I worked a Christmas party tonight with one other bartender today. Usually we tip out $5 a day to the kitchen, we don’t hire chefs. The owners just cook.
Anyways for the Christmas party my co worker mentioned we’d be tipping out more but the amount was insane to me. It was very busy and we worked incredibly hard and I only got $400, we split tips so she also made $400. Now I’m not greedy but I worked the exact same company party last year with her and we made more than that yet our sales this year were basically doubled.
So I asked, turns out the owner took $500 from our tips as tipout. His reason being we didn’t tip him out last year but we literally asked him if he wanted tip out and he said no. Keep in mind it’s a “family owned” bar so all the profits from the huge tab went to the owners.
My co worker and I made $400 each. He took $500. HE MADE MORE IN TIPS THAN WE DID. I’m so angry
Edit: I don’t even usually make that much. I on average make about $80 a day on my usual shifts. I was really counting on this money.
Edit 2: I just want everyone to know I’m not a super rich bartender this is literally a once a year opportunity for me.
Edit 3: I googled it for my location and it’s totally legal.