i just started working as a server at a restaurant that sells thai food
and has a sushi bar. from what i was told, everytime i sell sushi, i
must give 10% of the sushi bill to the itamae.

for example, if i had a lot of sushi orders, and it came to $100, i
would give $10 to the itamae. but what if the customer tipped me 15%?
which come to $15. that means i would have $5, but the itamae would
have $10. is that normal etiquette?

is that how other sushi places do this?

" > wrote:
> i just started working as a server at a restaurant that sells thai food
> and has a sushi bar. from what i was told, everytime i sell sushi, i
> must give 10% of the sushi bill to the itamae.
>
> for example, if i had a lot of sushi orders, and it came to $100, i
> would give $10 to the itamae. but what if the customer tipped me 15%?
> which come to $15. that means i would have $5, but the itamae would
> have $10. is that normal etiquette?
>
> is that how other sushi places do this?

Have you asked your manager?

--
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On 2007-01-10 21:57:31 -0800, " > said:

> i just started working as a server at a restaurant that sells thai food
> and has a sushi bar. from what i was told, everytime i sell sushi, i
> must give 10% of the sushi bill to the itamae.
>
> for example, if i had a lot of sushi orders, and it came to $100, i
> would give $10 to the itamae. but what if the customer tipped me 15%?
> which come to $15. that means i would have $5, but the itamae would
> have $10. is that normal etiquette?

There is no "normal" to etiquette, everybody has their own.

If you sell $100 in sushi orders you would giver the itamae $10. But
what if they only tipped you 7 bucks. Now you're out three dollars. Do
I understand you correctly--that he gets his money no matter what?

> is that how other sushi places do this?

You'd have to do an extensive survey.
--
///---

There may be times when you'll get 20% tips.

You might check around how servers split with bar tenders. It's kind
of the same thing. Drinks and sushi usually results in a higher bill
so you probably come out ahead. Just make sure the diners don't go
tipping the sushi guy directly.

Gerry wrote:
> On 2007-01-10 21:57:31 -0800, " > said:
>
> > i just started working as a server at a restaurant that sells thai food
> > and has a sushi bar. from what i was told, everytime i sell sushi, i
> > must give 10% of the sushi bill to the itamae.
> >
> > for example, if i had a lot of sushi orders, and it came to $100, i
> > would give $10 to the itamae. but what if the customer tipped me 15%?
> > which come to $15. that means i would have $5, but the itamae would
> > have $10. is that normal etiquette?
>
> There is no "normal" to etiquette, everybody has their own.
>
> If you sell $100 in sushi orders you would giver the itamae $10. But
> what if they only tipped you 7 bucks. Now you're out three dollars. Do
> I understand you correctly--that he gets his money no matter what?

that's how it was explained to me. yeah, i'll be like $3 dollars out
in your theory. kind of an odd situation here. i think i wold have to
explain to itamae that the tip was $7, so itamae would cut me some
slack.

wrote:
> Gerry wrote:
>
>>On 2007-01-10 21:57:31 -0800, " > said:
>>
>>
>>>i just started working as a server at a restaurant that sells thai food
>>>and has a sushi bar. from what i was told, everytime i sell sushi, i
>>>must give 10% of the sushi bill to the itamae.
>>>
>>>for example, if i had a lot of sushi orders, and it came to $100, i
>>>would give $10 to the itamae. but what if the customer tipped me 15%?
>>>which come to $15. that means i would have $5, but the itamae would
>>>have $10. is that normal etiquette?
>>
>>There is no "normal" to etiquette, everybody has their own.
>>
>>If you sell $100 in sushi orders you would giver the itamae $10. But
>>what if they only tipped you 7 bucks. Now you're out three dollars. Do
>>I understand you correctly--that he gets his money no matter what?
>
>
> that's how it was explained to me. yeah, i'll be like $3 dollars out
> in your theory. kind of an odd situation here. i think i wold have to
> explain to itamae that the tip was $7, so itamae would cut me some
> slack.

You said he gets 10%.. doesn't that mean 10% of the tip?

--
Dan

On 2007-01-12 08:04:47 -0800, Dan Logcher > said:

> wrote:
>> Gerry wrote:
>>
>>> On 2007-01-10 21:57:31 -0800, " > said:
>>>
>>>
>>>> i just started working as a server at a restaurant that sells thai food
>>>> and has a sushi bar. from what i was told, everytime i sell sushi, i
>>>> must give 10% of the sushi bill to the itamae.
>>>>
>>>> for example, if i had a lot of sushi orders, and it came to $100, i
>>>> would give $10 to the itamae. but what if the customer tipped me 15%?
>>>> which come to $15. that means i would have $5, but the itamae would
>>>> have $10. is that normal etiquette?
>>>
>>> There is no "normal" to etiquette, everybody has their own.
>>>
>>> If you sell $100 in sushi orders you would giver the itamae $10. But
>>> what if they only tipped you 7 bucks. Now you're out three dollars. Do
>>> I understand you correctly--that he gets his money no matter what?
>>
>>
>> that's how it was explained to me. yeah, i'll be like $3 dollars out
>> in your theory. kind of an odd situation here. i think i wold have to
>> explain to itamae that the tip was $7, so itamae would cut me some
>> slack.
>
> You said he gets 10%.. doesn't that mean 10% of the tip?

No way! If the tab is $100 and the server gets $20 on top. The itamae
would then get 2 bucks. Every itamae has to have an ego larger than
that, surely!
--
///---

Gerry wrote:
> On 2007-01-12 08:04:47 -0800, Dan Logcher >
> said:
>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Gerry wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 2007-01-10 21:57:31 -0800, "
>>>> > said:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> i just started working as a server at a restaurant that sells thai
>>>>> food
>>>>> and has a sushi bar. from what i was told, everytime i sell sushi, i
>>>>> must give 10% of the sushi bill to the itamae.
>>>>>
>>>>> for example, if i had a lot of sushi orders, and it came to $100, i
>>>>> would give $10 to the itamae. but what if the customer tipped me 15%?
>>>>> which come to $15. that means i would have $5, but the itamae would
>>>>> have $10. is that normal etiquette?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> There is no "normal" to etiquette, everybody has their own.
>>>>
>>>> If you sell $100 in sushi orders you would giver the itamae $10. But
>>>> what if they only tipped you 7 bucks. Now you're out three dollars. Do
>>>> I understand you correctly--that he gets his money no matter what?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> that's how it was explained to me. yeah, i'll be like $3 dollars out
>>> in your theory. kind of an odd situation here. i think i wold have to
>>> explain to itamae that the tip was $7, so itamae would cut me some
>>> slack.
>>
>>
>> You said he gets 10%.. doesn't that mean 10% of the tip?
>
>
> No way! If the tab is $100 and the server gets $20 on top. The itamae
> would then get 2 bucks. Every itamae has to have an ego larger than
> that, surely!

But they also draw a real salary and are not living off of the tips
like servers. I've heard of sushi chefs making $60K-$80K in my area.

--
Dan

On 2007-01-12 11:36:39 -0800, Dan Logcher > said:

>>>> that's how it was explained to me. yeah, i'll be like $3 dollars out
>>>> in your theory. kind of an odd situation here. i think i wold have to
>>>> explain to itamae that the tip was $7, so itamae would cut me some
>>>> slack.
>>>
>>>
>>> You said he gets 10%.. doesn't that mean 10% of the tip?
>>
>> No way! If the tab is $100 and the server gets $20 on top. The itamae
>> would then get 2 bucks. Every itamae has to have an ego larger than
>> that, surely!

Incidentally on an average order with me and Nancy it would be $42, $50
with tip. That makes the itamae's piece of the action 80 cents. Man,
that is making money the HARD way! :-) After 30 tables of that he'd
make a whopping $24 bucks!

> But they also draw a real salary and are not living off of the tips
> like servers.

I think you're talking about "what's fair" now. About that I can only
offer, that "fairness" differs.

> I've heard of sushi chefs making $60K-$80K in my area.

I've heard of them making much more than that in my area, if they are
really good. When hired they frequently bring their own business, and
without a good sushi chef the restaurant (around here) will collapse
pretty rapidly.

In any case skimming a buck-a-table for an evening doesn't sound like
what the average sushi-chef would be doing. Just a guess about
"average" too.
--
///---

Dan Logcher wrote:
> wrote:
> > Gerry wrote:
> >
> >>On 2007-01-10 21:57:31 -0800, " > said:
> >>
> >>
> >>>i just started working as a server at a restaurant that sells thai food
> >>>and has a sushi bar. from what i was told, everytime i sell sushi, i
> >>>must give 10% of the sushi bill to the itamae.
> >>>
> >>>for example, if i had a lot of sushi orders, and it came to $100, i
> >>>would give $10 to the itamae. but what if the customer tipped me 15%?
> >>>which come to $15. that means i would have $5, but the itamae would
> >>>have $10. is that normal etiquette?
> >>
> >>There is no "normal" to etiquette, everybody has their own.
> >>
> >>If you sell $100 in sushi orders you would giver the itamae $10. But
> >>what if they only tipped you 7 bucks. Now you're out three dollars. Do
> >>I understand you correctly--that he gets his money no matter what?
> >
> >
> > that's how it was explained to me. yeah, i'll be like $3 dollars out
> > in your theory. kind of an odd situation here. i think i wold have to
> > explain to itamae that the tip was $7, so itamae would cut me some
> > slack.
>
> You said he gets 10%.. doesn't that mean 10% of the tip?


nope. 10% of the sushi tab. so let's say the tab came to $100, itamae
automatically
gets 10% or $10. the server would be at the mercy of the customer and
hope the
customer gives a gratuity of more than 10%, otherwise, server incurs a
loss or
breaks even.

yeah, my restaurant's policy is odd, i think.