Waitress Fires - Scamming Beverages (Stupid)

[KevinL]

We have a waitress (age 17) who no longer works for us, as of last week. I asked one of the shift managers why.

We are between GM’s and our District Manager is helping out. DM seated a table & got drinks. Waitress then served the table. DM cashed them out later and there were no drinks on their check.

DM confronted server, who said she was having a bad night and forgot. Same night, DM cashes out another customer, same waitress, again no drinks on the ticket. DM reviews this girl’s tickets and finds out she has been doing this for about 4 months at least! The waitress was fired the next day.

Now to me, the thing that doesn’t make sense is, why? Did the waitress think that by not charging for drinks, she was saving the customer money that they would then give back to her as a tip? I expect more often than not the customer didn’t even notice and the tip was actually lower because the bill was lower.

 

[Kris]

We had this happen but what was different is she was cashing them out and charging for the drinks on ticket and then putting water when she cashed them out. (or they would leave it on the table)

Maybe is was something like that and to avoid getting caught she “forgot” the drinks most of the time.

The other thing is when someone else gets the drinks it is hard to remember to write them down. But by firing her you have proven a point to the other staff that they better remember.

 

[NicksPizza]

KevinL:

Now to me, the thing that doesn’t make sense is, why? Did the waitress think that by not charging for drinks, she was saving the customer money that they would then give back to her as a tip? I expect more often than not the customer didn’t even notice and the tip was actually lower because the bill was lower.

Next time, ask that in the “exit interview” prior to dropping the hammer. We’d all like to get the answer.

AND, if she truly was a flake, drinks had to be just PART of her ‘forgetting’ . . . appetizers, desserts, condiments, toppings. The part my wife brought up is that SOMEONE in 4 months would have been honest with the server and reminded her of the drinks. If this was an every ticket event, then something really odd was going down. the tip elevation theory could explain it, I guess.

 

[KevinL]

Kris:

We had this happen but what was different is she was cashing them out and charging for the drinks on ticket and then putting water when she cashed them out.

Not the case here, it requires a manager code to remove or “void” an item, and the voids show up on a report. This would have gotten caught way sooner if that was happening. I’m pretty confident there never was a ticket printed with the drinks.

NicksPizza:

Next time, ask that in the “exit interview” prior to dropping the hammer. We’d all like to get the answer.

AND, if she truly was a flake, drinks had to be just PART of her ‘forgetting’ . . . appetizers, desserts, condiments, toppings. The part my wife brought up is that SOMEONE in 4 months would have been honest with the server and reminded her of the drinks. If this was an every ticket event, then something really odd was going down. the tip elevation theory could explain it, I guess.

I’m actually “just” a driver, I don’t participate in hirings/firings/etc.

Appetizers, desserts, toppings, etc are made by the cook so she has to punch them in or the cook doesn’t get a ticket. Drinks she gets herself so this is why she was able to pull this off.

I’m not sure if it was every ticket for 4 months but … let’s say she worked 20 hours / week and serves 5 drinks per hour at $1.50. That’s $150 / week … $600 / month … $2400 in 4 months that she “stole” from the store.

 

[misteroman]

She did it for more tips,plain and simple no other reason.
A table of 4 gets the bill and noticed they saved X amount of dollars by not getting charged for drinks.There is a decent chance she will get more /better tips.
Look no further, there is your answer
Derek

 

[MM1]

Or…
a) “Sorry drinks are on a separate ticket - those were $9” for cash customers.
b) “Here’s the ticket for those cocktails, sorry it’s separate” (carrying a standard order pad for handwritten drink tickets)

One problem is that you have the waitress getting the drinks themselves. OK for soda - but if there’s a bartender, then cocktails or beer should ONLY be poured by them - and ONLY with a ticket. That would require collusion to continue ripping you off…

 

[KevinL]

MM:

Or…
a) “Sorry drinks are on a separate ticket - those were $9” for cash customers.
b) “Here’s the ticket for those cocktails, sorry it’s separate” (carrying a standard order pad for handwritten drink tickets)

One problem is that you have the waitress getting the drinks themselves. OK for soda - but if there’s a bartender, then cocktails or beer should ONLY be poured by them - and ONLY with a ticket. That would require collusion to continue ripping you off…

This is Pizza Hut. We have soda and beer, but she is too young to serve the beer anyhow.

 

[MM1]

Oh - THOSE kind of drinks…
gotcha.