Let’s say you dine at a restaurant and your bill total comes to $39, tax included.
You hand the waiter a $50 bill and say, “Keep the change; it’s a tip.” He takes it and thanks you.
What does he *actually * do? Put the $50 bill into the register and literally take out $11 in cash and put it his pocket?
Or put the $50 into the cash register but write on some worksheet log; “Customer paid $50 for a $39 meal; told me to keep the $11 difference as a tip,” so the manager can pay him the tips later?
When I was a waiter, the $50.00 bill goes in the till and a $10.00 bill and one dollar bill goes into my pouch on my apron. Just like the customer’s change would have for the trip back to the table. The only difference is that instead of the customer receiving the change, it would have been switched into my “tip pocket” (after busing the table). Then the one dollar bill goes into the jar for the dishwashers tip. This is shared with the “Pearl Diver” and any buss staff that we may have had.
This was my family’s store rules. If the restaurant has different rules it is done their way.
While I personally never had a manager try to stiff me for tips, I have heard horrer stories about many that do. This is why I try to always either hand the waitstaff their tip, or I leave it on the table while they are there.
Some places, exactly what 48Willys said. This is with cash. I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere that cash wasn’t tipped out immediately.
Some places, if paid with a credit card, the server adds the tip to the credit card machine per what you’ve put on the receipt then takes it out and puts it in her tip jar or whatever.
Some places, if paid with a credit card, the server has to wait until a manager reconciles all the checks with the tips and does the machine thingy and THEN gets their tips. This doesn’t necessarily happen the same day, either.
Because of places that do number 3, if we go somewhere new, we always ask the server if they get their tips right away - if they don’t, we always tip cash even if we’re paying with a card.
Either of those options work. In our locksmith shop, we often do it the first way: make change in the register, put change directly into tech’s pocket. However, a counterexample would be where the customer is paying with a check or a credit card. In that situation, we have to make a note to add $11 more onto the tech’s next paycheck.
It is worth noting that the IRS has a rule for this. If you get more than $20 in tips during any single calendar month, you are required to report the tips to your employer and it counts as income, so they have to take taxes out of it on your next paycheck. So, in that situation, even if you take the cash and put it directly into your pocket, you still have to write it on the log. Suppose your base salary is $2,000 ($1633 after taxes) plus you get a total of $640 in tips that month and the taxes on that $640 comes to $93. Your pay stub that month says you made $2,640 in wages and tips, and your take home pay is $1633+640-93=$2180. But if you already took the $640 in your pocket, then your take home pay is $1540, which is $93 less than if you hadn’t reported the tips.
I can’t imagine working in a restaurant and getting less than $20 in tips per month. The employers know this. So they’d have a rule that you have to write in on the log regardless of whether you take the cash now or later. And, not surprisingly, employees are tempted to under-report the amount of cash in order to pay less in taxes. If the IRS finds out you did it, they can make you pay the taxes owed, plus penalties and interest, and even charge you with the crime of tax evasion.
The till or cash drawer has to balance with the sales receipts at the end of the shift. The cashier puts in a new cash drawer at the beginning of their shift, counts the money to be sure that the amount is correct. At the end of their shift the remove the cash drawer and run a register print out of the sales during that shift. Then they balance the starting amount against the sales and remaining amount.
So in the OP example only $39 belongs in the till to match the sale that has been entered. So naturally the waiter removes his $11 to keep the till in balance.
This is for cash sales. There are a number of different was that tips are passed to the waiter on debit and credit card sales, but the general idea is the same.
One variation that hasn’t been mentioned: Some restaurants actually use a tip pool. All tips go into one common pot which is then divided up amongst the staff. So in that case, the cash would probably be taken out of the register and put into whatever box or jar the staff to pool their tips.
Suppose my bill, with tax, comes to $50. I add a $10 tip and pay by credit card. The credit card company takes 3%. How much does the business give to the waitstaff in pre-tax gross income? The entire $10, or the after-bank-fee $9.70?
At the restaurant in the hotel I work at the whole $10 is passed on to the waiter; and I’ve never heard from any staff who have every seen anything different.
The credit card commission is has so many variables that matching up the commission to a particular payment would be a full-time job. And some kind of blanket ‘we’ll keep 3% of your credit card tips’ would be very unpopular with the staff.
My dad used the term ‘pearl diver’. He told me it was slang for person who washes dishes, but never told me the etymology. (I doubt he knew.) Hearing ‘pearl diver’ for ‘dishwasher’ confused me when I was little, as I remember watching Japanese girls diving for pearls.
My guess is that ‘pearl diver’ came about as a sarcastic retort. A guy asks a dishwasher what he’s doing. The dishwasher says, ‘I’m diving for pearls! WTF does it look like I’m doing?’
I have never tipped a locksmith. Never heard of it. Is it common for your customers to tip?