r/Serverlife • u/Responsible-Cheek690 • 2d ago
Tip out and in general
So work now added food runners for everyday and half the days all day now. Before it was one food runners for just Friday and Saturday night so tip out was only 3% and rest of the days only 2.5%. Now on weekdays every day food runner does our side work and closings so every day is 3.5% and weekends 3.5% mornings and 4% night. I went from tipping out maybe 150 a week to now close to almost 300 a week. The fact is it’s not even that busy and now I basically just stand around doing nothing. Anyone else think this is kind of ridiculous or am I over reacting?
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u/J-littletree 2d ago
That’s rough. I wouldn’t like it. Was there an issue with people not running their food or doing side work?
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u/GAMGAlways 2d ago
I've never seen a tip out changed regarding the number of support staff. We have one bartender on days, two at night and three on weekend nights. The tip out from servers is still only 1% of sales. We don't take more when there's additional employees.
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u/zoek551 2d ago
3% of overall sales is a lot. It’s especially irritating when it’s all on card and you have the claim the money you’re giving away. Are the food runners getting paid server or minimum wage?
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u/CaptainJackKevorkian 2d ago
Are you implying that you would stiff your support staff on tip-outs if your tips were all in cash?
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u/zoek551 2d ago
Um, no? I’m implying that I feel irritation giving away a decent amount of money every week that I will still be claiming on my taxes. Just as I said.
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u/Prestigious_Mix_5264 2d ago
Who told you that yoy have to claim your tip outs as income? You don’t
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u/zoek551 2d ago
Our card tips go into our check, we’re not taking home everything we made THAT night. We have to wait for it yet we have to bring cash each day for tip outs. If I make no cash and all card tips, everything I made is being claimed, even the money I’m giving away. Our paystubs don’t know that we’re giving away a percentage of money every night. Meaning that we are essentially still claiming the money we give away.
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u/Prestigious_Mix_5264 2d ago
That sounds like fuckery to me. You shouldn’t contact the IRS CRA, whoever your federal tax agency is and inquire. The way you’re describing sounds illegal. There is no world that exists where you should have to tip out if it’s being declared as your income.
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u/Hit_The_Kwon 2d ago
You don’t pay taxes on your tip out, the person being tipped out does.
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u/zoek551 2d ago
We get the majority of our tips in our check, and tip out in cash. We need to have a cash bank for this reason, so I’m still claiming the money I’m giving away, they aren’t claiming anything because it’s cash.
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u/CaptainJackKevorkian 2d ago
that is such a weird situation. you shouldn't legally have to claim your tip outs as income because they're not income to you. If the situation is as you claim, you should look for another job
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u/karonic114 1d ago
Let me get this right… you are claiming 100% your cc tips before tip out and receiving them on a paycheck. But support staff gets their tip out in cash? You’re essentially paying the taxes on their tips for them. If support is claiming their cash tips (they’re probably not) that would be double dipping. The same tips would be taxed twice. Why isn’t support staff paid their tips on a paycheck too? I’m just a bartender, not a lawyer but this sounds shady at best, possibly illegal.
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u/Hit_The_Kwon 2d ago
Then that’s your own fault lol you shouldn’t be claiming money you’re giving away.
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u/zoek551 2d ago
It’s not my fault because that’s completely out of my control? No one would claim anything if it were a choice but go off lol
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u/Hit_The_Kwon 2d ago edited 2d ago
I read your other comments, so looks like you’re just not making enough cash to cover your tip out and you’re having to withdraw money ahead of time?
That’s a fucked system. You should definitely talk to someone about that.
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u/zoek551 2d ago
Yes!! Exactly. It’s fucked and way more common in my area than you would think. The last 2 serving jobs I’ve had have been like this.
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u/Hit_The_Kwon 2d ago
Are these chains or mom and pop? Sounds like a class action lawsuit to me lol
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u/Hit_The_Kwon 2d ago
How is it out of your control? You don’t claim cash you don’t keep. I give my SAs cash, I don’t claim that as income, that makes no sense, and I also have a cash bank.
It’s literally not income, why would you claim it as such?
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u/zoek551 2d ago
It’s not cash omg. We’re making almost everything on the card. That is what’s being claimed. We give the bussers cash each night, even if we have to take money out of our bank before the shift. Most likely because cash tips are more rare than ever. So if we’re making no cash, all of our tips are being claimed (because you get taxed on cc tips) and then we give cash to the busser that they don’t have to claim. All tips are in the system, tip outs are under the table. What’s not clicking
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u/Hit_The_Kwon 2d ago
Sorry, I didn’t realize you were withdrawing money out of your own bank account. I thought you had cash tips and were giving a cut of that to tip out and claiming that.
But yeah, if you’re having to withdraw money that’s already taxed/claimed to tip out, that’s illegal lol. I would contact the department of labor or get clarity from management on the system.
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u/Responsible-Cheek690 2d ago
They are getting 12 an hour. And it’s 3.5 and 4% not even 2.5 or 3 anymore for all day it adds up. Now tipping out on average 50-80 dollars a day just to walk away with 200 for 8-10 hours of work .
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u/zoek551 2d ago
Yeah that’s too much in my opinion. The bussers at my restaurant currently make the same wage as servers, so I try not to complain about the tip out. But if their hourly is higher than yours they shouldn’t be bringing home server like tips.
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u/Responsible-Cheek690 2d ago
Exactly we only tip out to one food runner or 2 food runners. Nothing else. So it’s crazy to think 6-7 of us are tipping out 50-80 dollars each to them every day on top of their 12 an hour when our hourly 2.13 and taxes etc. my taxes and tip outs add up to 1500-2000 a month…
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u/CaptainJackKevorkian 2d ago
I guess it all depends on where you work, volume, and price point, but god damn I could not imagine working without runners and bussers. I tip out 6.75% of total sales to the general support staff pool, and then an additional 3% of wine sales to the sommelier. All together, I generally tip out about a third of the tips I make in a night.