One of my jobs is as a server, which means we get the special pleasure of writing down our stats of exploitation at the end of the shift, for our cash out slips.
The other night, it was a “ninth birthday party for the restaurant” which amounted to a private party for the owner and his “friends”. Ernie, the owner, racked up over $3,000 of liquor and food “on the house”. He and his group gave no tip for me and the bartender serving them, even though an automatic gratuity is otherwise always included for large parties. From the few other people who were there, the bartender had $80 in tips at the end of the night—out of which she then had to take seven per cent of NET SALES for the “house tip”—this is more than $80, so she was paying out of pocket. Thanks to our coworkers, I know that two of those seven percentages go straight to Ernie, and most of the rest goes to paying the managers’ salaries, with the kitchen staff getting tipped out about a measly one dollar per hour, and the hosts, cleaners and expo staff not getting tipped out at all. She actually had to pay Ernie, to be his personal servant for the night—and you’d think it was a nine-year olds’ birthday, going by their manners.
Did I mention the two managers on that night said Ernie’s been trying to make them “cut labour costs”, and implied the business is deeply in debt? I know the sales we make him every night, and I have to say he should consider hiring another nine-year old to do the bookkeeping.
– Keely A., Calgary
