Thursday, April 14, 2011

I have to 'bus' my ass tonight!

The bussers are BUS-ted! 
Ok. I'm done with that joke, I swear.

On a typical night, the servers tip our bussers between 2-4% of our server sales.
If they bring bread and water to my tables, I give them 3%.
If they help me box food, 3.5%.
If they do all of the above and help clear plates on my tables, I give them 4%.

The managers aren't really allowed to tell us what to tip-out. Some weird corporate thing, I'm sure. Anyway, I'm not sure how they figured it out, but the managers realized on a night where the busser has 4 servers to take care of...if he knows two of them tip him higher than the other two, he'll neglect the two that tip lower. This means the servers tipping lower are wondering, "where is my busser?" all night!

To make things more "fair," the managers have told the bussers they are no longer permitted to get us water and bread for the tables, no longer allowed to help clear or box food. Their #1 priority is to keep the server stations around the restaurant stocked with full water pitchers, plates, and glasses.

PROS: 

  • I never go to grab a water pitcher and find that all 8 in my server station are empty
  • We're now told to only tip-out 2% for the busser....that could mean $20 instead of $40!
  • Running around because I have more work to do is good for my upcoming trip to Hawaii ;)
CONS:
  • When I get triple sat, it takes forever to get water and bread for all my tables. I get a lot of, "is the bread coming?" from the guests
  • I'm a girl. I feel my carpal tunnel getting worse with those heavy plates
  • I miss the extra help already :(
I mostly feel bad for the bussers. I think they SHOULD have a job like ours where the harder you work, the more money you make...


2 comments:

  1. I'm annoyed by this. One tips for good/great service, whether it be the customer tipping the server or the server tipping the busser. We are ALL motivated by tips. We all have regulars that over tip and I know that I bend over backwards to give them good service. I, in turn, always over tip my bussers for precisely the reason your managers are miffed. I want them to bend over backwards for me (and they do). It's not my fault if I work with cheap asses. Pay up or shut up. A good busser can make a huge difference on your earnings and should be (overly) compensated for their effort.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I completely agree. Sometimes, ehhh most of the time, corporate rules are bullshit!

    ReplyDelete

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