest % cause they’re there the entire shift! They didn’t take tables! I quit! I’m not paying their salary!" to which the creator writes, "That's illegal 100%."

According to the Shavitz Law Group, the employers are only entitled to take the tip credit under certain circumstances and tips are the worker's to keep unless the employer has set up a "tip pooling" system to share tips amongst tipped employees. It is also a violation of the law to have a tipped employee who is being paid less than the federal Minimum Wage and use that employee for duties that are unrelated to the ability to earn tips.

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