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Elite Veteran
Posts: 617
 
| After 7 years of waitressing where I do, I'm finally ready to throw in the towel. They are very difficult to work for, but the customers and coworkers have kept me there. Was hoping to stay until I was done with school, but I'm looking for a new job.
Unethical or illegal? Let me know.
1) If we ever make a mistake on the food we pay for it full price. So if i put in a the wrong entree...well guess I just bought myself dinner. I think this is unethical. It does make it so we don't make mistakes, BUT we are human and do sometimes. The other night someone opened the wrong beer and set it aside. The owner went NUTSSS!!! Yelling someone was going to pay for this and it wasn't going to be her! Half the servers are under 21...umm wouldn't that be illegal to charge THEM for a mistake beer? If so, if they wouldn't have to pay for a mistake drink... why should people over 21 do so then??
2) At the end of the night we pay them 6% of our credit card tips to cover expenses of using the credit card machine. I am not mistaking this for taxes because we do pay taxes as well. Unethical or illegal?
3) If a customer uses a credit card, when it prints the receipt we are required to write down the 3-digit security code on the restaurants copy of the receipt. I have had people MAD, because its suppose to be a SECURITY code. I totally understand because I myself have had my identity stolen.
Would like opinions. Thanks! |
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 Firecracker Dog Lover
Posts: 3175
  
| Sounds to me like I would be looking for a new job. None of it is illegal but if those are their policies not much you can do about it. As a customer no WAY would you be writing down my security code from my card. Wow. |
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 Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | All of it seems sketch.... I've never worked in the restuarant biz before, so not sure. You may want to PM TxDad and see what he says. I'd be looking for something else though. Paying them 6% of your tips seems illegal to me. |
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Sideways Riding Expert
Posts: 11371
Location: ND--it snows, it floods, it snows, it floods | The credit card thing seems sketchy but the rest seems to be okay but very difficult to work with and I would definately be looking somewhere else. |
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  Shipwrecked and Flat Out Zapped
Posts: 16390
Location: DUMPING CATS AND PIGS IN TEXAS :) | I feel your frustrations and think a new job is in order, HOWEVER, NEVER, NEVER complain about an accidental unopened beer.......you scoop that bugger up, run to the bathroom and down it as fast as you can! The rest of the night will seem soooooo much better. |
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 Water Weight Barbie
Posts: 6829
Location: Oz, Kansas | Wow do you work for Amy's Bakery in Phoenix? There's no way in he!! I would give anyone the security code on my receipt. Can you contact the Attorney General's office in your area & ask them? |
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 Hawty & Nawty
Posts: 20424
| I've been that business for years and everything you just described is an utter joke. Please do yourself a favor and get out of there.
Paying for mistakes? They are already pricing those meals for mistakes, I promise you that.
Charging 6% tip for use of credit cards? It sounds illegal as heck but who can afford to check? Nobody.
Unless you're making more than a hundred a day, forget it. |
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 Serious Snap Trapper
Posts: 4275
Location: In The Snow, AZ | When I waitressed, we had to "tip-out" 10%. So 6% doesn't seem too bad. We actually had bussers that would take tips off the table and pocket them. Managers didn't care.
As far as serving alcohol, I thought one had to be of legal drinking age to serve? I could be wrong... |
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Shipwrecked and Flat Out Zapped
Posts: 16390
Location: DUMPING CATS AND PIGS IN TEXAS :) | Side note.....did you ever see that I Love Lucy episode where she and her co-worker eat the "candy" because it's coming too fast for them to wrap it???? lol.....I'd make my mistakes disppear so fast......what unopened beer?? I don't see any beer here.........
What? Somebody put pickles on this burger and the customer didn't want them? Down the hatch......all gone now. No body is going to charge me for some extra pickles lol.... |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 617
| ~BINGO~ - 2014-04-01 10:54 AM
When I waitressed, we had to "tip-out" 10%. So 6% doesn't seem too bad. We actually had bussers that would take tips off the table and pocket them. Managers didn't care.
As far as serving alcohol, I thought one had to be of legal drinking age to serve? I could be wrong...
We do tip out bussers 10% also lol I dont mind that though... I like the kids, they do a good job. I don't think any of them would ever take from us...sorry u had jerks :/ |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 617
| LRQHS - 2014-04-01 10:51 AM
I feel your frustrations and think a new job is in order, HOWEVER, NEVER, NEVER complain about an accidental unopened beer.......you scoop that bugger up, run to the bathroom and down it as fast as you can! The rest of the night will seem soooooo much better.
I am laughing so hard!!!! I freaking wish!!!!!! |
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Shipwrecked and Flat Out Zapped
Posts: 16390
Location: DUMPING CATS AND PIGS IN TEXAS :) | cn1705 - 2014-04-01 10:58 AM LRQHS - 2014-04-01 10:51 AM I feel your frustrations and think a new job is in order, HOWEVER, NEVER, NEVER complain about an accidental unopened beer.......you scoop that bugger up, run to the bathroom and down it as fast as you can! The rest of the night will seem soooooo much better. I am laughing so hard!!!! I freaking wish!!!!!!
Don't wish, little buddy! Make it happen. You put that beer under your apron and run like the wind lol.... |
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 Veteran
Posts: 288
| ~BINGO~ - 2014-04-01 11:54 AM
When I waitressed, we had to "tip-out" 10%. So 6% doesn't seem too bad. We actually had bussers that would take tips off the table and pocket them. Managers didn't care.
As far as serving alcohol, I thought one had to be of legal drinking age to serve? I could be wrong...
Tipping out other employees that assist you doing your job (bussers/dishwashers or event the bartender) is one thing and pretty customary IMO, but tipping out the OWNER because the owner decided to increase her sales by installing a credit/debit card machine.. that is the wackiest thing I ever heard. Essentially you are paying her to work for her if that is the case. You should not have to give any percent of your tips back to the owner. They sound like greedy money grubbers. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| I would speak with the labor board, on hypothetical. Keep documentation, photos, dates, times, etc. When you have a different job report them. |
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 Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | I really don't know any answers but I am thinking if you are under 21 it is illegal to serve the alcohol? Maybe not...
I was a cashier/hostess at the Little America in Cheyenne. let me tell you, I used to go home and have nightmares about my day at work. It was so stressful and I only worked in the coffee shop. The customers were HORRIBLE. Being older (I was 16-17 then) I would now just dump the food all over the couple old nasty regulars and QUIT. I still look back and think how fun that would be. Most of my coworkers were fun and a couple of the managers were nice...guess that is what kept me in check. |
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 Witty Enough
Posts: 2954
Location: CTX | I have never worked as a waitress, but it does sound funny to me. So if you can find something else I would go for it!
Now, your comment about the security-code made me think..... (thanks a lot, now I got a headache....  ) but everytime we give our CC to a waiter/waitress to run through the system they can write down the nr without us knowing.... Me thinks, I will be paying cash from now on.... |
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 Damn Yankee
Posts: 12390
Location: Somewhere between raising hell and Amazing Grace | No advice....but part of the reason hubby and I never put tips on a card if we use a card to pay for the meal. We always tip in cash. I don't know if it helps or not but I think too many times servers, at least the good ones, are way under appreciated.
We also would NEVER in a million years let someone write down the security code. We don't even allow servers to take our cards. We will walk with them to a register if need be. Hubby had almost 2k wiped out of his bank account by a server at a resturaunt in GA two years ago...... |
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 Fact Checker
Posts: 16575
Location: Displaced Iowegian | Legalities
In general, it's not illegal in the United States for a restaurant to assess credit card processing fees against their servers. While there are some exceptions as determined by each state, restaurants are free to assess a processing fee for credit card tips against their servers as long as it doesn't reduce their hourly wage below minimum-wage limits for the state.
Exceptions
Some states, such as California, Colorado, Alaska, Montana, Oregon, and New Mexico, have statutes prohibiting the practice. Washington State has a disclosure statute. While restaurants are not prohibited from the practice, those participating in fee distribution are required to post a notification of such practices in full view of their customers.
Considerations
Servers, many paid only $2.13 per hour without tips, rely on tips to bring their hourly wage up to a livable income. Servers are taxed 15 percent on their tips by the federal government. When tips are left on credit cards, they are 100-percent traceable and auditable by the Internal Revenue Service. Add to that another 1.5 to 3 percent for credit card processing fees and your server takes home $4.10 to $4.17 of your $5 tip. Tipping in cash allows the server to circumvent the processing charge. I don't know what state you are located but here are a few guidelines for the credit card fees....in some states, it IS illegal. Additionally, I am pretty sure that in most every state a waitress MUST be of legal age to serve beer or liquor......it would be illegal to let the person serve and illegal to charge the person for the drink. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 999
Location: Sunny So Cal | Don't know how you worked there for so long? I would have left long ago. I used to waitress but could not handle all the crazy people haha! I do know it is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to serve beer, let alone handle it. |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| In Iowa you only have to be 18 to serve beer. EDIT (I think) I seem to remember serving it when I turned 18. I know I couldn't before that and the kids under me couldn't serve it.
As for having the security code for the CC, I think that's baloney. I ran CCs through and you didn't have to have the CC security code, just the front number.
As for the CC fees, I would think that would come with running a business and shouldn't be the employees responsibility to pay. I know we didn't have to pay for them, that was a part of the owners responsibility.
As for any of this being Unlawful, I would check your state statutes. For it being unethical, that's sort of hard to judge because ethics have to do with personal information and decisions.
Edited by Nateracer 2014-04-01 1:25 PM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 306
| I'm not sure on how illegal any of it is, but I think plenty of it is wrong. I would just quit and look for something else. I work place that stresses you that much isn't worth it. Life is too short.
I worked at a liquor store that if you broke anything accidentally, which as you stated, happens, we are human after all. That we had to pay for it.....I never did. It should be damages that a company expects. I can see 3 strikes your disciplined or something of that matter to increase employee awareness but I wrote orders wrong all the time as a waitress....or the customer just plain changed their mind. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 224
Location: Southern OK aka God's Country | In Oklahoma you do not have to be 21 to serve alcohol. You have to purchase a liquor license and you can serve at the age of 18+. It is, however, illegal to purchase it or consume it if you are under the age of 21. |
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 Pork Fat is my Favorite
Posts: 3791
Location: The Oklahoma plains. | I am not sure of where that info came from that was posted on legalities of service fees? But I thought the business writes that off as a business expense? I thought I remembered seeing a thing in NY about this very issue?
Any how- I would look for a different job. In the mean time- keep a record of what you are paying out and you can deduct it against your income, at least that is what I was able to do for the 15 years plus that I worked in a restaurant.
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Veteran
Posts: 122
| 1) Yea your owners are horrible to do this to their servers. Mistakes happen especially in the service industry. I've worked at quite a few restaurants and the only time someone had to pay was when it was happening over and over again and it was a high price item like a $40 lobster tail. But that rarely happens. If it was just some regular menu item they just let servers/cooks eat it.
2) Another horrible thing the owners are doing. Never heard of this. If they want to accept credit cards it's their responsibility for the charges not the employees. One restaurant I know of the servers don't get to keep their tips, they get a straight wage and the money left goes to owner. If you get caught keeping a cash tip you get fired. Don't know if that's illegal but I certainly would never work there. Unfortunately I think there are ways for employers to do whatever they want and skate by.
3) I feel like this is illegal. There is no reason to have that security code, it's called "security" for a reason. When you send in the batch of receipts there is no need for that code.
I would look for another place. Most restaurants are not like this at all. And alot of what the owner is doing is sketchy so he may get in trouble at some point and it would be better if you're not around. I know the place I work at one point said that we would all have to pay extra taxes if we got audited because certain people were not claiming the right thing and it would fall on all of us not just the specific persons. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 617
| NJJ - 2014-04-01 1:07 PM
Legalities
In general, it's not illegal in the United States for a restaurant to assess credit card processing fees against their servers. While there are some exceptions as determined by each state, restaurants are free to assess a processing fee for credit card tips against their servers as long as it doesn't reduce their hourly wage below minimum-wage limits for the state.
Exceptions
Some states, such as California, Colorado, Alaska, Montana, Oregon, and New Mexico, have statutes prohibiting the practice. Washington State has a disclosure statute. While restaurants are not prohibited from the practice, those participating in fee distribution are required to post a notification of such practices in full view of their customers.
Considerations
Servers, many paid only $2.13 per hour without tips, rely on tips to bring their hourly wage up to a livable income. Servers are taxed 15 percent on their tips by the federal government. When tips are left on credit cards, they are 100-percent traceable and auditable by the Internal Revenue Service. Add to that another 1.5 to 3 percent for credit card processing fees and your server takes home $4.10 to $4.17 of your $5 tip. Tipping in cash allows the server to circumvent the processing charge. I don't know what state you are located but here are a few guidelines for the credit card fees....in some states, it IS illegal. Additionally, I am pretty sure that in most every state a waitress MUST be of legal age to serve beer or liquor......it would be illegal to let the person serve and illegal to charge the person for the drink.
I'm in WI so it must be legal. :( Someone had told me if they did charge it would be around 3% -that most credit card places don't charge 6%...they are just making money off us...
As for Wi, if your over 18 you can serve alcohol.
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 South Texas Hottie
Posts: 12130
Location: IM A DUDE!!!!!!! | I am a chef and some of the things the owner is doing sounds fishy
If a server makes a mistake on an order, we just tell them to get it right and we will usually get that fixed right away. The server never pays for a meal if they make a mistake. The only time a server paid for a meal was when she somehow deleted the reciept from the register. She had to pay over $80 for that meal.
I have never heard of servers paying 6% for a credit card machine! Usually when a server makes credit card tips, they can't get their money until payday. The only time a percentage is taken out of a servers tip is when they have to tip out the bus boy.
The only time we ever take down a security code is when a customer calls in their order and they want to pay for it over the phone. When a customer pays for their meal at the restaurant we just swipe it and thats it.
If the restaurant you work for is privately owned then the owner can do pretty much what they want. It sucks what they are doing but it happens. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 477
| I have been working in the service industry for about 15 years. I have worked at every type of restaurant/ bar from very upscale fine dining to little family owned hole in the walls. I have also worked at major chains such as Chilis and Fridays.
1. Paying for mistakes. Yes,I have worked at a place that does this but only one in all my years. I think it's very wrong. People make mistakes it's life get over it.
2. Paying the 6% on the CC....OMG this is completely ridiculous!!! I have never ever even heard of something like this. This owner is just stealing your money away from you. I would never ever work for a place that did this.
3. The security code...again I have never ever even heard of this!!! I can't even believe they have customers!! I would never dine at a place that did this.
I 100% think you should get a new job ASAP!!! Something is very wrong with the owner of this place. I can't believe she even has any employees..
Trust me if you go apply somewhere else you will get hired in a heartbeat..Honestly is super easy to get hired at ANY restaurant.
I'm going to stop now but I'm truly ticked about this...I would go tell this lady to go shove it sooooo far up her A$$ if I could..... |
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 Veteran
Posts: 227
Location: Soon to be outta here:) | 1) I work at a Perkins and the rule for us is that if we make a mistake and want to eat it we have to pay for it. If we make a mistake and just throw it away, then we don't need to pay for it. That doesn't make any sense to me....but that's just the rules. We have to pay for our mistakes, but only if we want to eat them. As for the alcohol thing...I know you only need to be 18 to serve alcohol in most states. But I would think its still illegal to make a minor pay for it.
2) That is ridiculous....I have no idea why they would charge or take that, but that's ridiculous! You shouldn't be charged for making the business better because she decided to get credit card machines.
3) I don't know why you would need that, but I do know that if our credit card machine goes down and we need to hand write credut card slips we need to write down the security code. The same way when you buy something online they ask for the security code. So maybe that has something like that is why? it sounds a little fishy but who knows?
I would still look for a new job if I were you! I love waitressing but it sounds like your job seems a little too fishy!! |
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 Loves to compete
Posts: 5760
Location: Oakdale, CA | I think the best time to get a new job is when you have a job. If you have worked there 7 years someone will snatch you up fast!!!!!!!!!!! |
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unethical or illegal? where I waitress...