This past month I got a third job… rent went up… serving at a small restaurant and market. The market’s a few years old, the restaurant portion has been open 7 months. At the interview I was told it’s tip-share among the wait staff, bussers, and kitchen and we’d be making $15-18 hrly “depending on performance.” Obviously this is a red flag in a tipped position because your tips determine your performance, in theory. There is a cultural and language barrier at this restaurant, so I beared that in mind when accepting the position. The restaurant is busy and the menu is fairly pricey, so when I got my first direct deposit (no pay stub) and calculated they were paying me exactly $15/hr I was pissed. So I decided to survey everyone I work with and found they all had the same story, even people who’d been there longer. Some people were told we’d be making $15-20, some $15-25, but always with that convenient “depending on performance” caveat. Then I asked one of the bussers and she’s making $10/hr!! Pretty sure that’s below min wage but guess they don’t care since they’re paying her under the table. So waiters are making $15, bussers $10…. WHERE THE FUCK ARE OUR TIPS? We make a fuckton. For reference, I may have accidentally pocketed majority of my cash tips tonight which were in the far minority of my tips in their entirety, and just with those cash tips I made $23 an hour (in addition to my “$15 hourly”). So just imagine if my other $150 or so in card tips were being added into the equation, not to mention whatever tips my coworkers made. Even if they WERE tipping out bussers and kitchen I’d still be making fire tips… but they’re not! So….. they’re stealing them. There’s also some new “rule” that if you don’t log one of your credit card receipts and it can’t be found at the end of the night that’s $100 off your paycheck. We love an illegal rule… I’d like to see em try that one honestly
What really fucking kills me is that if I reached into their register and walked out with the cash they’d call the police and I’d get arrested, but if I called the police for them stealing our tips they’d do NOTHING. I’m in the process of figuring out what to do, how to exact my revenge lol, or if I should just cut my losses now rather than later. It’s a bummer cus it’s actually a pretty cool little spot and could be making killer tips. Any advice on resources to report them? Legal action?