Why am I not surprised? Shyndigz loves grinding their staff into the ground. The whole idea of tipping makes it so much nore easy for restaurants to exploit their employees. We need to get rid of it and make places like that start paying the servers what they're actually owed.

Before the mob descends on Shyndigz, how do you know or how have you verified this info?

Yes as I am very close to someone who has worked there until recently

If this is true its illegal. If you take away tips how do you plan on making employers pay more? Waiting tables is one of the few jobs left that can afford unskilled workers a good income.

they would get a better income if restaurants weren't allowed to pay them below minimum wage on the off chance a customer feels like picking up the restaurant's slack.

fwiw i feel like i’ve heard this in every other thread that mentions shyndigz

would love to hear a current or former employee vouch for this, but it shouldn’t be hard to find in this sub

The was a post about Shyndigz tipping on the FB Group “RVA Dine: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly” on 4/16/2021 that blew up over there )link). The OP’s partner worked in the Market part and said the tips were not distributed but there was a lot of comments.

I always made bank waiting tables when I was making below minumum wages, but when I was cooking running the kitchen, responsible for all the ordering and scheduling I still didnt make nearly what I made waiting tables.

Went in there Saturday night, staff skipped the tip screen so we put cash in the box... Wonder if that's why.

Fucking sucks if this is true.

Unpopular opinion: Exactly why I don't tip when I pick up food. I worked in restaurants for a long time, and we used to always say, "If you don't wanna tip, order takeout." The idea of tipping someone for handing me a bag has never made sense.

[deleted]

Prob, but sadly they don’t get cash tips either

It literally is, can get shut down real fast if enough people complain

sigh... not if they are paid minimum wage or more

So it’s been a few years since I worked there, but when I worked there the policy at 2Go was that you made a certain wage, and tips would be applied to your pay until you hit $10.00/hour at which point you wouldn’t receive any more tip money on top of that. I can’t speak to what servers or anyone like that made but having worked between the cafe and 2Go it def felt like people were getting ripped off

Was there a reason you continued to work for this restaurant? You may not be a policy maker but you could make the decision to work some where else or a different line of work.

i need money to live and the different lines of work are not returning my emails

That’s crazy. F that place.

[deleted]

did 11 years in food service, whole heartedly agree.

I'm not a lawyer but that seems less than clear to me. Employers are allowed to take a tip credit, where they pay employees non-tipped minimum wage and then take tips up to the point where they make up the tipped/non-tipped difference. Employers are also allowed to charge a service charge on the bill and don't have to give any of that to their employees. I know in other states, employers have been sued for letting managers take tips. If I were an employee there I'd at least do some Googling and do a free legal consultation

BBB is boomer Yelp, it's not a government agency or anything like that

Wrong! A tip, no matter your base wage, is a transaction between the tipper and the individual receiving the tip.

Place the tip directly in the server's hand to eliminate any ambiguity. :D

Source, please.

Sometimes the individual handing you your food was also involved in preparing the meal in some way. Both the restaurants I’ve worked at had front of house employees do some of their shift in the kitchen adding garnishes and things of that nature. I agree that it’s far less common to tip for takeout, but sometimes the person giving you your food is more involved than you might expect.

i’ve also consistently heard this from multiple former and current employees

Agreed, managers are not allowed tips unless clocked in as bartender/server/etc and owners are never ever allowed tips. I have been in the industry for 10 years and seen restaurants go down for this

I usually leave a buck if I'm picking up

NYDeli now adds 20% tip auto to your bill for take out.

If I didn’t have my kid in my hands in middle of whatever festival was going on in carytown and wasn’t standing in between two drunks at the bar picking up my food I would have said something.

It’s cheaper to eat there and tip the normal 18% than to do takeout and have 20% auto added. What type of bs is this

This is technically wage theft I think

Yeah I tip $1 per dessert, salad, or soup ordered for takeout because front of house staff often prepares/packages those. But I almost never get take out anyway.

Section 1, first bullet: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa/tips

"an employer cannot keep employees’ tips under any circumstances; managers and supervisors also may not keep tips received by employees, including through tip pools"

Yep.

Section 1, first bullet: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa/tips

"an employer cannot keep employees’ tips under any circumstances; managers and supervisors also may not keep tips received by employees, including through tip pools"

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa/tips

>In 2020 and 2021, the Department completed a series of rulemakings to update its regulations to protect tipped workers. These rulemakings addressed 2018 legislative amendments to section 3(m) and other sections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to expressly prohibit employers, including managers and supervisors, from keeping employees’ tips.

There's that for starters. And this:

>an employer cannot keep employees’ tips under any circumstances; managers and supervisors also may not keep tips received by employees, including through tip pools;

Do you have a source you'd like to cite for your bullshit?

Better to contact the Virginia Dept of Labor. This is illegal and a government agency has a lot more power than an organization that takes membership dues from businesses.

Yea, I'm a BOH veteran but know tipping rules just the same. I added the federal legislation in another comment

I think we commented back at the same time. Thank you though.

Yep.

I still don't understand why you are getting down voted. Must be all the managers seeing this thread.

Thank you for that!

That place is built on horrible management practices and churn of young college kids performing $20+ dollars worth of work for Pennies

zzq does similar things.

Oh that's just my life. Even when I'm right, somehow I'm wrong.

[deleted]

That’s 100% illegal

Isn’t that what wages are for? Why should I subsidize a restaurant owner for not paying their employees?

Wait for real? Cause I’ve worked at multiple places where managers were included in tip pool (not doubting you it’s just uhhhh fuckin wild)

Because that’s the industry standard? Servers make around $2 an hour so the expectation is that patrons tip. I wish that wasn’t the case and that business owners pay a reasonable wage, but that’s not what’s going on. People handling to go orders could be on that end of the spectrum or they could be earning upwards of $15 an hour. As a customer, there’s no way to know without asking — my only point was to bring to light the concept that someone isn’t necessarily just handing you your food and expecting a tip. Tipping culture has gotten way out of hand for sure, but it’s not always black and white.

I think you're wrong about that.

And I’d bet the tips they stole from you that they know it’s illegal, too

>> Because that’s the industry standard? Servers make around $2 an hour so the expectation is that patrons tip. I wish that wasn’t the case and that business owners pay a reasonable wage, but that’s not what’s going on.

I mean this thread is talking about tips for carry out. In what world does someone earn a tip simply for putting food in bag? I mean why not tip the grocery store worker who bags your food? Why not tip the person at Macy’s who takes the tags off and puts your clothes in the bag? What about the person who looks up parts to your car at autozone? When should it stop? And for the record I usually tip $1 when I get takeout but I hate how it’s the norm now.

One of my favorite things about traveling abroad is the dining experience. I can sit at a table by myself enjoying a meal and coffee for two hours and nobody cares because tipping culture doesn’t exist everywhere else like here. It makes the experience bad by viewing your time at a table or party size as a $ sign, rather than a place to enjoy a nice meal peacefully.

I don’t disagree with you, my original comment was just to point out that in the food service industry in the US sometimes the person who meets you with the swivel of the iPad and tip option isn’t just handing you the food and has had a hand in putting the order together in another way. Some front of house staff are paid hourly, some are paid based on tips, and some are paid based on a combo. How you tip is up to you. Not your job as the customer to figure it out, but it is important to know it’s not all the same setup everywhere.

Yes, they legally cannot collect tips while being manager. If they are part time manager, part time bartender/whatever they can when clocked in as NOT manager

There is a local burrito delivery place that did this. Not sure if they still do. Super lame that businesses do this.

Assuming that servers are “unskilled workers” is bullshit.

Somewhat true. Say I had a really gnarly week serving to the point I made $5/hr. Legally, my job has to pay me minimum wage. So they bump it up, tax it. On the flip side, say I made $50/hr the next week but most of it was credit card tips. Those tips would be in my next check(at most, not all restaurants) and those tips would be taxed. That helps the IRS keep track of money industry people make, that way someone can't say "oh look, I only made x amount this year, I deserve extra tax refunds."

It is highly encouraged in most restaurants because of that to also report your cash tips and not get the IRS up your booty

Sous Casa?!

I’m surprised. I think the owners are good folks.. what do they do?

Management cannot keep tips per the department of labor. Connect the state labor board

I agree with you in theory but in practice it is not the person who is bagging up the food who is choosing to be paid less than minimum wage. Some to go servers are paid less than minimum wage before the bump up. And yeah you can say “but they have to pay them minimum wage” but in reality your little protest isn’t hurting the business owner at all cause you’re still getting your food there. It’s just the person working to go who spent time on your order who may have gotten a little extra who is gonna wait for the dollar or two on their check that comes out to fifty bucks a week

They think that their protest is actually doing something. “I refuse to tip for this!!!”

Okay, well if you are making an ethical/moral argument about why you shouldn’t be tipping, then you should ethically and morally be ordering food at places you’re sure pays their to go people fairly.

Otherwise, it’s not that you’re super passionate about the issue. I bet you won’t tell that to go person to their face you don’t believe in tipping them. It’s that you are mad at the system and you don’t want to tip but you want to have your unethical cake and eat it too.

(General you, not you as a person)

If I ever lose my job (I don’t have an education right now but hope to change that) and I still don’t have training you bet your ass the first thing I’m gonna do is try to go back to serving/bartending

Only reason I don’t go back honestly is insurance, and I started getting really bad pain in my feet from all the years of buying the cheapest Walmart work shoes catching up with me. Doubles started hurting pretty badly in my late 20s.

[deleted]

This was def in place when I worked there 2017ish

I am not. Also, This is my of work. If i get injured or something similar, i have no skill to fall back on. Quit yourbullshit.

I have known a few people who worked there over the past couple of years and this matches what they’ve said. Apparently the rest was supposed to go towards things for staff like meals and things but that doesn’t show.

>What type of bs is this

This is the direct result of the restaurant industry guilting/bullying their customer base into compensating their employee's wages due to covid.

Sure, restaurants took a hit initially but for well over a year now it's been business as usual.

20% autograt for takeout is garbage 99.99% of the time... but especially if it's not disclosed when you order.

Sorry if you're really friendly or helpful I might tip on pickup, but I'm not tipping someone to grab a ramekin or sprinkle parsley. That's just part of the job. (Source over 15 years both management)

Yeah they are simply just doing a money grab. It’s so obvious.

Inflation in general is up bc companies are making record profits.

Sounds ripe for a class action lawsuit for unpaid wages. Round up a group of employees, current and former, and file complaints with the Virginia Department of Labor.

https://www.virginia.gov/agencies/department-of-labor-and-industry/

Doesn't matter how you feel about tipping. What matters is that the employee was tipped and it's illegal as fuck for an employer to take tips away from an employee.

Literally the only person who bought food for staff when I worked there was a 17 year old kid who fuckin rocked

I was also there in 2017! Doubt much has changed tbh

I don’t think that’s legal

Yeeeaaahhh no. Current employee here, and that’s just not true at all.

[removed]

Current employee! It’s not true.

Could you elaborate? I love that place but I don’t want to support a place that takes employee tips.

Former employee for about two months, they not only pocket tips they LIE about it and you have to catch them and confront them after, to which they have no excuse. I quit on the spot because I made the woman who lied to me about it pull up my paycheck and I asked her why it was short (they also consistently paid their female employees less, on my third day of TRAINING I closed by myself and TRAINED A NEWER EMPLOYEE who was a male being paid a dollar more per hour)

there are way worse things than just messing with wages.

Y’all please stop going here. Former employee who commented below but they no longer are even a bakery. The restaurant shut down over covid and they realized they didn’t need it for profit by forcing employees to continue to work underpaid over covid in the market and continue to steal and profit. They own a fucking store now, three entire buildings and want to continue expanding down the block for a hotel. In the entire time I worked there I never met the owners or was acknowledged for the employment position I held in the market. The employees suffer there so bad that is NOT A SMALL BUSINESS.

Current manager who isn’t supposed to be getting tips. I have receipts and pay stubs from working here that I am happy to share

If that’s the policy going in, then how is it their fault if they are transparent?

The Continental also adds a tip for take-out, but I think with take-out, a lot of times a server (who does not make minimum wage) is packing and ringing up the take-out, so they are spending time on your order when they would normally make a tip. At Shindigz, it's literally someone putting cake in a box. I hope they are not paid server's wages, because they are not servers. I guessed (wrongly?) that they are paid above minimum wage.

People saying this is illegal, but is it if they are paying their defined wages?

The issue is here at shyndigz there are no waiting staff anymore so just counter people making a standard hourly wage.

I’m sorry but that’s not my problem.

Restaurant industry needs to start fighting for living wages and stop shooting itself in the foot pushing for tipping. This is exactly a way restaurants take advantage of them by making them work while not being tipped (prepping take out food).

Again, not my problem. I’m ordering take out for a reason. Just like I order subway and chipotle - no tipping is even asked for.

Someone’s livelihood should not be dependent on the generosity of strangers, especially when the strangers are forced to tip in some type of surprise billing scheme.

This was a conversation topic on Facebook’s RVA Food & Dine groups in like early 2021. It’s been confirmed over and over and over by employees. I went to get cake and asked the cashier “do you receive the tip?” and they said no, so I did not tip.

Regardless, still very very very illegal for owners to keep tips. They could take the tip option away if they truly want to, but instead the owner is lining their pockets with money intended for staff.

They don’t. Cash is taken by managers or shift lead and counted at the end of the night, is put in a big bag that says “TIPS” and is never seen again. supposed to go into “the tip pool” that doesn’t exist, instead of a pretend set hourly tip rate of “2.00 an hour” AKA not tip, it’s not even the tip average.

idk if I can post it all. there are a lot of red flags.

How is it illegal? Is there a law that says what tips has to be used for?

Ah, Amy's Baking Company. 300 employees in a year.

Former employee here! Back in 2015/16, it was a tip pooling situation but I would lose anywhere between $200-$300 a night and do unpaid side work for 2 hours after the restaurant closed. They do an amazing job with hiring great staff, but it’s such a bummer that the follow through doesn’t match the quality folks that they hire. Also a bummer because they make quality food that folks earnestly enjoy.

So many people have linked all the links in other comments but here is one since you don't want to read thru those https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa/tips

People who are mad about auto-grats at 20% or whatever are flat out cheap. They feel they have the power to short change a worker and decide based on their performance what they deserve. I’m positive those same people are not performing at 100% at their office jobs or whatever salaried job they’re at, all of the time. Those same complainers make mistakes, they have bad days, but they’re not getting shorted on their salaries for things like that. But when a server or tipped worker, does something “wrong”, it’s totally acceptable to these cheapskates to dock their pay.

So when people are mad about auto gratuities, they’re just flat out cheap/have power issues.

This was mentioned before, but their sister store, Fancy Biscuit, has been known to add a tip to bills listed as a tax then has the tip line as well. The counter person confirmed that it was not a tax. I experienced it maybe a year ago and never went back.

I honestly wouldn’t have guessed RVA would have aggressive down voters at saying “maybe by not tipping your to go person you might be punishing the wrong person” but hey, you learn something new every day.

I don’t go places that I know don’t pay hourly for to go if I don’t want to tip. It’s one thing if you don’t know but if you know and just don’t care you’re an asshole in my book

Agreed about everything you said about auto grat. It’s the same concept as them adding the wages to the menu prices. It’s just going directly to the servers instead of increasing the menu 20 percent

Ok so what is the truth?

Are you sure? The last time I heard someone claim this about a different restaurant, it was a tax line with meal and sales tax combined. It would be so stupid and easy to get busted for fraud doing this.

Aside from what tennisprofosho said, a very minimal time is spent doing that. I've worked in a restaurant as a waiter and dealing with carry out orders. Charging 20% on takeout is straight up criminal.

I upvoted you! But we are apparently outnumbered.

That scheme sounds exactly the way DoorDash was withholding full tips from their drivers and boosting their own bottom lines. DC did successfully sue them for it. Wow, if Shyndigz is still doing that, it is so wrong.

> settlement with DoorDash, Inc., a food delivery service, requiring it to pay $2.5 million to resolve allegations that it misled D.C. consumers and used tips left for workers to boost the company’s bottom line. …

> the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) alleged that from 2017 until 2019, DoorDash misled consumers to believe that their tips would increase worker pay, when, in fact, tips were used to subsidize DoorDash’s payments to its workers.

(Emphasis is mine)

https://oag.dc.gov/release/ag-racine-reaches-25-million-agreement-doordash

It’s misleading to CONSUMERS, when a customer leaves a tip, they’re expecting that the tip goes to the workers, not the owners/investors’ bottom line.

Valid question. I remember I checked that at the time. I'm happy to consider that the restaurant mislabeled it, the cashier was wrong, and I missed a tax on the receipt. Wish I kept the receipt.

As a former accountant for many well known businesses in this area, as much as I want to agree with you on this, I have had to explain to many employees who misunderstand how to read a paycheck.

Not saying this doesn't happen, BUT more often than not... it's the former.

the issue here is that digital tips can range anywhere from $500-$900 a night and that’s not including cash. If they made $500 in digital tips and say 6 people worked that day that would be $83 per person which is a lot more than $2 added into their pay, seems a little unfair if you ask me

[removed]

Ok but unless they have a tip pool then tips are never distributed equally so. Maybe should talk with other employees about how much in tips they are receiving.

each employee receives a $2 tip that is “added to their pay”, clearly they made more than enough in tips where they would be able to slip it amongst employees per shift

Literally from an accounting standpoint this cannot happen unless the business wants to be audited and shut down.

Even the sketchiest businesses that I've seen the books around here don't fuck with that.

yeah exactly, the point of this Reddit post

[removed]

Your comment has been removed as it has been identified as dis/misinformation or diverges wildly from current/verified news developments.

The spreading of dis/misinformation is expressly prohibited by this subreddit and Reddit's TOS. Our moderators are tasked with upholding these standards.

While news develops quickly, especially for breaking/emerging issues, it's important to make sure outdated or incorrect information does not persist and get amplified by malicious actors.