Assuming of course that they don’t have to surrender it to go into a common pot. There was a scandal years ago in London when it was discovered that servers at the famous “Le Gavroche” didn’t get their tips.
If it was given to them as cash, how could they not receive it?
“If it was given to them as cash, how could they not receive it?” – Because they need to give to a pool.
As the article has stated.
(Tips are often pooled; don’t punish the entire staff because your fish didn’t come out in a timely fashion.)
However, you may feel about the necessity of tipping or the norm of tipping percentage…Do you feel this article is accurate?
They have to surrender it to the common pot.
If it is a personal cash transaction with your server, how can it be pooled for the entire staff?
And if that is my intent, the establishment should respect it… and if they don’t I should be informed of it {so I can take my business elsewhere).
I get the point of a tip jar, but if I choose to reward an individual for great service, they should receive it… and if they won’t that should be made clear to patrons beforehand.
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I imagine it would be noticed if you were the server who mysteriously doesn’t make any contributions to the tip pool. When everyone else does.
Yeah… but that’s a service charge, and not a tip. IMHO tips are based on the level of service provided by the provider.
I’ve had Lyft and Uber drivers that are worth less than the min 10% I give them, and some that are worth serious rewards I’ll send them via PayPal or Zello. These transactions are similar to cash so I know they get them, and who they’re from.
If there is a tip-pooling agreement, then this agreement has long established before you walked in the restaurant. There are many restaurants doing this. It sounds like is all new to you? Look, we are just saying what is really going on. What is truly going on is that tips are sometime pooled and shared.
They did, and then they put it in a pool.
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No, it’s not new to me, I get the tip jar. But IMHO it sucks that I can’t reward employees that are better than most any more than I can the average {or less than}.
Not unlike a head chef that can’t do anything about the cooks on their line regardless of their performance. It supports mediocre results.
Just not a fan of the method.
No, it’s not. There are restaurants that pool tips. This is not new news.
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In the UK, the service charge IS the tip. Everyone understands that and understands it’s not obligatory to pay it
There are exceptions, of course. Such as unwise American tourists who, to the delight of servers, will pay the service charge and then tip as well. Usually at their regular rate for the US, not the regular rate for the UK.
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I can’t speak for the UK, but wait staff in Germany is generally not paid the pathetic pittance thrown at them stateside ($2.83/hr in PA).
It’s a shit system.
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Although we have different rates for younger people, the applicable national minimum wage applies to all sectors of society. Generally speaking, restaurant servers are not minimum wage jobs and folk get paid slightly above minimum wage, even at the lower end of the market.
I hate the tipping system/culture in the US. I wish we could make it stop. Why don’t we make it stop? I’ll never get it.
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From an outsider’s observation, it’s because it fits with America’s general culture and society. I’ve said before that, even though our countries share the same language, America is the most “foreign” place that I visit. It’s so different, in so many ways, from the visit experience when I go to another European country
I remember reading many tipping threads on Chowhound and was always surprised about how little people varied their “normal” tip, regardless of how bad the service had actually been. Now if I can see that, I’m sure servers can see that. Which suggests many may take the view that they can earn x% if they work their arses off or only a little bit less and have a nice easy shift.
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long time back, in the discussions about tipping, one poster - who claimed to have worked long time as a server - went on a tear about her employer “stealing” her tips and how poorly servers were compensated . . . .
several posts later she stated she made so much money in tips she didn’t care if her employer was stealing (from) her tips.
so one has to be a bit careful about what one believes…
I did consulting work for two restos during the ‘pay a living wage’ rage - specifically doing the cost analysis of wages, taxes, benefits, etc. so I have a pretty dang good insight into the subject.
and certainly there’s going to be crooks in every industry trying to beat the system. as little as “the public” knows about how tipped workers are compensated, I found the tipped workers themselves know little more . . .
it’s also not the system - you are very badly informed.
Many tried. few succeeded, and even those few reverted back.
The only obstacle is that the vast majority of servers and majority of customers support it. Other than that, yeah, no one likes it 
I cant speak for all Americans here, but we dont “reward for good service”, and we rarely adjust for bad service. A tip these days is essentially a mostly automatic service charge, not much different than the tax. We dont really hate tipping. We hate how expensive eating and drinking has become here (in NYC at least)
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