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who do you hold responsible when a table dines & dashes?

WOW! I guess if you love high turn over and having employees that hate you…you can do whatever you think is ok to do. Having had almost 300 employees working for my family business I just do not know how to rationalize that way of thinking. We built a business on the hard work and loyalty of our employees and the one thing that I know for a fact is that if you treat your employees or customers for that matter like crap… that is all you will ever own and operate. When you have 300 people willing to work 12-18 hours a day in the busy times and not whine and bitch all day long there is something to be said about the way the owners and managers treat and interact with them. I have lived this first hand and when you know that almost everyone of your employees is thinking about the success of the company in addition to their own paycheck that this is good feeling. Yes we had our few choice workers that had issues that needed to be delt with, but sometimes the ideas that get thrown around the TT really make a statement about the type of people/person some of the contributors are. Everyone is open to their own opinion and I will not argue that…but I wish sometimes people would take a step back and realize what they are saying or doing in their own little bubble of a world. I think a lot of people would be amazed at how much better their lives and companies would or could be if they took a more rational look at the everyday operations and policies that are in place. I know to some this means nothing at all and will go in one ear and out the other…,but maybe a few will be open to a new approach on things and take that extra 10 seconds to say “how would I react to this being asked of me?” :!:
 
qcfmike:
WOW! I guess if you love high turn over and having employees that hate you…you can do whatever you think is ok to do. Having had almost 300 employees working for my family business I just do not know how to rationalize that way of thinking. We built a business on the hard work and loyalty of our employees and the one thing that I know for a fact is that if you treat your employees or customers for that matter like crap… that is all you will ever own and operate. When you have 300 people willing to work 12-18 hours a day in the busy times and not whine and b***h all day long there is something to be said about the way the owners and managers treat and interact with them. I have lived this first hand and when you know that almost everyone of your employees is thinking about the success of the company in addition to their own paycheck that this is g9ood feeling. Yes we had our few choice workers that had issues that needed to be delt with, but sometimes the ideas that get thrown around the TT really make a statement about the type of people/person some of the contributors are. Everyone is open to their own opinion and I will not argue that…but I wish sometimes people would take a step back and realize what they are saying or doing in their own little bubble of a world. I think a lot of people would be amazed at how much better their lives and companies would or could be if they took a more rational look at the everyday operations and policies that are in place. I know to some this means nothing at all and will go in one ear and out the other…,but maybe a few will be open to a new approach on things and take that extra 10 seconds to say “how would I react to this being asked of me?” :!:
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Good grief. :roll:

I never said once that I would do anything you are saying. I never agreed with what the original poster was doing. How did you come to the conclusion that any of this was policy at my business?

If you will go back and read my posts, you will see that I was only commenting on one specific thing - the legality/illegality of making deductions in employee pay. Nothing more, nothing less.
 
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Registered Guest:
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smeagol8:
Not only is that illegal, as you said, but it is ALSO ILLEGAL to deduct from an employee’s check: theft by THAT EMPLOYEE. You can have them arrested, or fire them, but you can’t take that money out of their check without their permission.
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That’s not true. It’s only illegal if the deduction would cause the employee to make less than minimum wage. As long as the deduction doesn’t cause the employee to make less than MW, you can deduct anything you want from an employees check with or without their permission.

Same goes for the other couple of posts above, quoting the FLSA out of context and incompletely.

Given that, the original poster’s policy is insane. How could a server (or anyone for that matter) possibly force someone to pay?
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I don’t think you can simply ‘deduct anything’. I am pretty sure you need to make the employee aware (before hand) via their contract of what deductions you can make. They therefore sign to give you ‘permission’ as part of the the contract.
 
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Wizzle Wassell:
Registered Guest:
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smeagol8:
Not only is that illegal, as you said, but it is ALSO ILLEGAL to deduct from an employee’s check: theft by THAT EMPLOYEE. You can have them arrested, or fire them, but you can’t take that money out of their check without their permission.
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That’s not true. It’s only illegal if the deduction would cause the employee to make less than minimum wage. As long as the deduction doesn’t cause the employee to make less than MW, you can deduct anything you want from an employees check with or without their permission.

Same goes for the other couple of posts above, quoting the FLSA out of context and incompletely.

Given that, the original poster’s policy is insane. How could a server (or anyone for that matter) possibly force someone to pay?
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I don’t think you can simply ‘deduct anything’. I am pretty sure you need to make the employee aware (before hand) via their contract of what deductions you can make. They therefore sign to give you ‘permission’ as part of the the contract.
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What contract?
 
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It honestly depends on your state laws as well. In our state which is very employer friendly compared to some, I have to notify an employee 2 weeks prior to making and adjustment to their pay. The only way to prove you complied is to do it in writing.

I don’t see a dine and dash being much different than a prank order or a delivery order that is called in then the customer is not home when you get there. It happens, but if is rare enough that it does not have a significant impact on the budget, it just really annoys the crap out of you when it happens. If it is frequent enough that it causes a financial concern then you need to take measures to manage the customers. I would probably start looking for another job if I was a server and held responsible for a group of punks running out on a bill.

RIck
 
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You have a verbal employment contract that states you the employer will pay me the employee $xx dollars an hour or however you pay me for working at your establishment. You cannot then deduct whatever you want and keep my pay above minimum wage. This is crazy to think this would fly anywhere.
 
Also RG…I never referenced a FSLA violation. This idea and policy is a joke. I also did not dirrect my statement at you or your businss so I am not the one that needs to read things a bit more carefully. I do stand behind my statement and not wanting to sound like an ass… but there is a big difference in managing a large group of employees and managing a small one. You run into a lot more legal questions and policy issues that the small business owner never even hears of. They both have similarities too a point, but there is a point when you become a large employer that it is no longer guessing at what is legal and what is not, and your HR dept and lawyers are the ones writing the company handbook and policies. It is all fun and games in the business world when you really do not have to worry too much about anything more serious than a driver-wanna-be-lawyer complaining about their wages once again…or how to deal with the free wings that the oven guy gave his gf the other night. Try dealing with the Teamsters coming in once a year with all their great offerings. Hmm… 27 years and they are still just knocking at the locked door. Must be doing something right with the employees. I know everyone is a unique situation and that every business owner likes to think they know a lot more than they do… but sometimes you do need to call it like you see it and tell some people that their idea/s are really off. Hopefully it opens their/your eyes a bit… but experience tells me it will not. :roll:
 
qcfmike:
Also RG…I never referenced a FSLA violation. This idea and policy is a joke. I also did not dirrect my statement at you or your businss so I am not the one that needs to read things a bit more carefully.
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You didn’t reference a FLSA violation, but others did, and that was what my response was about, about (I thought) you were responding to my response. I’m sorry for any confusion or misunderstanding.

I dont disagree with anything you posted about a few employees vs. many employees. It certainly changes the game.

I know it all to well, as last year I went through a “random” Federal Labor Board audit. No problems found, but took far more of my time than it needed to because of “few employee” HR methods while having many employees.
 
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Dine and dash is also equivalent to a bad check or a bogus chargeback. Do you hold your servers responsible for those as well?
 
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stebby1:
Dine and dash is also equivalent to a bad check or a bogus chargeback. Do you hold your servers responsible for those as well?
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hmm, i don’t.

for the record, i was never suggesting docking paychecks. thread has me rethinking the morale hit i may induce by enforcing the policy, and options for ways to adjust the policy to still be effective. thanks all.
 
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What’s the underlying cause of the dining and dashing? I worked in restaurants for 10+ years and can count on 1 hand the number of these we had. If inattentive employee’s are the cause then they need to move on. Are other businesses in your area experiencing DnDing on the rise?
Bryan
 
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I think you have confused the masses with your own posts. You make comments like “how many $40 tickets can your owners take a day…etc…” and that gives the impression that you have a lot of issues with this happening. But then you say this is the first instance since the policy took effect in August. So you have gone 5 months without one. So do you average 2 a year or multiple per day? Chances are that every business at some point will have one happen…and yes it is good to be on top of your tables as a server…but the nature of the work has you out of sight of your customers every couple of minutes. I do not think it is fair to try and make the servers feel this level of responsibility unless you also have a bouncer walking the floor and making sure the door is covered. Think about it for a second and the next time you are out eating…how many opportunities do you have to bail on a tab while the server is occupied with something else. I don’t care if you are at a chain or the highest level of fine dinning out there…you can just walk out and chances are nobody will question you on the way. There is a trust factor involved that has too be there. I think the server will feel bad enough that it happened and you should use it as a training point and not as a punishment. A good server will also have a feel about how a table is proceeding. If something feels wrong and they are ordering odd items or quantities… then a little concern might be warranted. Have a manager do a random id check just to get a name written down of one of the people at the table…if alcohol is involved. Other than that…you just write off the loss and move on. It will probably not be worth your time and effort to persue it any further anyway.
 
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