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DID YOU KNOWS…
Ocean’s 8 Diner
Have you seen the Ocean’s 8 trailer yet? One of the clips has two of the main characters eating at Vesekla, NYC’s iconic 24-hour Ukrainian diner. People are excited.
Preventing Sexual Harassment
Bloomberg recently ran a piece about what some restaurants are doing to avoid sexual harassment from happening in their locations. The piece includes restaurateur Martha Hoover who had worked in sex crimes unit and mandates week long training in her restaurants.
Big Papi Needs a Job
Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz will star in a new reality series called Big Papi Needs a Job. In it, Ortiz will try out different professions such as dog groomer, manicurist, and musician. Check out the promo.
ARE YOU JOKING?
Why it matters to you: Progressive discipline should be your first move when addressing inappropriate staff behavior.
Who doesn’t like a good joke before dinner? One Pizza Hut delivery customer was so intent on hearing one that she asked the restaurant to write one onto their pizza box. It was a request from her two sons, ages 12 and 15, that spurred her to ask, but she got more than she bargained for when the pizza arrived. The delivery driver fulfilled the request, but it appears the joke he wrote was more NC17 than family-friendly. No surprise here, the woman was outraged. You’ll have to read the article to see the joke, because honestly, it’s inappropriate to expose it here.
Of course, the company reacted quickly and fired the employee. The customer actually asked that the employee not be fired, however, she did express her dismay by saying, “there’s time and a place for everything.”
Read the joke and decide for yourself how you would respond. Pizza Hut actually took some heat for the firing with people expressing their outrage on social media. If you ask us, the driver should have been disciplined, but firing wasn’t the answer. You can use mistakes as teachable moments and likely create a better employee. These are tough decisions, but given the wishes of the offended and the good natured effort the employee made, a more progressive approach might have been better.
AND SO IT BEGINS
Why it matters to you: Once the states begin rolling back tip-credit, the end is near for tipping culture
Yesterday we ran an analysis of the Department of Labor’s recent guidance proposed for tip pools. In that analysis, we explained that states without tip credit would be the first to see tip pooling implemented because of the tax benefits to the state from employers controlling the amount, distribution, and taxation of those tips.
As if on cue, the Governor of New York has announced a proposal to eliminate tip credit. Governor Cuomo’s rationale is that it’s in the best interest of the employee. Sorry, that’s a load of hogwash. If you read his statements, you’ll find him referencing the difficulty in tracking and managing tips, and some exposure experienced by employees as a result. I would wager a week’s salary (not that I actually get one) that a poll of tipped employees would return a solid desire to keep the system the way it is now. Servers, bartenders, bussers, and barbacks all earn tips to supplement their income, but few of them complain about their overall wage as a result.
Here the state’s desire is fairly transparent. The issues with tip tracking are actually related to the lost tax revenue that is not paid on tips earned. By eliminating tip credit the state can effectively ensure that 100% of the money earned by the servers is taxed.
There are some benefits to employers as they can reduce their overall labor cost by leveraging the tips received, but at what cost? Likely the best servers will leave the industry and you will be left with those that are willing to do that difficult job for a base wage. How will you respond to the new tip pool rules? Tell us in the comments section of the Daily Rail blog post.
