SERVICE WHERE SERVICE IS DUE
EAMONN: Here’s a good tip – a service charge should go to the people providing that service. I know a lot of restaurant owners will say that’s them, but in the eyes of us, the customers, it’s not. I’ve worked tables and bars, so has Ruth – and we would both say, as teenagers, we worked hard and learned a lot. We both developed social skills and the bottom line was, we knew the nicer we were to customers and the more efficient we were, the more we earned. In short, the harder we worked, the more chance we had of getting a tip.
Today it’s harder for waiting staff. Younger people don’t tend to tip. In my day, I knew I had to fuss round men. They were the tippers because, in those days, they paid the bill. They also often paid in cash. Cash made people feel generous, especially if they’d had a drink or two! But now tough new laws are being demanded to stop many restaurant bosses pocketing tips intended for staff. It’s reckoned that two-thirds of employers take a slice of the gratuity you thought went to the wait staff.
Bear this in mind: restaurant owners are banned from keeping cash tips – but there is nothing to stop them taking a cut when the bill is settled by card. So the first thing I am going to do, and I urge you to do the same, is try to resist paying the service charge on your bill, which you’re quite entitled to do – and instead, leave the cash for those who you want it to go to. Many waiting staff are already on minimum wage. I think it’s a minimum obligation from us to them – particularly the good ones – to put our money where our mouths have been.
‘Bosses pocket tips meant for staff’ Eamonn