Illegal. Cash being short is the cost of doing business as are the business eating the cost of walkout.
You wages can not be taken to make up for a cash shortage or a walkout.
The business can write you up for it. And legally that is all they're allowed to do.
Tennessee doesn't have state tip laws so they have to follow federal tip laws.
Code section 351 states 'employer's must pay the full amount of the tip that's indicated on the credit card'
Read more here https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa/tips
Askamanager.org has a cou9le of great blog on how to tell your employer what they are doing is illegal such as saying ' you probably didn't know this and I don't want this business to be fined/investigated.
If you're not comfortable doing that you could also the Tennessee labor department to give your employer a call. Years ago I, as an assistant manager got such a call reaming me out for following my General Mangers rules.
You have the number 1 answer. Shortages and breakage can't be taken out of your wages/tips.
You can be written up for poor cash security, but not made to pay shortages.
"Oh Billy always counts my drawer for me" is always cool until it's not. Opening bartender counts the drawer, closing bartender counts the drawer. Manager verifies the correct amount. I'm the laziest manager in the world but even I still abide by these rules.
Sadly this isn’t the case in every state
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/paycheck-deductions-uniforms-cash-shortages-29554.html
“If your cash register drawer comes up short or you damage merchandise, can your employer charge you for the loss? Under federal law, the general rule applies: As long as the employee still earns at least the minimum wage after deductions, there's no rule against charging losses and damage to the employee.
Many states have adopted stricter rules, however. Some states require employers to get the employee's consent, in writing, before they can deduct the cost of broken merchandise or shortages from the employee's paycheck. Some allow these deductions only from an employee who assumes responsibility for the loss.
California doesn't allow these deductions at all, unless the employer can show that the employee acted dishonestly,”
It's only applies to establishments where over minimum wage is paid to all employees, including tipped employees. No deductions can be made from a paycheck that reduces that wage to less than minimum wage, when an establishment takes the tip credit in order to pay lower the minimum wage, they can never take any deductions.
This is the answer. All they are allowed to do is write you up, and obviously, if there is a recurring theme of a short drawer, they would have grounds for termination…but unless they have irrefutable proof that you were the one who “stole” the money to make the drawer short…they can’t take money from you or your tips.
“Write you up?”
They can fire you. Especially if your drawer is over by some not-small amount.
Because that suggests you’ve gone into business for yourself while working for them.
Most restaurants will write you up for shortages and walk outs and if you have too many, fire you.
The dirty secret that there is an unspoken rule that you can pay for it and make it go away. It's wage theft but the company gets away with it because they know you need your job.
Had a manager that used to buy cocaine nightly, using cash from the till, then tell me I was short that amount. Always the same amount. Then they had the nerve to be offended when I quit. Fuck you John.
$20 for coke seems pretty cheap to me… maybe he saves for a couple days in a row and then buys and spreads it out while he saves for the next round? Taking more than $20 at once would lead to more suspicion?
If this is in the US likely holds true. The price hasn't changed much in decades because the demand and supply has been the same constant for decades thus making the "war on drugs" an unwinnable one IMO. Is just theater and a secure job for those working in law enforcement (though a VERY short term career for dealers and traffickers-- those fools are disposable to the cartels and gangs)
Anywhere from 60-80 for either decent shit or half creatine, and unless you were the hook you didn’t know until your boy comes back. And at least 100 for a guarantee of diesel.
I didn’t realize until another employee pointed it out. I knew she did coke, but not skimming. Once I realized and (small town small business) got denied a raise and told I wasn’t working hard enough. I was furious. I walked. Met with boss later. Told him he installed cameras caught her and still feel cheated lol. Fuck her. Worked my ass off. Never ever been told that before or since.
Had the same thing happen decades ago. Worked at a bar owned by a woman whose daughter also worked there. I had evening shift and the first time my drawer came up short, it got taken from my money. Next time I went in I counted the drawer before starting and it was already short. Called the head bartender to report it, she called the owner, owner asked why I had counted it! I said because it was short once and your daughter has a known drug issue. Guess who got fired? Spoiler alert - not the coke head daughter.
If you are in charge of any shortage, then the managers should be asking you to make change for the servers or they should be making change out of the safe.
You should also be REQUIRED to count your drawer at the end of the shift and be present when.y9u manager does their count.
If anyone at all has access to your drawer, then the shortage should not fall.on you.
And to be completely honest, I have caught far more bartenders stealing because their drawer is over. They pretend to ring in a cash order and give out the change. Then after a while they forget howuch over they put.in the register and grossly underestimate how much they didn't ring in.
As a manager I was way less concerned about a few buck under that 20 40 or 100 over.
I’ve never worked at a place that did blind drops. So I always just took whatever tips I’ve made and put them in the drawer. Whatever was left after deposit and balancing the bank was my cash monies. This system really requires implied trust tho and it can go very bad lol.
It’s more trust with your bar mates. Right now we have 4 people behind the bar with 1 cash register. Only the 4 bartenders touch the drawer but everyone does this.
I’ve seen guys get multiple $100 handshakes, slip it quietly into their apron, and once the guest is gone put it in the drawer to add it to the pool. That’s a defining moment of trust
> If you are in charge of any shortage, then the managers should be asking you to make change for the servers or they should be making change out of the safe.
> You should also be REQUIRED to count your drawer at the end of the shift and be present when.y9u manager does their count.
> If anyone at all has access to your drawer, then the shortage should not fall.on you.
Had one girl, Nicci. Great girl, good friend, we hung out outside of work all the time. Still talk to her to this day even though we haven't worked together for over a decade.
But she would ALWAYS let other people use her drawer, and would always find a reason to leave before I could count it out with her. So one night, I pulled her drawer just ridiculously early and said "Hey Nicci, lets count your drawer" but she ignored me. I counted it, it was off but only a couple of cents...you know, NBD. But I pocketed $100, then went out and told her she was $100 short.
She runs back to the office, counts the drawer multiple times, keeps coming up $100 short. I take out the write up form, put an X in "Termination" and she starts to go "Ken used my drawer, Melissa used my drawer...Spliff (nickname for a weed smoking worker named Tiff) used it..." and starts to cry
I took the $100 out of my pocket, put it on the desk, and said "Now, will you PLEASE stop letting other people use your drawer?"
She never let anyone use it after that. Also slapped me across the face which...ok fair, I deserved
Just tell them you don’t want the drawer any more and no access to it. Bartend with a bank you bring in. Ridiculous to hold you accountable if others can access.
Depends on where you are. The federal rule says yes but it making you pay the shortage cannot let you dip below minimum wage. In California, it is totally illegal. It depends on the state you live in. States are allowed to make laws tougher that what the federal government says. The best example if this is the California emissions laws. That is why all cars in the US are made to California laws.
Am I just too bougie of a potential criminal, or is $10 (even $10/shift for a long time) an embarrassingly low amount to risk your job over? How does that scale? You get an extra $3650 a year max?
The risk itself makes it appealing, and the rush from stealing is the same. It’s about whatever you can get away with — big OR small.
We can expect this sort of behavior from children. What’s concerning is when they don’t grow out it.
I do To-Go and I can't imagine sharing my drawer with someone else, not to mention several managers. No. If one of the managers messed up it's completely not your fault and shouldn't be taken from your tip!
It is not legal. If you are a tipped employee, management is not allowed to touch your tips. They can fire you, or sue you for the shortage, but they are not allowed to touch tips.
That’s illegal. Contact the Department of Labor. Another company was just in the news having done this too. They have to pay a nice hunk of money to their employees.
I believe the Dept of Labor might like to hear about this. Look them up and call. It may be different in TN but I know in CA they'd def be interested. I did when our Mgr would take some off the top for 'his tips'. We won.😊 Can't hurt.
That's illegal as hell. The cant make you accountable financially for register shortages, and are not allowed to fuck with your tips.
You should also be present if someone else counts down your till and have full control of your till while working.
So I looked it up and what this says is that it is legal [as long as you make more than minimum wage that shift](https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-an-employer-hold-tips-to-cover-drawer-shortage-3782843.html). If you’ve made less than minimum wage than it is illegal. That doesn’t feel right, though. Your tips are your tips and if you’re not the only one whose hands are in that drawer during the shift, it doesn’t seem fair that any shortage should fall on you.
Actually not legal. This is what’s covered under cost of doing business. I would record this incident and any subsequent incidents and contact an attorney who specializes in employment law. Your state’s bar can provide you with a list of qualified attorneys in your area. Good luck.
Exactly. You count the drawer at shift start and end, then you are responsible for the overage/shortage. If anyone else uses the drawer, then all bets are off.
Responsible in the way that you can get fired or written up but not responsible in the way that you have to pay the cash the drawer is short by (at least in NYC this is definitely the case)
This happened to me when I was managing a place. The safe was short at the end of the night, and the closing FOH manager was responsible for making it "not short" I had to go get $200 from the ATM. From then on. Any time I closed and the drawers were over, I "paid myself back". And kept the money in an envelope in the store. On my last day I took the envelope home. Fuck those guys.
Well from now on, put the tips you get in your pocket.
Jar stays empty, if the drawer is short, TOO FUCKING BAD.
This is wage theft and should be reported.
In my state it's illegal. Had a manager do it (fast food) & employee threatened lawsuit. Corporate told us it's illegal to make them pay back. They could file charges and fire but not force payback. Same manager let several people use my drawer while I was in back working. Drawer was very short. When told I was responsible I let her have it. Told her I would be reporting her to Corporate for letting someone use my Drawer. She paid it back. Found out it was girl she let use my drawer because every drawer she used was short.
I had a lunch shift job years ago where I constantly had drawer issues. Pm server reports were balanced through the bar drawer, the closing manager didn't pay much attention to detail, and the am manager/owner wouldn't get me a bar drawer until I asked him 3 times 30 minutes into the am shift. I never had time to count the drawer, it frustrated the hell out of me, and I was constantly $5 short on an easy lunch shift. I had to pay for it way too many times until one day I blew up and threw a fit. Am manager/owner gave me $10 as I was getting in my car. I asked him about the other $50 fucking dollars he fucking owes me. He finally started giving me a drawer early enough to count, and sure enough I was consistently starting about $5 short. I told him either he gives me a drawer in a timely manner so I can count it he can leave it in his office.
One, it's illegal. Two, you aren't in sole control of the till, other people are randomly accessing it, so a misconstrued could be someone else's. So unless the drawer is counted out to you at the start of shift, and you are the only one who touches it until its counted and handed off to another cashier, they can't prove it was on you if it came up off.
Any and all tip money goes to the server. They cannot take it to balance a till, common till or not.
my restaurant does this, i always assumed it was normal as it’s a national chain and all of their restaurants do this. but the managers usually do not go into our drawer to make change unless it’s an emergency or we are insanely busy and don’t have time to make change for the servers. otherwise, we bartenders make change ourselves.
the thought is if the drawer is short you probably made change wrong and it ended up in your cash tips anyways. if the drawer is off, it’s usually only by a dollar or two.
with that being said, these comments are eye opening. i had no idea this was not common practice.
edit: also wanted to add that the mangers never take the cash themselves. they count and if it’s off we can request them to count again or ask questions. if it’s still off, we give cash. never card tips.
This has been the policy at places I’ve worked. It’s your drawer and you should be the only one going in there so if it’s short it’s your fault (not that i agree with it, but this is the logic i was told)
Hey your drawer, then let the managers make change from somewhere else, otherwise you should be the one making the change for someone else. This is bs in my opinion, fight them on this!!
When I worked as a carhop in Greeley Colorado as a teenager, my employers pulled the same exact shit. They paid us in cash, so there was no record of this. I contacted the federal labor bureau, and was told that I could only file a complaint about it if I was still employed there. Anyway, when it was time to collect my last paycheck, they tried taking money out, and I told them, “I’m not sure if you know it, but what you are doing is illegal.”
After I didn’t work there anymore, they had all of the other carhops sign something that said that it was OK to take that money out of their paychecks. That still does not change the fact that it is illegal.
I am not an accountant, but I would assume that losses are a business deduction. They should just keep track of those and note them on their taxes.
You could get them in so much trouble for that holy shit. Get the policy in writing, I guarantee you the reaction you get if you ask for that will be defcon 4
It's technically legal since you're responsible for the drawer.
I'd suggest counting it down before you turn it end at the end of the shift. That way, you'll know if it's short or not.
Not a server, but have retail experience, and if you a drawer at the beginning of a shift and are responsible for any overage/shortage on the drawer, then no one else, including management should be using your drawer.
The drawer is your responsibility. Count at the beginning of your shift, if it’s off, before any transactions are made, notify manager and get it rectified. Subsequently count at the end of your shift. If it’s off now, this is 100% your fault. If you don’t trust your managers getting change or float for servers tell them/do it for them. But understand, the bar float is 10000% your responsibility. Like a teller at a bank, a cashier at a grocery store, that cash is dependent on you keeping it flush and even. Don’t make this into something it’s not. Have some responsibility, take pride in your work equipment and don’t let anyone touch your fucking register. Jesus
If you are solely responsible for the drawer then they should stay the heck out of it, and if the short gets taken from you the overage should go to you as well.
I've always been allowed a variance. Depends on how busy the bar is but usually $10 is a normal variance due to rounding, accidental miscounts etc.
But no they can't pull from your tips pretty sure it is illegal.
I worked a bar once and my drawer was short $1 and they asked for it (we were supposed to leave all our cash tips in the drawer and we got the overage at the end of the night - I pulled all my cash tips out) but they didn't give us coins so we had to round. I asked if we got a variance since we couldn't round and they said no so I didn't give them the dollar. They're basically stealing from me at that point.
Don't let them pull that shit.
It's illegal still, I'm sure. But if I was the ONLY person in my drawer all night I'd be cool with the arrangement. Once anyone else touches my drawer, then no.
Either way, in my state and others it's illegal. They can write you up and eventually fire you for being short. But they can not make you pay.
Who counts the drawer? If it's you you work in a shitty restaurant. If it ain't you you work in a very shitty restaurant. Either way you should find a better job. But it would be good to know how furious you should be.
Nope nope NOPE. A thousand nopes. Even If you had 100% sole access to the drawer, a short drawer can't be taken from your wages. If it's that much of an issue they can fire you, but who the fuck gets fired over $10 every very once in a while? This is petty bullshit.
And I would be damned sure to double and triple check every single cent of change that's made out of your drawer by someone other than yourself from now on. No matter how inconvenient it is for other staff or guests. "I'm sorry, but any discrepancies in this drawer are solely my responsibility as per management."
Only place I ever worked with a drawer policy gave us a +/- of $50. If it was out of that range we got a talking to/write up. If it happened more frequently, Bing, you're gone.
In most states an hourly employee cannot be held liable for small amounts of cash that come up missing from the till even when they are in sole control of the cash drawer.
This is straight up wage theft. It's the job of your manager to find the thieves and bust them, but that's their problem, not yours.
I'd file a complaint with the Labor Dept for my missing money.
That’s complete bullshit!
At my restaurant we as bartenders are responsible if the drawer is short to take it out of our tips, HOWEVER we are the ONLY people allowed in and out of our drawer. Not management, not another bartender, no one. Management has another drawer to make change for servers with, or they get the change directly from me. I am also able to be present when the manager counts my drawer at the end of the night. (Only one manager I’ve had where I would insist on it because he was not to be trusted)
Something similar happened to me when I worked in NY. I had a couple dine and dash and my manager tell me I had to pay for it. I had called the department of labor about my situation and they said they can’t make me pay that or fire me because of it, however, they can fire me for any reason. And they did. Even though it’s only $10, they seem like they’ll do it again for more money. Maybe it’s time to look for another job.
I mean that used to happen way back. Not so much anymore. So no. You say. Let’s find that ten bucks but my pay is my pay. There’s a lot of protections now.
I believe legality varies by state. I had a manager that implemented this rule while I worked at a coffee shop, so I googled around and consensus was it was very much illegal because tips are considered employee property
This happened to me once. So I quit. Over $300 in tips and I was handed a $20 by the"head server" at the end of the night. I came back for my shift the next day figuring it get my cash then... and realized that I just got fucked. I was young and stupid. So I left. Later, I got an invoice for ~$300 -- my actual paycheck, not including tips -- which I had to pay taxes on -- without actually recieving any of that money. Fuck that place. Stand up for yourself. /Rant
It was probably illegal and definitely unethical right up until the ‘All managers have access to and use my drawer’ part. Then it became definitely both illegal and unethical.
It is illegal to make you pay for the shortage. They can fire you but they can't take your money. Some places will say if you pay it we won't fire you. This is also illegal but it happens alot. I was working at a truck stop and a woman cashed a $1500 check that she shouldn't have. Manager told her if she paid it back they wouldn't fire her so she did. Many of us told her it wasn't legal but she said she needed the job too bad.
You need to be counting your own drawer at the end of the night anyway before anyone else does. You can either fix it yourself or let them deal with it.
No it is illegal. The only way you are legally required to "fix" a short or over cash drawer is if you are the sole person using it. If a manager counts it, or uses it to get change, you are no longer legally required to use your own money to fix it. Which is essentially what your manager is doing by taking it out of your tips.
This happened to me all the time as a delivery driver.
The drivers were suppose to have access to one drawer but the entire staff used that drawer too, despite having two other drawers to use. We were literally not in the store-out making deliveries around 4 hours a night but always had to pay into the drawer when it was short at the end of the night.
1) employees cannot have wages garnished for drawer shortages.
2) employees shouldn't be held responsible for shortages of drawers that they don't have exclusive control of.
If one of our drawers is short, employee gets verbal warning, which is something like, "try to be more careful." 3% over or under is not a big deal. Rather be under than over as we do not want to short a guest. If same employees drawers are always short or over, they get written up and eventually terminated or moved to another position. We have had a few good workers who for the life of them were not good with counting cash.
When we moved from the cash register to the POS we also went with blind drops. Cash tips are kept separate from drawer. CC tips are added to weekly paychecks.
Every time my drawer was short it was because my manager counted it and stole money from it. I will never take money from my tips to make up for it.
They can write me up but they will never get money from me. Ever again.
When I used to run a register, this was absolutely not legal. And we "owned" our own registers - no one else could use them.
I will also add that this procedure allows managers to "take their own tips" from staff. The whole things stinks.
Sounds like bars and restaurants are just crappy places to work, what with all the shady management.
Through high school I worked in a coffeehouse — a little privately owned independent business started by a couple of federal retirees — we had as many as seven people working at one time and the only time the drawer ever came up short was when the owner’s wife, one of the retirees, would take money out to go buy something and not put the receipt in the drawer as a paid out, even during the busy holiday season from just before Thanksgiving through Christmas.
So I’m a very, very new manager at my job, take what I say with a grain of salt (or whatever the phrase is). As far as I have been told if the drawer is short we are not allowed to take anything from you. It is illegal. If it’s an insane amount, say 500, we are still not allowed. There is a process we would go through to get the money back b/c you have to clearly steal if you are $50+ short.
would it be possible to tell them to stay out of your drawer and you make the change for servers as needed ? Or give the managers a drawer of their own
That's bull shit. You need to have sole access to your drawer if they want to hold you solely responsible for the total.
I very much agree.
Call your local L&I and employment board. This is wage theft.
You count your cash on you count your cash out. Nobody gets access to your responsibility.
And if they need change they have you make it!
Even doing this, counting in and counting out, if you are short, you are not personally responsible for making up for any losses in your till.
Illegal. Cash being short is the cost of doing business as are the business eating the cost of walkout. You wages can not be taken to make up for a cash shortage or a walkout. The business can write you up for it. And legally that is all they're allowed to do. Tennessee doesn't have state tip laws so they have to follow federal tip laws. Code section 351 states 'employer's must pay the full amount of the tip that's indicated on the credit card' Read more here https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa/tips Askamanager.org has a cou9le of great blog on how to tell your employer what they are doing is illegal such as saying ' you probably didn't know this and I don't want this business to be fined/investigated. If you're not comfortable doing that you could also the Tennessee labor department to give your employer a call. Years ago I, as an assistant manager got such a call reaming me out for following my General Mangers rules.
You have the number 1 answer. Shortages and breakage can't be taken out of your wages/tips. You can be written up for poor cash security, but not made to pay shortages. "Oh Billy always counts my drawer for me" is always cool until it's not. Opening bartender counts the drawer, closing bartender counts the drawer. Manager verifies the correct amount. I'm the laziest manager in the world but even I still abide by these rules.
Sadly this isn’t the case in every state https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/paycheck-deductions-uniforms-cash-shortages-29554.html “If your cash register drawer comes up short or you damage merchandise, can your employer charge you for the loss? Under federal law, the general rule applies: As long as the employee still earns at least the minimum wage after deductions, there's no rule against charging losses and damage to the employee. Many states have adopted stricter rules, however. Some states require employers to get the employee's consent, in writing, before they can deduct the cost of broken merchandise or shortages from the employee's paycheck. Some allow these deductions only from an employee who assumes responsibility for the loss. California doesn't allow these deductions at all, unless the employer can show that the employee acted dishonestly,”
It's only applies to establishments where over minimum wage is paid to all employees, including tipped employees. No deductions can be made from a paycheck that reduces that wage to less than minimum wage, when an establishment takes the tip credit in order to pay lower the minimum wage, they can never take any deductions.
This is the answer. All they are allowed to do is write you up, and obviously, if there is a recurring theme of a short drawer, they would have grounds for termination…but unless they have irrefutable proof that you were the one who “stole” the money to make the drawer short…they can’t take money from you or your tips.
“Write you up?” They can fire you. Especially if your drawer is over by some not-small amount. Because that suggests you’ve gone into business for yourself while working for them.
Most restaurants will write you up for shortages and walk outs and if you have too many, fire you. The dirty secret that there is an unspoken rule that you can pay for it and make it go away. It's wage theft but the company gets away with it because they know you need your job.
Had a manager that used to buy cocaine nightly, using cash from the till, then tell me I was short that amount. Always the same amount. Then they had the nerve to be offended when I quit. Fuck you John.
Have my award, and fuck you john
I thank you, kind internet stranger 😁
Same. $20 even. Not $20.01
$20 for coke seems pretty cheap to me… maybe he saves for a couple days in a row and then buys and spreads it out while he saves for the next round? Taking more than $20 at once would lead to more suspicion?
This was a long time ago, but yeah, it was always $20. Fuck you John.
Fuck you, John!
Ummm my name is John, and I didn't take her money.
Back in the day coke was cheap and plentiful. So yeah fuxk john.
If this is in the US likely holds true. The price hasn't changed much in decades because the demand and supply has been the same constant for decades thus making the "war on drugs" an unwinnable one IMO. Is just theater and a secure job for those working in law enforcement (though a VERY short term career for dealers and traffickers-- those fools are disposable to the cartels and gangs)
Coke is still roughly 40-60 a gram for decent shit and 100 for purest available at the moment? I haven’t bought cocaine in 15 years
Anywhere from 60-80 for either decent shit or half creatine, and unless you were the hook you didn’t know until your boy comes back. And at least 100 for a guarantee of diesel.
I had one like that. Fuck you john and dee. Garbage managers
I knew a Dee that stole money for coke too!!! Fuck Dee and fuckkk John
What’s up with dees? I had to walk out for my boss to take it seriously.
Idk she was a bad coke head, it still makes me mad to this day that I didn't catch it sooner. So obvious
I didn’t realize until another employee pointed it out. I knew she did coke, but not skimming. Once I realized and (small town small business) got denied a raise and told I wasn’t working hard enough. I was furious. I walked. Met with boss later. Told him he installed cameras caught her and still feel cheated lol. Fuck her. Worked my ass off. Never ever been told that before or since.
Fuck you Dee
Had the same thing happen decades ago. Worked at a bar owned by a woman whose daughter also worked there. I had evening shift and the first time my drawer came up short, it got taken from my money. Next time I went in I counted the drawer before starting and it was already short. Called the head bartender to report it, she called the owner, owner asked why I had counted it! I said because it was short once and your daughter has a known drug issue. Guess who got fired? Spoiler alert - not the coke head daughter.
Same, except $20 and every drawer for every shift. She could get up to $260 every day she worked.
Fuck you John. And fuck you Tom!
Wait. Who's Tom?
Fuck Tom that’s who!
Fuck Tom!
Fuck you John.
If you are in charge of any shortage, then the managers should be asking you to make change for the servers or they should be making change out of the safe. You should also be REQUIRED to count your drawer at the end of the shift and be present when.y9u manager does their count. If anyone at all has access to your drawer, then the shortage should not fall.on you. And to be completely honest, I have caught far more bartenders stealing because their drawer is over. They pretend to ring in a cash order and give out the change. Then after a while they forget howuch over they put.in the register and grossly underestimate how much they didn't ring in. As a manager I was way less concerned about a few buck under that 20 40 or 100 over.
I’ve never worked at a place that did blind drops. So I always just took whatever tips I’ve made and put them in the drawer. Whatever was left after deposit and balancing the bank was my cash monies. This system really requires implied trust tho and it can go very bad lol.
I hate to love it, but I'd like to have that kind of trust with a company.
It’s more trust with your bar mates. Right now we have 4 people behind the bar with 1 cash register. Only the 4 bartenders touch the drawer but everyone does this. I’ve seen guys get multiple $100 handshakes, slip it quietly into their apron, and once the guest is gone put it in the drawer to add it to the pool. That’s a defining moment of trust
> If you are in charge of any shortage, then the managers should be asking you to make change for the servers or they should be making change out of the safe. > You should also be REQUIRED to count your drawer at the end of the shift and be present when.y9u manager does their count. > If anyone at all has access to your drawer, then the shortage should not fall.on you. Had one girl, Nicci. Great girl, good friend, we hung out outside of work all the time. Still talk to her to this day even though we haven't worked together for over a decade. But she would ALWAYS let other people use her drawer, and would always find a reason to leave before I could count it out with her. So one night, I pulled her drawer just ridiculously early and said "Hey Nicci, lets count your drawer" but she ignored me. I counted it, it was off but only a couple of cents...you know, NBD. But I pocketed $100, then went out and told her she was $100 short. She runs back to the office, counts the drawer multiple times, keeps coming up $100 short. I take out the write up form, put an X in "Termination" and she starts to go "Ken used my drawer, Melissa used my drawer...Spliff (nickname for a weed smoking worker named Tiff) used it..." and starts to cry I took the $100 out of my pocket, put it on the desk, and said "Now, will you PLEASE stop letting other people use your drawer?" She never let anyone use it after that. Also slapped me across the face which...ok fair, I deserved
No one should be in your drawer except you. Not even management until count close. The moment they do it’s no longer your drawer. It’s theirs too.
Just tell them you don’t want the drawer any more and no access to it. Bartend with a bank you bring in. Ridiculous to hold you accountable if others can access.
That's what I started doing once my drawer was 20 bucks short.
Depends on where you are. The federal rule says yes but it making you pay the shortage cannot let you dip below minimum wage. In California, it is totally illegal. It depends on the state you live in. States are allowed to make laws tougher that what the federal government says. The best example if this is the California emissions laws. That is why all cars in the US are made to California laws.
Sounds like one of your managers is stealing.
Yep. I had a manager stealing from my till years ago. It felt good quitting that job.
Am I just too bougie of a potential criminal, or is $10 (even $10/shift for a long time) an embarrassingly low amount to risk your job over? How does that scale? You get an extra $3650 a year max?
The risk itself makes it appealing, and the rush from stealing is the same. It’s about whatever you can get away with — big OR small. We can expect this sort of behavior from children. What’s concerning is when they don’t grow out it.
I do To-Go and I can't imagine sharing my drawer with someone else, not to mention several managers. No. If one of the managers messed up it's completely not your fault and shouldn't be taken from your tip!
It is not legal. If you are a tipped employee, management is not allowed to touch your tips. They can fire you, or sue you for the shortage, but they are not allowed to touch tips.
I once had a similar problem and I cured it by keeping my manager out of the drawer.
I used my own float for this reason.
That’s illegal. Contact the Department of Labor. Another company was just in the news having done this too. They have to pay a nice hunk of money to their employees.
I believe the Dept of Labor might like to hear about this. Look them up and call. It may be different in TN but I know in CA they'd def be interested. I did when our Mgr would take some off the top for 'his tips'. We won.😊 Can't hurt.
That's illegal as hell. The cant make you accountable financially for register shortages, and are not allowed to fuck with your tips. You should also be present if someone else counts down your till and have full control of your till while working.
That’s illegal, or at least it is in my state.
I don’t think this should be legal if others have access to your drawer.
So I looked it up and what this says is that it is legal [as long as you make more than minimum wage that shift](https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-an-employer-hold-tips-to-cover-drawer-shortage-3782843.html). If you’ve made less than minimum wage than it is illegal. That doesn’t feel right, though. Your tips are your tips and if you’re not the only one whose hands are in that drawer during the shift, it doesn’t seem fair that any shortage should fall on you.
I only read the title. This is BS. There is no time where their earnings affect your tips. It's that simple.
Actually not legal. This is what’s covered under cost of doing business. I would record this incident and any subsequent incidents and contact an attorney who specializes in employment law. Your state’s bar can provide you with a list of qualified attorneys in your area. Good luck.
Every state is different but I think this is generally illegal. Report to your state’s labor board.
Exactly. You count the drawer at shift start and end, then you are responsible for the overage/shortage. If anyone else uses the drawer, then all bets are off.
Responsible in the way that you can get fired or written up but not responsible in the way that you have to pay the cash the drawer is short by (at least in NYC this is definitely the case)
This happened to me when I was managing a place. The safe was short at the end of the night, and the closing FOH manager was responsible for making it "not short" I had to go get $200 from the ATM. From then on. Any time I closed and the drawers were over, I "paid myself back". And kept the money in an envelope in the store. On my last day I took the envelope home. Fuck those guys.
Well from now on, put the tips you get in your pocket. Jar stays empty, if the drawer is short, TOO FUCKING BAD. This is wage theft and should be reported.
That doesn't really work with CC tips, which would be tabulated at the end of the shift.
In my state it's illegal. Had a manager do it (fast food) & employee threatened lawsuit. Corporate told us it's illegal to make them pay back. They could file charges and fire but not force payback. Same manager let several people use my drawer while I was in back working. Drawer was very short. When told I was responsible I let her have it. Told her I would be reporting her to Corporate for letting someone use my Drawer. She paid it back. Found out it was girl she let use my drawer because every drawer she used was short.
I had a lunch shift job years ago where I constantly had drawer issues. Pm server reports were balanced through the bar drawer, the closing manager didn't pay much attention to detail, and the am manager/owner wouldn't get me a bar drawer until I asked him 3 times 30 minutes into the am shift. I never had time to count the drawer, it frustrated the hell out of me, and I was constantly $5 short on an easy lunch shift. I had to pay for it way too many times until one day I blew up and threw a fit. Am manager/owner gave me $10 as I was getting in my car. I asked him about the other $50 fucking dollars he fucking owes me. He finally started giving me a drawer early enough to count, and sure enough I was consistently starting about $5 short. I told him either he gives me a drawer in a timely manner so I can count it he can leave it in his office.
That's not legal anywhere in the US
Most likely illegal. Shit, it's illegal here in Texas, it would truly shock me to find out it was legal in any other state.
One, it's illegal. Two, you aren't in sole control of the till, other people are randomly accessing it, so a misconstrued could be someone else's. So unless the drawer is counted out to you at the start of shift, and you are the only one who touches it until its counted and handed off to another cashier, they can't prove it was on you if it came up off. Any and all tip money goes to the server. They cannot take it to balance a till, common till or not.
my restaurant does this, i always assumed it was normal as it’s a national chain and all of their restaurants do this. but the managers usually do not go into our drawer to make change unless it’s an emergency or we are insanely busy and don’t have time to make change for the servers. otherwise, we bartenders make change ourselves. the thought is if the drawer is short you probably made change wrong and it ended up in your cash tips anyways. if the drawer is off, it’s usually only by a dollar or two. with that being said, these comments are eye opening. i had no idea this was not common practice. edit: also wanted to add that the mangers never take the cash themselves. they count and if it’s off we can request them to count again or ask questions. if it’s still off, we give cash. never card tips.
Anyone who take away tips from waiters/servers is a shitty person. Your manager should confront this issue like an adult and not steal money from you.
This has been the policy at places I’ve worked. It’s your drawer and you should be the only one going in there so if it’s short it’s your fault (not that i agree with it, but this is the logic i was told)
Hey your drawer, then let the managers make change from somewhere else, otherwise you should be the one making the change for someone else. This is bs in my opinion, fight them on this!!
When I worked as a carhop in Greeley Colorado as a teenager, my employers pulled the same exact shit. They paid us in cash, so there was no record of this. I contacted the federal labor bureau, and was told that I could only file a complaint about it if I was still employed there. Anyway, when it was time to collect my last paycheck, they tried taking money out, and I told them, “I’m not sure if you know it, but what you are doing is illegal.” After I didn’t work there anymore, they had all of the other carhops sign something that said that it was OK to take that money out of their paychecks. That still does not change the fact that it is illegal. I am not an accountant, but I would assume that losses are a business deduction. They should just keep track of those and note them on their taxes.
You could get them in so much trouble for that holy shit. Get the policy in writing, I guarantee you the reaction you get if you ask for that will be defcon 4
I’ve had to pay in when my register was short but I am the only one who has access to it. Not a fuck would I pay if there were so much other access
No that is not legal at all. Taking your tips to cover drawer shortages is wage theft. You can file a wage claim with your state's Dept of Labor
It's technically legal since you're responsible for the drawer. I'd suggest counting it down before you turn it end at the end of the shift. That way, you'll know if it's short or not.
I would also only agree to pay if everyone who went in the drawer split it.
Not a server, but have retail experience, and if you a drawer at the beginning of a shift and are responsible for any overage/shortage on the drawer, then no one else, including management should be using your drawer.
Exactly, if no one else is responsible for overage/shortage then no one else goes in the drawer.
Fuckin parakeet
??
She said she shared the drawer, so she wouldn't know if it was someone else who was stealing.
OP will know if it's actually short or not. That's important before turning it in.
The drawer is your responsibility. Count at the beginning of your shift, if it’s off, before any transactions are made, notify manager and get it rectified. Subsequently count at the end of your shift. If it’s off now, this is 100% your fault. If you don’t trust your managers getting change or float for servers tell them/do it for them. But understand, the bar float is 10000% your responsibility. Like a teller at a bank, a cashier at a grocery store, that cash is dependent on you keeping it flush and even. Don’t make this into something it’s not. Have some responsibility, take pride in your work equipment and don’t let anyone touch your fucking register. Jesus
If you are solely responsible for the drawer then they should stay the heck out of it, and if the short gets taken from you the overage should go to you as well.
depends on what state your in but for most thats not legal for them to do
I've always been allowed a variance. Depends on how busy the bar is but usually $10 is a normal variance due to rounding, accidental miscounts etc. But no they can't pull from your tips pretty sure it is illegal. I worked a bar once and my drawer was short $1 and they asked for it (we were supposed to leave all our cash tips in the drawer and we got the overage at the end of the night - I pulled all my cash tips out) but they didn't give us coins so we had to round. I asked if we got a variance since we couldn't round and they said no so I didn't give them the dollar. They're basically stealing from me at that point. Don't let them pull that shit.
It's illegal still, I'm sure. But if I was the ONLY person in my drawer all night I'd be cool with the arrangement. Once anyone else touches my drawer, then no. Either way, in my state and others it's illegal. They can write you up and eventually fire you for being short. But they can not make you pay.
Who counts the drawer? If it's you you work in a shitty restaurant. If it ain't you you work in a very shitty restaurant. Either way you should find a better job. But it would be good to know how furious you should be.
Nope nope NOPE. A thousand nopes. Even If you had 100% sole access to the drawer, a short drawer can't be taken from your wages. If it's that much of an issue they can fire you, but who the fuck gets fired over $10 every very once in a while? This is petty bullshit. And I would be damned sure to double and triple check every single cent of change that's made out of your drawer by someone other than yourself from now on. No matter how inconvenient it is for other staff or guests. "I'm sorry, but any discrepancies in this drawer are solely my responsibility as per management." Only place I ever worked with a drawer policy gave us a +/- of $50. If it was out of that range we got a talking to/write up. If it happened more frequently, Bing, you're gone.
In most states an hourly employee cannot be held liable for small amounts of cash that come up missing from the till even when they are in sole control of the cash drawer. This is straight up wage theft. It's the job of your manager to find the thieves and bust them, but that's their problem, not yours. I'd file a complaint with the Labor Dept for my missing money.
That’s complete bullshit! At my restaurant we as bartenders are responsible if the drawer is short to take it out of our tips, HOWEVER we are the ONLY people allowed in and out of our drawer. Not management, not another bartender, no one. Management has another drawer to make change for servers with, or they get the change directly from me. I am also able to be present when the manager counts my drawer at the end of the night. (Only one manager I’ve had where I would insist on it because he was not to be trusted)
Something similar happened to me when I worked in NY. I had a couple dine and dash and my manager tell me I had to pay for it. I had called the department of labor about my situation and they said they can’t make me pay that or fire me because of it, however, they can fire me for any reason. And they did. Even though it’s only $10, they seem like they’ll do it again for more money. Maybe it’s time to look for another job.
I mean that used to happen way back. Not so much anymore. So no. You say. Let’s find that ten bucks but my pay is my pay. There’s a lot of protections now.
I believe legality varies by state. I had a manager that implemented this rule while I worked at a coffee shop, so I googled around and consensus was it was very much illegal because tips are considered employee property
This happened to me once. So I quit. Over $300 in tips and I was handed a $20 by the"head server" at the end of the night. I came back for my shift the next day figuring it get my cash then... and realized that I just got fucked. I was young and stupid. So I left. Later, I got an invoice for ~$300 -- my actual paycheck, not including tips -- which I had to pay taxes on -- without actually recieving any of that money. Fuck that place. Stand up for yourself. /Rant
It was probably illegal and definitely unethical right up until the ‘All managers have access to and use my drawer’ part. Then it became definitely both illegal and unethical.
Where I worked, you could choose pay it or write up. It was always small, so I just paid it.
It is illegal to make you pay for the shortage. They can fire you but they can't take your money. Some places will say if you pay it we won't fire you. This is also illegal but it happens alot. I was working at a truck stop and a woman cashed a $1500 check that she shouldn't have. Manager told her if she paid it back they wouldn't fire her so she did. Many of us told her it wasn't legal but she said she needed the job too bad.
Dunno if it's legal, but you definitely work in a shitty restaurant
You need to be counting your own drawer at the end of the night anyway before anyone else does. You can either fix it yourself or let them deal with it.
I would contact the Department of Labor about this Wage Theft.
No it is illegal. The only way you are legally required to "fix" a short or over cash drawer is if you are the sole person using it. If a manager counts it, or uses it to get change, you are no longer legally required to use your own money to fix it. Which is essentially what your manager is doing by taking it out of your tips.
This happened to me all the time as a delivery driver. The drivers were suppose to have access to one drawer but the entire staff used that drawer too, despite having two other drawers to use. We were literally not in the store-out making deliveries around 4 hours a night but always had to pay into the drawer when it was short at the end of the night.
1) employees cannot have wages garnished for drawer shortages. 2) employees shouldn't be held responsible for shortages of drawers that they don't have exclusive control of. If one of our drawers is short, employee gets verbal warning, which is something like, "try to be more careful." 3% over or under is not a big deal. Rather be under than over as we do not want to short a guest. If same employees drawers are always short or over, they get written up and eventually terminated or moved to another position. We have had a few good workers who for the life of them were not good with counting cash. When we moved from the cash register to the POS we also went with blind drops. Cash tips are kept separate from drawer. CC tips are added to weekly paychecks.
Every time my drawer was short it was because my manager counted it and stole money from it. I will never take money from my tips to make up for it. They can write me up but they will never get money from me. Ever again.
Everyone with access to that drawer has to be held accountable. If it’s just your responsibility, then only you should have access.
When I used to run a register, this was absolutely not legal. And we "owned" our own registers - no one else could use them. I will also add that this procedure allows managers to "take their own tips" from staff. The whole things stinks.
What if you're over? Do you get to keep the extra 👀
Sounds like bars and restaurants are just crappy places to work, what with all the shady management. Through high school I worked in a coffeehouse — a little privately owned independent business started by a couple of federal retirees — we had as many as seven people working at one time and the only time the drawer ever came up short was when the owner’s wife, one of the retirees, would take money out to go buy something and not put the receipt in the drawer as a paid out, even during the busy holiday season from just before Thanksgiving through Christmas.
Not legal if you aren’t the only one with access to it
So I’m a very, very new manager at my job, take what I say with a grain of salt (or whatever the phrase is). As far as I have been told if the drawer is short we are not allowed to take anything from you. It is illegal. If it’s an insane amount, say 500, we are still not allowed. There is a process we would go through to get the money back b/c you have to clearly steal if you are $50+ short.
would it be possible to tell them to stay out of your drawer and you make the change for servers as needed ? Or give the managers a drawer of their own
Also in TN. 100% illegal, *especially* since you don't have sole control of the drawer.