I work at a well known sandwich chain in southern California, the starting and ending rate is $15 per hour with tips. I actually get paid ok because I live in a vacation city where tips are ingrained in the culture, I get paid well because we have no other employees. Recently we had a homelesscwoman with several kids work with us for a few hours a day so she could have some income on the books to help with potential housing, she was living off of hotel vouchers. The point of my post is that when she would work mornings thru the lunch rush I would let her keep the cash tips, I am not a manager btw. You can't yield your cc tips because they are built in.
The owner of the franchise who has three stores also works with her some days and with me on my days. She has an employee profile where she is classed as a shift manager at whichever store she clocks in at. With that she takes an equal share for any tips we bring in. Now if I work with someone on the morning shift and alone for the closing shift the money is enough to get by in socal, with a partner not so much. The worst thing though is that she takes a share of the morning and lunch tips, which can be as little as $3 or as much as $40, morning customers just don't tip, and btw she knows the woman's situation but still takes a cut. She is one of the typical Noone wants to work people, she says why should I pay more, have their skills improved? I always say has the gas gotten twice as much better? My apartment isn't 70% bigger but my rent has raised that much in 5 years. This is very temporary for me, I'm starting bartending school this month and living in a vacation spot bartenders do exceedingly well, I just can't understand the thinking. Tanking your own business on principle.