Waiters to Restaurant: You Stole Our Pennes!

1. Typical management...leaching off the profits of the real workers.

Posted at 6:58PM on Jun 2nd 2008 by whatado

2. worked at a very upscale country club ... the house put a percentage on every check for gratuity... every single penny of it went to the house... so i'm thinking these waitstaff people might be right in what they say. I hope these people get their money, because it seems that it's owed to them.

Posted at 7:42PM on Jun 2nd 2008 by tra

3. ....yawn...

Posted at 7:30PM on Jun 2nd 2008 by Jessica Simplesin

4. IF THE HOUSE OR OWNER IS ACCEPTING THE 25%- IT CAN BE PART OF THE SALES AND SET INTO ANOTHER AREA ON THE P&L STATEMENT. THIS AMOUNT IS TAXABLE. IF THE MANAGERS ARE KEEPING IT FOR THEMSELVES THEY ARE BREAKING THE LAWS. WHO KNOWS WHICH SIDE IS TELLING THE TRUTH. I DO KNOW THAT THE MANAGERS IF TAKING THE FUNDS, BETTER DECLARE IT- IRS WILL BE LOOKING FOR THIS.

Posted at 7:56PM on Jun 2nd 2008 by restaurant manager

5. This is commonplace in restaurants lately. Management getting free money that does not belong to them. Servers are supposed to keep 100% of their tips. They earned the money and they are fully entitled to what the guest(s) leave.

Tip sharing is also called Tip Out and is totally voluntary. The server CHOOSES whether or not to tip anyone (busser, bartender, bar back, expediter, etc.) and the server CHOOSES how much to give. There is no set amount. There is no law stating you have to tip out nor can you be forced to tip out anyone.

Tip pools are where a server is forced by management to surrender a percentage or all of his/her tips to management and management doles out an equal percentage to each employee including bussers, bar tenders, expediters, and host/esses. The really bad side is that the server is forced to report 100% of the tips generated that night, not what s/he took home.

Tip pools are not only unfair to the hard working servers, but they're also very illegal. Anyone having to do this must call the IRS and report it immediately.

Posted at 8:00PM on Jun 2nd 2008 by Allison

6. I worked at a fine dining restaurant in Long Beach called The Sky Room & they claimed they were taking 20% of our tips for flowers & linens...I won my suit after I was fired as a whistle blower in the tune of $35,000...many of the hispanic staff was never paid for parties that they worked

Posted at 8:21PM on Jun 2nd 2008 by Sally

7. Don't you mean SPAGO not AGO?????

Posted at 9:01PM on Jun 2nd 2008 by Heather

8. (J)ews like Lou Pearlman probably own it.

Posted at 9:11PM on Jun 2nd 2008 by Adolph

9. Umm Heather, learn how to read! FFS Your a disgrace!!

Posted at 9:17PM on Jun 2nd 2008 by heather is dumb

10. "BTW, the waiters couldn't be more Italian. Their names -- Emanuele Gicacometti, Marco Pellichero and Alfredo Fuduli."

-- What does them being Italian have anything to do with it? Is it OK to attack people because of their heritage? Would the TMZ staff writers have written the same thing if these restaurant workers had been Jewish, Black, Asian, or Hispanic?

Posted at 10:05PM on Jun 2nd 2008 by Maple Stinger

11. This is the second of California Governor Ronald Reagan's asnine sins. He was deluded that everyone tipped the waitstaff a $100.00 like Frank Sinatra tipped $100.00 for a glass of wine. Shame on the restaurant owners and managers for stealing from the waitstaff.

As a single diner, I never tip more than 10%. My breakfasts are usually under $10.00 so I leave no more than $2.00. If I sound like a cheapskate. Give it back to me.

P.S. Reagan's first sin was granting amnesty for illegal border invaders.

Posted at 12:14AM on Jun 3rd 2008 by Chessy

12. What the heck is a "pennes"?? It's spelt: p-e-n-n-i-e-s. The singular form of "pennies" is "penny"; you need to add the "-ies" because you can't have the letter "y" right before the "s" at the end of a plural word.

Posted at 12:53AM on Jun 7th 2008 by sask

13. @sask--I think this is just a play on words as "Penne" is a pasta-get it? Italian restaurant!

Posted at 3:52AM on Jun 3rd 2008 by just me

14. Sounds a bit cosa nostra to me.

Posted at 4:27AM on Jun 3rd 2008 by Vito

15. Management demanding a cut of the tips is WIDESPREAD in the restaurant biz, especially in high end restaurants. And as others pointed out, only the server declares tips (and then has to pay taxes on them). Although tipping out to others (busboys, etc) is "voluntary," if you don't do it you are fired. Most servers don't have the money or time for lawsuits.

If this bothers you, this is the solution. Leave a 15% tip on the credit card and then hand the server 5% in cash and say, this is "just for you."

NEXT TOPIC: Racism, Sexism and Anti-gay BS in restaurants (what goes on would shock most people)

Posted at 6:49AM on Jun 3rd 2008 by qjersey