On Fri, 17 May 2013 11:34:30 -0700, gtr > wrote:

> On 2013-05-17 18:04:58 +0000, sf said:
>
> > AFAIC, my tip is for the server and I would be LIVID if I heard it
> > went to the owner. The owner should put a service charge on each
> > meal, not expect customers to tip and then steal it from his waitstaff
>
> Last year I had a waitress in Paris explain some complicated
> calculation/process/scam by which the owner got the bulk of all tips.
> Heard it again, in a different but just as convoluted process in NYC
> two years before. In both cases they said that the process was
> ubiquitous throughout both towns. I lost track of the particulars but I
> seem to recall they were quite different in mechanism, but identical in
> result: vastly diminished tips.
>

What I have learned today is that I need to ask the server how much
they get to keep out of a mandatory service charge.

Here is what the IRS has to say:

Service charges. Do not write in your tip diary the amount of any
service charge that your employer adds to a customer's bill and then
pays to you and treats as wages. This is part of your wages, not a
tip. The following factors determine if you have a tip or service
charge:

The payment is made free from compulsion;

The customer has the right to determine the amount of payment;

The payment is not subject to negotiation or dictated by employer
policy; and

The customer generally has the right to determine who receives the
payment.



--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.