I worked for a small ‘Mom and Pop’ theatre company (I know that seems weird, but I can’t think of another way to phrase it). We stage fun, interactive shows year-round, but we’re especially slammed this time of year (our busy season is Halloween to New Year’s Eve). For example, I’m doing five shows this weekend, and it’s not just performing: we set up the space, help serve the meals (it’s a dinner theatre), clear the tables, perform the show, and clean up the space when the show is done. All for $1/ticket (if our house is packed, I’ll make about $100/show).
At the end of our shows, we usually ask for tips, and sometimes we do pretty well. However, during this Holiday season, management (the Mom and Pop team who runs the place) has decided to add the gratuity to the ticket price, so we’ll get ‘tips’ on our paychecks. In theory, I’m okay with that because it means we’ll get the same amount in ‘tips’ for every show, and it will make it easy for me to budget.
Last night, though, I did a show, and — at the end — a customer loved the show so much he slipped $40 cash in my hand. I told him that tips were included and he did not have to give a cash tip (even though it was appreciated). He insisted because the show went above and beyond his expectations. I thanked him and then divided the $40 between the cast for that night (we each got about $6 bucks).
I told the ‘Mom’ what happened, and she was perturbed. She said $5 would be taken from each of our ‘paycheck tips’ since the customer gave us cash. I explained to her that we (the cast) did not ask for a tip of any kind, and when the customer gave us the money, we tried to give it back and tried to explain to him any tips were already included in the ticket price. He said he knew and he wanted to give us more because he (and his family) had so much fun. ‘Mom’ didn’t want to hear it, and just repeated that $5 would be taken out of paychecks because we got a cash tip.
Now if I do my job well and entertain the hell out of people, my pay might be cut. Why should I even try anymore? Ugh.