Is a 2% tip out always necessary.?

Question

Its actually a few questions

i have been a waitress at this current resturaunt now for 4 years. ( in Ontario) it isnt a very fancy resturaunt, and many people ive talked to didnt even know they were supposed to tip so ill start off with that.

Currently the wage i work for is 7.60 an hour. + tips which can be good or poor on certain nights.

As of a few months ago we have started to tip out 2% of our sales. That goes to the host/hostess and kitchen staff. This just came out of the blue and were told that this wasw the way it had to be. Obviously the other servers were not very impressed, however to me it does make sence considering we cant really do our job without people actually preparing the food.

So my question is what happens if you have to tip out more than what your tips were that day. i had to tip out 20 dollars because my table of 50 people did not leave me a cent. i had other tables that night but i ended up leaving work with -5 dollars.. Is this legal? what should i do?

Answer 1

You should NOT be leaving in the hole. If you do not get tipped you do not leave 2%. The 2% should be off the top of your total tips. The manager should have a system in place for checking tips that come in, and then figuring out 2%. Why should you go in the hole?? I would never do that & I have waitressed and tended bar for 12 years.

You have to stand up for yourself, this is so true in life, but even truer in the waitress world!!

Answer 2

Never heard of tipping out a percentage of your sales. At my restaurants, servers tip out a percentage of their TIPS. That way, they're tipping out a percentage of money they actually made.

How awful that you actually lost money. I don't know if it's legal or not, but it certainly sounds wrong.

Answer 3

Where I work we make 2.125 an hour and tip out 3% of our sales.  Sometimes we do leave  in the hole.  But our managers say there are lots of times where we make more money.  So it's "supposed" to even out and the end of the pay period.  (????)  I don't get it either but labor laws differ in Canada.  You may want to check with your local labor board.

Answer 4

That is a good wage for a waitress, but I don't know what the laws are in Canada.

You need to talk to your boss. That is not right. If your boss does not let up, then find another job. You should not have to pay out of your pocket, so that the cook/hostess gets paid more. If it weren't for you, the cook/hostess wouldn't have a job either.

The restaurant business is weird, because we all rely on each other for our jobs. But talk to your boss. That is not right.

Answer 5

Have served for many, many years, Yes, restaurants can and do this, this is a generally accepted practice in States and the tip out can and usually is much higher.   Most people tip ok, but the ones that don't ruin it for you. However, you make much more an hour, as we make $2.13 hour here, so you can not compare the two.......the tip out generally is % of sales total  to hostess, and % of alcohol to bar. Talk to manager and ask rules and if you are still unhappy, look for another job.

Answer 6

In my opinion, the intention is that you should only count those meal checks on which you collected tips. When you collect from the guests, if a tip is paid, mark your copy of the check with your initials.  At the end of the day - only total the checks that have your initials and tip out 2% of that total.