Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Rehersal Dinner

I have tried to write this out nicely so it is a quality piece of writing, but I have found that my brain is on vacation at the moment. Sorry in advance.

I really enjoyed working this party! It has been a long time since I could honestly say I had fun working a party. Usually they are nothing but a pain.
The whole dining room was reserved for the party. We had it all set hours in advance, but continued to seat people there for dinner, letting them know we had a party coming in and offering to seat them somewhere else if they wanted a more leisurely dining experience. Everything went fine; no issues, no complaints. Kinda boring for story-telling purposes.

During the day, management made the mistake of leaving the booking slip out where I could see it. It was because of this I learned how much gratuity would be collected for the party. I had already agreed with the other server that I would take the party alone so I could leave when it was over as I was working her shift the next night (making my Saturday a double, as well as that Friday). I knew I would be working by butt off for it, but the gratuity from that party, minus the busboy's cut, would make up for the slowing economy.

This party was a 70 person rehearsal dinner. All attending were very nice and actually respectful of the busboys and myself. I was able to get everyone their drinks quickly, received many compliments, and was even pouring my own drinks from the bar since the bartender was feeling exceptionally talkative that day (not that I care).

I stayed after the open bar ended to continue caring for the almost 45 people who had remained. They were already drunk, but began doing shots. Their rounds were roughly $60, yet they were not tipping. After 2 more hours of this and no tips, their numbers were down to a point where I could leave. I told manager T I was ready to leave and we began cashing me out. As he handed me the gratuity from the party, he told me that he would give the busboy and the bar their tip-out from the party. I reminded him that I got all my own drinks for the party, thinking that the bartender should not get tipped-out on what she did not do. He replied that he was only going to give her $10. I am not pleased and here is why:

Gratuity paid by the party: $280
Gratuity I received: $140

So the busboy's gratuity from the party is about 50%? I helped him set up the room and bring out the buffet. He did not help me prebus the tables, bring out drinks, refills, etc.

Am I being totally unreasonable in being upset about this or am I justified?

6 comments:

purplegirl said...

That sounds to me like somebody in management is skimming gratuity--I can't imagine the busboy gets 50% unless he did so much he was like a second server.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you got screwed!

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you could be a busgirl and make the same amount.No it is not fair because if anything went wrong the blame would lie with you and not the wee busboy. Hence you should get paid more just because of that and if you did most of the work like setting up and clearing etc you should get more on top of that. You are justified.

Unhinged said...

Thanks for the reassurance.

SkippyMom said...

I have to agree with purplegirl - you were the only waitress and you should have been handed the whole $280 and in turn did your own tip out.

There is no way he is handing $130 to the busboy, after the $10 to the bartendar.

Btw - what would you have tipped the busboy? Just curious. Would it have been the normal tip out or would it have been a bit more because it was a larger party?

Unhinged said...

Our tip-out is 10% of our actual tips. I would have given him $80 since I ended up bussing the tables on my own during the party. Also, he was still going to be tipped out by another waitress and the bartender.
I guess in the end he made more than I did that night!