So I am gonna be blunt about this situation:
I work at a local coffee shop in my town that is well know and has several locations. Recently last month, they decided to change the way our pay is distributed. Usually at the end of every shift, the people who worked that shift take the cash tips and credit tips (you know, pretty normal and reliable) while being paid between $9.85-$11.15 an hour. It's a pretty busy and well known place so tips push pay up to around $22 an hour. This is where it all goes to shit.
The pay change sounded like bullshit and EVERYONE hated the idea, except the owner. He decided to put in affect tip pooling. Except, instead of tip pooling for each shop, the ENTIRE company tip pools and the money get distributed based on hours worked. Which didn't make sense, because the fact that I work at one of the busiest location while other locations only have about 1/5 of the business. Not only does this seem insane, but I could have gotten a job at McDonald's and been paid more now.
This morning was ridiculous as well. I had an open shift from 7am-1:45pm. I was suppose to work with my supervisor, yet when it came time to work, they didn't show up. This would have been the 4th shift in almost 2 weeks that I had to deal with this. Luckily for me, yesterday I had an interview for a cook position, I have 8 years experience as a cook including 4+ years as a high end sushi chef (I quit that job last year because my manager said I couldn't leave to help partner take our dog, who was having a seizure, to the vet).
They are also about to open ANOTHER location and just bought an entire building to have a new kitchen setup. Don't even get me started on the way the have kitchen work. Oh yeah, every time I have worked this past week our shift labor cost has averaged 3%-8%
I would rather do things that I enjoy as my job (I am a highly knife sharpener with japanese whetstones) but I am pretty poor and would need an obscene amount of money to even get it started, but I am fine with working small jobs to save up in order to do that.
TL;DR – My job made random pay cuts to supplement other workers that worked easier jobs, while making more money and telling us they are in the red on sales.