Boss used xmas tip money

Former Member

I work in a pub and over the Christmas period we decided not to accept drinks off the customers but to put all the money (and other tips) into a jar and save it up for a Christmas party. We just had a staff meeting where we asked how much was in the pot. My manager told us about 500quid but she then said that strongbow was down 25 pints and that would be taken out of our party money

We asked why strongbow was down because there's never any waste pouring it and no waste cleaning it, so you don't get an allowance from the brewery to waste any cider. We asked her how could it possibly be down and she said that when you're changing the barrel and empty the cylinder on the wall of air the button sticks unless you manually pull it down, unlike the others which fall back down themselves. This means about 1-3 pints wasted every keg because it fizzes up

Basically no-one has been told about this. No-one changing the barrels has been properly cellar trained, and anyway that fault was known so it should have been sorted out. It seems the reason that cider is down is because of poor staff training. My manager said about the cider 'well I'm not paying for it', but why the hell should we? In addition to this, nothing has been done to stop it happening again

Also that means she's not reporting to the brewery that cider was down, she's putting it through the tills as if if was sold using our tip money. Theft? What to do?

Former Member

bit of a grey area really.....

it seems standard practice in pubs, i've worked in a few during my years and when tills were down etc.. they'd always expect us to top it up to cover it..

bollocks really and i never played ball, altho very rarely was mine down and if it was just a few pence i'd just crack it in out of my pocket.

i dont think you have much chance of fighting this to be honest.

Former Member

I've worked in a lot of pubs and never that. Sounds like a skanky old witch to me, she probably spent the money on botox.

Former Member

to be honest tip sharing isnt a good idea if you ask me, i could easily make up to £50 in tips in a good night where as some of the people just didnt put any effort in and would make an odd pound from someone who always tips. its not really fair.

Former Member

But equally, one place I worked, when a customer said "have a drink", everyone took a pound apart from one greedy cow who always took 2, which then put all customers off tipping.

Former Member

We only did it over Christmas so we could all go out with the money. It seemed more fair because the Christmas parties tipped more and it was luck of the draw if you were working that day. There's not many staff who work in the pub and we're all mates so who puts in what isn't an issue, we just wanted to all go out together

I think this is different than having to make up for tills being down. Its her fault cider is down because the staff haven't been trained properly and she made no attempt to fix the problem in the cellar

Former Member

katchika wrote: »

But equally, one place I worked, when a customer said "have a drink", everyone took a pound apart from one greedy cow who always took 2, which then put all customers off tipping.

We always take 2! But what drink can you get for a pound??

Former Member

Well to be fair this was a few years back. But I think £2 is too much, personally! Guess it depends where you work, if it's somewhere swanky take more.

Former Member

Not sure what you can do about it, but I'd throw a strop if it was me.

If she wants the staff to pay for the Strongbow then that's one arguement, but she shouldn't just be taking it from the tip money. Not sure of the finer points of the law, but if it's not hers or the businesses and she's taking it then it's potentially theft.

Do you have a big boss you can mention this to or an area manager?

Former Member

I feel for you, it's fucking stupid innit. I've had money illegally taken out of my pay because the til was down, even though we found out why this was and explained it.
No one has been cellar trained where I work either, luckily one of the bar guys who has been there a while showed us what to do so most of us know what we're doing. No one ever told me about the Strongbow until about 4 months ago either.

As for accepting drinks off people, hell yeah I do it! And what are you on about, taking 1 quid? They're offering you a drink, what drink costs a quid? When people offer me a drink, I take at least 3 quid.

Former Member

When I worked in a bar we were always given the choice between putting a cash tip in a jar for everyone, or accepting a drink as a tip. I always chose the latter.

Former Member

pill 'ed wrote: »

As for accepting drinks off people, hell yeah I do it! And what are you on about, taking 1 quid? They're offering you a drink, what drink costs a quid? When people offer me a drink, I take at least 3 quid.

That's how you earn your living in bar work, init!

Former Member

katralla wrote: »

That's how you earn your living in bar work, init!

Pretty much lol, there are other, beter ways of making a living from bar work, but I don't wanna go into that here.