bartenders how do you split your tips?

[loganpaulsmom]

Ok.. So I will ask the questions get your answers and then tell you my story..

If you come on to a shift for the night say at 5:00pm and the day BT is also the night BT, when you do you expect to start pooling the tips?

If the day BT has people sitting at the bar during the day (who DO NOT cash out) and continue to sit for say another 1 or 1.5 do you put the tip they give you when they finally cash out in your pocket?

what should be the difference in the ring you have if you are service as opposed to the person working the long end.??

If someone rang $1700 for the day how much would expect them to have in tips?

 

[loganpaulsmom]

Ok.. maybe if i tell my story some of you bartenders will respond..

I covered a shift for someone last night on the bar. Working with someone who I have had issues with before. I got on the bar at 5.. He had a half full bar.. probably 4 of the parties sitting at the bar were cashed out within the first 20 minutes of me being there.. The rest stayed for at least an hour to 2 hours more..

Pretty much the bar was full ALL night.. (All little background.. I work Fri. nights on the bar and it is usually the busiest night of the week, on that night I never leave with under $130 and that is when it is dead)..

We were busy all night.. At around 9:00pm the guy I was working with I could tell wanted me to leave (at the end of the night is when you really make your money)
I happened to look at what we rang around this time.. So, for his double (shift from the morning) he rang $1700 and for my 4 hours I rang around $450. So when you look at the numbers and if you do 20% that means that in tips for the day, the day bartender should have had $340 in tip, and me I should have had around $90 (bartenders usually ALWAYS make at least 20% or more)..
As I was counting my money I had over $100.. I was thinking I will probably make between $125-$150.. I was When I went to split our money and he had the same exact amount that I had..
NO FREAKIN WAY.. He had to have pocketed money..
Now as I stated at the beginning of this run on, (sorry btw) he had customers that had hung out at the bar for the afternoon.. Now, he could have clearly asked them to cash out when I got there.. But, he didn't.. So, now that is on my time and if those customers stay into my time what they tip should be split with me. I know for a fact that 1 customer in particular (left a $30 tip) And with a bar being packed for the next 3 hours there is NO way that he only made another $70..
I know that where money is concerned people can be really cut throat.. But, I am so opposite that person.
I did go to my manager last night..I pretty much said to her that there is NO way that he didn't pocket money. I am not a complainer either so tht was hard for me as well.. I just don't know what to do.. I work as hard as the rest and I now feel that anytime I am asked to share a shift with him I won't.. My manager commented to me that she has heard this issue before about him and that is why no one wants to work with him..
Sorry to ramble.. i just needed to get this off my chest..

 

[java]

One of the many reasons why I hated Pooling Tips!!

Yes I am betting he didn't want to split with you. When I waitressed we had to tip out to the bar on all our tables if they drank or not. 5%. It used to bother me as I had to do all soda on my own. and only went to him for "drinks" which meant he handed me a beer bottle. I had to get the glass. So I am tipping him 5% of my $200 bill for the 1 beer he handed me.

We changed that shortly after that night. It was left up to our discretion what to tip out to the bar. (*which was always hopping by the way so he was making big bucks on his end)

I hope you get it resolved. And really the bar owner should be the one handling this. That's what happened in our case. I tipped out to the bar well if I had an extremely busy bar night. I still remember that guy too- over 25 years later- Noel. The tightwad.
Oh and on Saturday I was supposed to tip out to the busboys too. Which I didn't mind because they busted their butts clearing my tables for turnaround!

 

[loganpaulsmom]

Well.. None of the waitresse's tip us out.. But, the rule of thumb is that if you are on the bar you always make more than the girls on the floor.. Last night I walked with probably at least $50 less than what the waitresse's did..

I was the other bartender.. But, I know without a doubt, I would bet my life on it that he was pocketing tips.. The worst part about it is, he probably made over $400 yesterday.. I could understand if he was scrambling for money.. But, when you are making $400 in a shift putting money in your pocket is disgusting..

I am so disgusted with working on the bar right now..

 

[happygirl]

The server tip the bartenders out I have never heard it any other way??. So why isn't split 50/50? If he had the customers before you got there, Then those are his tips alone. Why should he split those with you?

 

[laurafergie]

Just to get something straight? - The day bartender did not cash out the drawer for the day shift? That is problem number one, then the question of his customers hanging over into your shift would have been straightened out.

I have worked in many restaurants as management, waitstaff, bartender and kitchen (Though thank you God I don't anymore)

With the new bartender, a new drawer is started. ETA: Only if it is a new shift - If it is already night shift, then a sales ticket should be run, the existing customers should be tabbed out if they are hanging on and everything starts fresh with an empty tip jar for the shift.

Then whatever tips are made during the time two bartenders are on together go into ONE tip jar.

Then when 2nd bartender goes off shift at 9pm or whenever - sales ticket is run on the drawer, a minor count down may or may not occur (depends on the management) Then - the tip jar is divided evenly. The sales ticket on the drawer will show immediately if there is a tip problem.

Then once 2nd bartender leaves, 1st bartender gets all tips for himself.

Tip pool from waitstaff varies widely from place to place and is not in the above equation.

It sounds like your manager needs to get off his butt and audit the bar when the other guy is working - if he is pocketing tips - I guarantee you, he is pocketing sales. JMHO

 

[Gerberah]

As far as asking his customers to cash out when you got there to make your life easier? No. I'm not going to the bar to make the bartender's life easier, so I'll pay my tab once, in full, when I'm done. And if that customer sits there for 2 hours on "your time" you are S.O.L. and the original bartender gets all of that tip. At least in my world.

I've been a bartender, and luckily I've only been in situations where I'm the only bartender, or the others I'm working with are people I enjoy and trust.

I have been a waitress where I knew other servers were pocketing money, instead of contributing it to the proverbial tip jar, but again, I was lucky enough that my boss and coworkers weren't dumb enough to let that continue and we began a "your tips are your tips" policy.

And also, what does it matter that the other bartender rang in $1700 in sales for the entire day? That has absolutely nothing to do with what was accrued during your four hour shift together.

You worked four hours, and made what you made. He worked those same four hours and made exactly the same amount as you. In my world, the customers that were there when you got there don't count. Not in any restaurant or bar I've ever worked in.

If you worked the same hours and made the same amount of money, why do you think he was pocketing?

 

[happygirl]

I can;t even image asking the customer to pay, because I was leaving

 

[camlace]

In a pooling tips situation you need to "cash out" the drawer and start fresh anytime someone comes into/out of the mix. Like previous poster mentioned, even if you are not starting with an totally fresh till, at least a sales tally needs to be run and the pool emptied. So in your situation the tips should have been given to the day bartender when you came on to the bar. I assume you serviced the "in-between" customers...so those tips go into the pool. Now if it was me and they left soon thereafter or I know I didn't service them at all, I personally would have handed that tip over in full. Then when you left, the tips need to be split again and the pool reset to zero.

I waitressed for years and refused to work at a restaurant that pooled tips. I had NO issues tipping out expediters, bartenders, bussers, etc. But NO way was I tossing my tips into a pool and letting others reap the benefits of my hard work.

 

[Carly_Roach]

Wow! I never knew things got so complicated in the bar world.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

We had a guy do that once, he got fired. He would make it so that we was around when customers cashed out, and pocketed as much as he could. He almost died from another bartender killing him (well, you know... not really).

Idk what to do about this situation. In our case, we had some decoy things happen to set him up.

Maybe you should keep an eye out and call him on it. Also, when he's trying to get you out of there before people pay, tell him no and that you want your fair share of what they tip. This is why I don't like paying cash anymore at bars and restaurants, it's harder to pocket tips when it's on record what I tip.

I'm so sorry OP.

 

[loganpaulsmom]

I guess I didn't explain myself well enough because some of you got the wrong impression..

The day bartender was also the NGHT bartender.. He has 1 drawer and register that he rings in all day and all night..

I personally DO not ask customers to cash out if I am leaving..

I came on to my shift and half the bar was full.. While some customers cashed out within a few minutes, others stayed for up to a couple of hours more.. And yes, I did service them..

Rule of thumb at my restaurant is once the other bartender comes on WHATEVER customers are still at the bar and DO NOT cash out, their tips go into the pool..
The reason why $1700 was brought up is because that shows how much he rang for the day. You can gage how much someone should have in tips by the amount that they ring. As I had previously been the bartender that had the Sat. day bar shift, I know how difficult it is for him to ring $1000 for the day.. So, I was trying to do the math in my head.. By doing that it was very easy for me to see that he pocketed tips that should have been split between us..
There is NOT 1 tip jar.. Because we each have our own register.. There are 2 tip jars and what you do is at the end of the shift, the bartender who is leaving cashes out her drawer.. and then takes the tips from her jar and the tips from the other bartenders and splits them evenly..

Just an FYI to the poster that said we made the exact same amount... NO WE DIDN'T.. He pocketed priobably around $100 that should have been split between us..

 

[loganpaulsmom]

We had a guy do that once, he got fired. He would make it so that we was around when customers cashed out, and pocketed as much as he could. He almost died from another bartender killing him (well, you know... not really).

Idk what to do about this situation. In our case, we had some decoy things happen to set him up.

Maybe you should keep an eye out and call him on it. Also, when he's trying to get you out of there before people pay, tell him no and that you want your fair share of what they tip. This is why I don't like paying cash anymore at bars and restaurants, it's harder to pocket tips when it's on record what I tip.

I'm so sorry OP.

he was caught by another bartender one night.. he split the tips and she knew he should have had more.. She went back under his number to look at his sales and his credit card tips.. the tips from CC added up to MORE than the money that he had given to split..