Wait staff at Robert De Niro's Nobu restaurants are raging mad over a fishy tip policy that gives managers at the Japanese eateries a cut of their cash, and yesterday served up a federal lawsuit claiming their gratuities should be untouchable.
Two former servers said they routinely pulled in $1,500 in tips on a busy night, but would walk away with just $250 after being forced to dish out money to their supervisors and sushi chefs.....

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08032007/news/...ati_cornell.htm

Yep, that's what happens once those floodgates open.

Gratuities are for the front of the house staff period. Never for management or back of the house. More and more this is happening around town. It is so dishonest and unprofessional. One very prominent Monday night hotspot has the managers take all the gratuities into a room at the conclusion of the evening and distribute them several hundred short each week for the staff members.

"If you don't like it, leave" was told to several friends emplyed there.

Nice.

Would that be Butter, by any chance???? How many 'Monday night hotspots' are there????

i was just having this discussion the other day. i was commenting how back in the day, there was never any "pooled house"-- we always kept what we made and were happy with that, so the whole argument of service working the floor "more efficiently as a team" is total bullshit. granted, there was always SOME discord about how shifts/stations were split up, but it WAS more "productive" in that the higher-skilled/better-experienced/more-conscientious employees were rewarded for being better than their peers, by scoring the better stations. in the end, there's no argument-- the cream rises to the top, and the lazy disgruntled fuckwits are shown the door if they can't compete.
most of the time, the lazy fuckwits stayed anyways, because even the money you earn in a shitty station (doing nothing) is better than working your ass off like a pig all night, just to be forced to give most of it away to the fuckers who don't deserve it.

the old system is better for everybody, no ?? except for greedy, thieving, tip-pilfering scumbags, i mean.


and peoples wonder why turnover is so high and good labor is hard to find ??

tsk tsk

this sounds like a lawsuit just BEGGING to be filed.

the pool system was devised specifically for the purpose of 'stealing'..................and spread like wildfire..........................

At present there are so many lawsuits pending, in various stages of play and the news hitting the papers everyday that I read the US Department of Labor, NYS Department of Labor and Attorney's Generals Office of NYS are finally going to rule on this isssue once and for all. So many prominent restaurants, hotels etc are messing with tips that it has finally gone noticed. It cannot come soon enough. An accountant told me that there is a backlog in the AG office and rather than answer all and prosecute, they are doing research to prevent any more...

A gratuity pool in a restaurant for sure does not work due to all the reasons mentioned here but they do work in a bar/lounge/nightclub because stations are more egalitarian and one must sell to keep up with the others. It also prevents stealing anyway because prices are so high that all is paid by credit card. There is almost no cash anymore unless your clientele are thugs.

hmm gee i seem to recall working for a totally smokin hot joint not so long ago (1997 ??) and even though the stations weren't exactly "egalitarian" it seemed to me everybody was okay with it cuz it was mostly a matter of seniority.
and despite all the credit cards, one kept what one earned, and it did seem even on a shitty night, one would still leave relatively pleased.

oh but i guess stations didn't really matter then anyways cuz the only way to TRULY "compete" was to get down on your knees (literally. seriously !!) and do the "move" that we girls labeled "the crouch" and SMILE [---> like this ] and let jayson-williams take a little peekaboo down the front of yer shirt... and VOILA!!--meet my buddy ben-franklin, bitch.

ahhh the good ole days.

The pooling system although abused is better than the FOH backstabbing that goes on for the best section or cetain customers

You're on the money.

sorry kids, but this is where i totally TOTALLY disagree

and, quite frankly, if there is so much so-called "backstabbing" (which is the EXCUSE the bosses have always used) then how come nobody has ever given the staff the OPTION of whether to pool or not ?? ya know-- like they're SUPPOSED to, according to the DOL ??

granted, it's been nearly a fucking decade since my ass hit the floor, but if i HAD to go back (i LOVE THIS MOST about the industry-- you always CAN), given a CHOICE, i would 100% with every fiber of my being, opt out of a "pool," even if it meant the possibility of contending with seniority/favoritism/nepotism or whatever the hells.

i mean for fuck's sake, what is this ?? fucking communism ??



let's take this little cutie pie right here for example

smart girl. nice disposition. very cute.
she "works" some shmucks from switzerland into dropping an additional $500. she should share that ?? why ??
if a floor manager gets a raise for being better than his coworkers, he should share his raise too ?? what the fuck ?

i am completely with john.smith on this one. the system was devised to skim off the people who are earning the top dollars. everybody on the planet suddenly realized they could get away with it, and boom--
NOW LOOK AT ALL THE FUCKING PROBLEMS
nevermind the fact the additional consequence of this pool system is that it NO LONGER ATTRACTS A DECENT LABOR FORCE.

sorrrrry
but you are talking to somebody who spent almost 20 YEARS in non-pooled establishments. backstabbing ? jealousy ? envy ? WHATEVER
those are issues that are going to occur, despite all best efforts, ANYWAY.

so the system should CHANGE ?? for what ?? to PANDER to the jealous, envious, and let's face it, LAZY fuckers, who just can't cut the mustard ??

UGH. get serious

oh and another thing
you call it "backstabbing"

but i call it EARNING your "best" station
AND your "best" customer

· Abbe Diaz Not a Fan of Communist Tip Pools [PX]
http://eater.com/archives/2007/08/boardwrap_there.php

I"m with Abs on this one. Even though I only worked one place where the tips werent pooled, I know that I made more money there per shift, even though the prices and check averages were much lower. And yea, how come no one ever asks the staff to vote on if they want to pool tips or not???? The shifts and station were always rotated anyway, so everyone got a chance, and somethimes you had good days and other dyas not, but it always averaged out in the end. Aside from which, the pool system doesn't really work, 'cos there will always be people who will stiff the pool if they get extra cash, they just pocket it.

You know you're really a sick person? OMG

Abbe, you know me better than that

There is an answer to this mixed dilema, but the current restaurant ownership won't do it.

I have stated in prior postings the need for the restaurant model to change in order to survive their increasing costs and regulations.

And I can't give away the answer here...............I get paid for that sorta stuff!

So the only thing left to do is build my own and show you!!!!

All the current members on this forum will be invited................IM me if you want the details

Ben Franklin for just a little peekaboo?

No wonder the guy shot his chauffer; it was all that pent-up frustration.

I don't do IM. Am I still invited?

Moneyman puts his money where his keyboard is.

LOL.

he is the moneyman afterall.......................................

Hear, hear!!!!

What kind of place would it be without the infamous..............Dick Johnson!!!

hahhahahaa
what ??
i didn't say i DID it-- i said: one COULD, if one WANTED.



jayson-williams did leave me 50 bucks (on just two drinks) once. and i didn't even have to do "the crouch" or anything.

oh yah ??
are you looking for a maitre d' ??

i don't IM either
but you have my e-mail address, mister$$$man

Yea, TH did more than "the crouch" for customers..(and the manager too) ;-o

See it never ends



Breaking News


N.Y. restaurateurs settle overtime-pay lawsuit for almost $1M





WESTBURY , N.Y. (Aug. 9) Five Long Island restaurant operators agreed to pay nearly $1 million to settle a labor lawsuit claiming they failed to pay 192 employees for working overtime hours.

The settlement, a consent decree stating that the defendants neither admit nor deny guilt, followed a two-year investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Westbury, N.Y., office. The agreement calls for the five operators to pay $966,000 to current and former employees and $15,000 in civil penalties. Federal labor laws require companies to pay eligible employees one-and-a-half times their hourly wage when they work more than 40 hours a week.

The restaurateurs — Anthony and Louis Branchinelli, Michael D’Abruzzo, Mauro Gallo, Fortunato and Marco Nicotra, and Franco Giambanco — were accused of failing to pay overtime to counter people, cooks, dishwashers and busboys, who worked up to 60 hours some weeks at the restaurants. The operations involved were La Piazza restaurants in Merrick and Plainview, and Mama Theresa's restaurants in Westbury, East Meadow and New Hyde Park.

Most of the workers were Hispanic.





I LOVE THIS TOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!

I swear I just heard a death knell, chiming somewhere in the background.

oh WOW


i'm starting to love it more and more by the minute.