Josser

http://tinyurl.com/create.php

I hadn't realised that breakages were taken from tips.

I also like "Pizza Express pockets an 8 per cent "admin charge" on all tips given by chip-and-pin. When their 20- year-old staff member Nabil Guirguis started informing customers about this, and said he would prefer a cash tip, they fired him. (They claim he was "misleading" customers.)"

Josser

Whoops, that URL should be
http://tinyurl.com/3gebfp

analogue

Hah! When workers on the Continent complain, employers always point to the British economic 'model' as the system to copy.

ira

In Europe, I always leave tips in cash, not on the CC.

asalamy

I had no idea that the employees got so little ... yikes. Think I will join Ira and try to tip in cash from now on!

walkinaround

josser...why are you breaking from the team? our response to every single tipping thread is that we provide our waiters a 'living wage', our waiter remuneration system is the best in the world and the most respectful to the employee. that's the script for all tipping threads. why the need to confuse things?

avalon

Becuase it's good to know that some of those service included fees are not going where we thought they were. We usually leave our tips in cash when nor included as normal , as in France, but from now on all will be cash. I don't feel like giving extra to the management, especially Carluccio's where we woften dine. Pay the fair wage and extras are for the waitpersons!

kerouac

At the café where I was a partner in Paris, the tips were always exclusively in cash and were thrown into a communal metal Lavazza coffee can. Naturally, I can't say that nobody ever cheated, but once a week all of the tips were counted out and each employee received the same amount.

They appeared to be quite happy with the amount, although they received a living wage that was above the government minimum.

It was a good and unified team, though, and probably this sort of system would not work in a place with 20 waiters where some are excellent and friendly and others somewhat less so. Our place never had more than 6 employees.

traveller1959

I know Kerouac's practice from German restaurants, too.

This way, also the kitchen staff will get their share (because people give tips only when the food is good).

Anyway, it is always a good idea to tip in cash. (Also with regard to the tax authority.)

Padraig

traveller1959 wrote: "Anyway, it is always a good idea to tip in cash. (Also with regard to the tax authority.)"

As somebody who pays all my taxes, I dislike tax evasion, and object to suggestions that we should connive at such things.

hetismij

I knew about the breakages bit from stayin in a hotel near york last year for a wedding. A couple of glasses were broken, and the poor boy responsible not only got a public chewing off from his supervisor (which improved the atmosphere at the wedding no end) but he told us afterwards it meant he was effectively working that whole evening for no pay as he would have to repay the full retail (overinflated) price! We asked how much he would be charged per glass and he said 12 pounds!!!! For bog standard cheapo pub style wine glasses.
After the hotel refused to accept his offer to pay for the glasses my brother slipped the lad a 20 pound note.

Not all employers in Europe are so bad, and most restaurants do make sure all tips, including those on a credit card, either reach the intended person or are shared amongst all the staff. I think it is a peculiarly British law that allows the restaurant to keep the tip in this way..

I tend not to tip cash for a meal mainly because I never carry much cash.
As someone who pays a lot in income tax I'm not in favour of organised tax evasion either.