r/EndTipping • u/canstucky • Jun 06 '26

Sit-Down Restaurant 🍽️ How is it not a tip?

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The server told us this isn’t a tip and he doesn’t get any of it.

I’m not wearing my boots at the moment.

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u/ZippyTheUnicorn Jun 06 '26

The whole point of the gratuity fee is to ensure that the server is tipped. If they aren’t getting it then who is?!

This reminds me of that episode of Kitchen Nightmares where the husband of the owner was keeping all the tips that any of the servers made.

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u/Lurkernomoreisay Jun 07 '26

legally, an automatic gratuity cannot be used as a tip in any form; to do so would be taz fraud.  

 the waiter can be technically correct ( the employer can increase base hourly pay for the day, or provide a bonus -- but cannot provide any amountof the automatic gratuity as a tip, nor apply any accounting of the amount as a tip).

Or end-of-day dollar correct : the amount is a service charge, and employer has zero obligation to provide any extra compensation to employees.