George seems to think that a business should provide a “free” space for a server to come in, do his/her thing and walk away, with no responsibility to those who contributed to his success. Herein lies the justification for the employer to implement policies regarding the fair sharing of the tips. As long as the laws are followed, that is the right of the employer. I have to think that when a customer walks into a restaurant, he/she is smart enough to realize that there are laws, then policies that are being implemented when it comes to the customer’s money, both the charges and the tips.

If George were to ever step on the other side, into ownership, his eyes would be opened.

So who’s the insane one – the one who understands something that’s explained to them time and time again, or the one who refuses to accept reality?

Just curious.

Imagine if I were to walk into a restaurant and distribute the money in the cash register in the following manner.

1% to the hostess
5% to the bartender
13.4% to the busboys
26.8% to the captain
26.9% to the back waiter
26.9% to the restaurant owner (Chris’s employer)

What’s wrong with this picture?

Are you all to stupid to see how illegal this is?

Restaurants have no more of a right to distribute it’s customer’s tips as a customer, like myself, would have to walk into their restauarant and distribute the money in their cash register.

If I were to walk into a restaurant and begin distributing the money in their cash register, the restaurant would call the police, I would be arrested, and a judge would sentence me to jail. It would be obvious to everyone that I was stealing their property.

But when a restaurant does the exact same thing, takes my private property and begins dividing it up, people act as if it’s perfectly legal. Is this world insane?

How can anyone not see that such business practices are illegal?

Are they putting something in your water to make you stupid?

As a former server myself, I think George is WAY out of line. Once money exchanges hands, it is no longer “your money”.

I am not suggesting that the person I give a tip doesn’t have a right to share my tip with whom-ever they want. What I am stating is that I am not giving my tip to any business owner. Do you understand what I am saying?

While you can do what-ever you want with a tip I give you, it is stealing for someone other than you, namely your employer, to take my tip and share it with whom-ever your employer chooses.

When employers adopt a policy of pooling or sharing tips, they are taking my tip away from the employee to whom I intended to tip without my permission. They are stealing my tip and treating it as if I gave them the tip. When a business adopts a policy concerning how my tip will be shared, they are stealing my tip.

You see, I have a legal right to choose who my tip belongs to. It’s my property. As my property, I am the only one with the authority to decide who it belongs to.

Once I’ve determined who it belongs to, that person, and that person alone, can do what they want with my tip. It becomes their property after, not before, I’ve chosen to give them a tip.

As a consumer who tips on a regular basis, I am hereby declaring that any employer who adopts policies concerning how my tip will be pooled or shared is doing so without my permission and subsequently is illegally stealing my property to utilize for his own purposes. I have not authorized any business to appropriate my tips for me. I will choose who my tip is intended for.

Lauren, you are way out of line for asserting that I am out of line for attempting to protect my private property.

How can I be out of line for simply attempting to protect my private property?

It’s my tip. Please explain why a business owner, rather than I, should decide who my tip beongs to?

Don’t you see how ridiculous it is for an employer to decide who is going to share in the customer’s tip? It’s not the employer’s property. Customers have not authorized the employer to appropriate tips for them. On the other hand, an employee who is given a tip is authorized to pool or appropriate the tip in any manner he or she chooses.

It’s like restaurant owners want to pretend that customers are authorizing the restaurant to appropriate their tips for them. Of course, if I were to pretend that the money in their cash register was mine to use however I choose, I would be locked up in jail. Why the double standard?

Employers who mandate tip pooling should be locked up in jail. Is that straight forward enough? I say they are stealing my property. Who, other than myself, can accurately know whether or not a business is stealing my tip?