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i am really upset and feeling helpless!?

my boss who owns a restaurant franchise was present for a dinner service this evening and has all new staff working and very little. 3 servers for a 35 tables restaurant. i am an employee that has worked my way to the top of the totem and have the most signoriety, (odd considering i have worked there a full year and a half) so i get slammed with the most tables and am mostly overwhelmed all the time. i was triple seated as we say in the business with 3 tables of 4 people who were in need of special attention due to some serious allergies. so i tell my manager i am overwhelmed and trying to get food out to these tables with allergies. he is back in the kitchen watching my food be remade 3 times so it is safe for the guest. he then tells me as i am running around that i am to take an additional table of 15 in my section which was unreasonable due to the nature of my tables. so i am forced to take this table which ends up getting less then average service due to my work load, and a meal never gets made from the kitchen,(i run all 15 plates alone with condiments drinks etc. because management is "unavailable" to help) i ask and ask for help no one including staff helps me out, so a man complains he hasnt gotten his meal yet to which i reply as i am garnishing another guests meal "that as soon as my hands are empty i will bring it out to him" the guestcplains t management andsays that i madean ignorant comment and the table recieves a large ca$h voucher to return and fix any problems. at the end of the night i seperate my float from my cash owed and i am down 35 dollars of my origional float and not a single tip is left to pay what i collected from tables. my boss has found a way to make me pay for and take any tip i made cash included to cover his expense of the table. he also write me up saying that i get upset when given ordinary tasks to deal with and do not notify management when help is needed he tells me my unprofessionalism will result in loss of my job and makes me sign a write up of the incident. he has stolen money from me when i had on a charged credit card statement 45 dollars owed to me as well as my 45 dollar float and my cash tables ( my last being a group of friends that leave me 25 dollars at the least.) (another leaving 15 because of hearing first hand my situation with this table of 15) what do i do to protect my job and my money? this has happened before and i was told i must have dropped 100 dollars in cash and not noticed. someone please help me about what i can do to stop this. is it not embezzlement and coercion? what protection do i have? he also makes us tip a percentage to kitchen managers and himself. it gets"calculated" and we are told what we owe when our cash is collected, it goes into a big bowl and divided by another senior manager. this percentage is given to other staff who say it is sometimes 50 dollars over 2 week period when i pay out 3 percent of daily sales along with other staff. our restaurant sells on average 4,000 minimum a night. this is embezzlement is it not?

Public Comments

1. I have no knowledge of the food business but can see that this night would be a night of hell. You state that this is a restaurant franchise, so have you been in other restaurants of this franchise to see how many servers they have per # of tables? Granted this night you had staff that had very little experience and you appeared to be the only one to handle the task per your manager. But for a table of 15 would be challenging for anyone to take on. You indeed due to your frustration did speak out of line to the guest that did not get their food and they were justified in complaining. I don't understand the float and tip that you talk about. My understanding is that many restaurants/bars etc will take all tips and divide out for other staff to pay, which in some cases works against the better servers since they get more tips vs the bad who get less and then all divide equally. I don't know if there is a DOL (department of labor) in Canada like the US. In the US, my understanding is that you must make minimum wage and if your tips do not add up to minimum wage, then the restaurant has to make up the difference. But per your problems with the tips and deduction, appears you are in the hole. I have no idea if it is fair to take money away from a server due to poor service and giving a voucher to another guest, since the restaurant can deduct this as a business expense and would be expected to give free vouchers when a customer complains. You need to find another job asap and get out of this restaurant since the writing is on the wall. If there is a DOL in Canada, see if what you state is legal or not. good luck