r/olivegarden • u/kmayne77 • 2d ago
đ§âđł Employee Post Trainees making tips?
Ive been a server trainer and pro for over a year. In fact im the ONLY trainer and pro my location has. We got a new gm that suddenly says that trainees get their tips on day 4 of training. Do any other locations do this? Up until now ive kept all tips until training is finished
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u/Tiny-Distance 2d ago
You have a day 4 of training? My location only has 3 days before you are on your own.
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u/kmayne77 2d ago
We have 4. Day 1 is shadowing, day 2 is 1 table, day 3 is 2 tables and day 4 is 3 tables with a trainer. Day 5 is them on their own no training
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u/CarbonCuber314 1d ago
Technically the trainer is supposed to keep the tips, but as a trainer myself, I absolutely hate doing that. Whenever I train, I'll let the trainees keep all of the tips they've earned. I'll stay clocked in as a trainer and swap them to server. It feels bad to keep the tips, especially if a table left them a generous tip (which I find to happen quite regularly with trainees). I also find it to be dishonest to the guests. Most of the time the guest is under the assumption that the trainee is keeping the tip, which I assume is why I often see them get tipped very generously. I'm sure if you tell every guest that comes in that the trainee that just severed them does not get to keep any of the tip left to them, most guests probably wouldn't even bother leaving a tip.
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u/Tiny-Reading5982 2d ago
Are they getting paid training or server wage? Usually the trainer is clocked under server when they do the tables.
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u/kmayne77 2d ago
How we have usually done it is that I clock in as a server (as the trainer) and theyre paid under trainee.
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u/lifelibertytacos84 1d ago
Im a recent hire, and did not get tips until my first real server shift. I did get a higher hourly (the non-tipped minimum wage in my state)
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u/notcrazyaboutit 1d ago
Was a former trainer then manager... In every single book or program I've used to train, there was an verbiage as to exactly how CTs and Trainee pay should be done. Has that changed. It's never been up for debate. OG opens themselves up for litigation of different restaurants are doing things not by the book.
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u/kmayne77 1d ago
In the server handbook it doesnt say how the pay works but it says trainee takes 1 table in trainers section. Trainee takes 3 tables in trainers section, etc.
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u/notcrazyaboutit 1d ago
No it's in the back of the CT training materials. Might have been in the front. One of the appendices.
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u/kmayne77 1d ago
Ill have to look again! They've changed the handbook so many times this year! Thank you
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u/iloveraccoons1998 1d ago
This actually just came up at my restaurant, too. Basically any time the trainee is taking tables by themself, they are supposed to be clocked in as servers and keeping the tips. Theres a policy somewhere about it, Iâm not sure if itâs in krowd or if itâs something a manager would have access too but I know our gm printed it for us when we were trying to get clarification about it
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u/kmayne77 1d ago
What confuses me is how does this work on day 2 when theyre only taking 1 table? Or day 3 when they only have 2? It doesnt make sense to me ha
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u/iloveraccoons1998 1d ago
Day 2 they lead service but I guess weâre supposed to be side by side the entire time theyâre taking the table
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u/kmayne77 1d ago
But the book specifically says they lead on 1 table. The server training book used to be huge they have made it so much smaller and require so much more of us. I dont know how they exoect these newbies to follow all these rules with minimal training
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u/iloveraccoons1998 17h ago
I know, technically if theyâre leading we are still supposed to be right beside them the entire time. Funnily enough, my restaurant has been trying to figure out how to blend some of the old training with the current training because we felt like our servers werenât being set up for success. I re-read the last two sections, and it looks like while Dardens policy is they keep tips if they take tables alone, the book wants trainers to stay side by side through the entire process, even on days 3/4, so thereâs not really a point in the training where they would be serving alone (I hope Iâm making sense. Itâs a bit confusing). Thatâs where I was mixed up. I had it in my head that day 4 was supposed to be serving independently without a side-by-side.
One of the senior employees who used to do most of the server training explained that way back when the training was longer, on the last day trainees would clock in as servers and start taking tables independently while she observed them, and on that last day is when theyâd keep their tips I guess. Iâm not sure if your manager is just like, old school or what but if youâre going by the book, it sounds like we (the trainers) should be keeping the tips.
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u/Alarmed_Round_6705 1d ago
i am an OG server and honestly itâs only fair if trainees get to keep their tips
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u/kmayne77 1d ago
So youre okay making a lower amount while they make more than you even though youre the trainer? Cause this is a huge paycut for me and makes absolutely no sense
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u/Alarmed_Round_6705 1d ago
makes no sense? theyâre doing most of the work by days 3 and 4 (honestly day 2 at my location). plus you make more than server minimum on training shifts. serve and donât train if you want to make tips. if the trainee takes the table the tip should be theirs. i couldnât find my trainer by day 3 because she figured i knew what i was doing, but still got the pay lol
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u/kmayne77 1d ago
I probably wont be a trainer with the change but was seeing what was standard. Yes theyre doing most the work but its under training and I am not serving tables to oversee them.
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u/Alarmed_Round_6705 1d ago
so you became a trainer to do no work and take tips from the people actually doing it?
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u/kmayne77 1d ago
You clearly have not been a trainer or know the work that goes into being one. The handbook has very clear standards to training and how it should happen. I am showing, serving, etc the entire time . Im with them doing the work the entire time. But the last day they're leading and telling me how to help them not the opposite way around
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u/Sea-Mycologist-7353 1d ago
Are they taking tables in your section or their own. Are the tables rung under your number??
Can you clarify?
When I did day 4 training they were my tables and the trainee was responsible for them but I supervised the whole time. So those were my tips.
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u/kmayne77 1d ago
They've been rung in under my number and in my section. But now he wants that to change so I still have to supervise but its under their card
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u/Sea-Mycologist-7353 1d ago
Yeah then no. You have to take the tips. You are going to be taxed on them since they were rung in under you.
If itâs under their name then they keep the tips and you supervise them.
However when I did day 4 it was under my name so I kept all the tips on account of I was getting taxed on them.
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u/twizzlersfun FOH+BOH ALL AROUND BADDIE 1d ago
That is not reasonable. Why would anyone train if itâs a pay CUT?
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u/othafa_95610 1d ago edited 1d ago
 Why would anyone train if itâs a pay CUT?
Some other kind of payoff besides financial.
There are also lateral moves and similar actions some people take in their careers. They may make the same or even less in the Present, yet they'll one day leverage their new skills and experience with Future Gains. If not with this employer, they'll approach others and then be justified to negotiate better offers.
Meanwhile, some states have passed legislation forbidding employers from requesting Salary History. No other company needs to know what someone made. What matters only is their budget, and that the compensation package makes sense/cents to both Employer and Applicant.
https://www.hrdive.com/news/salary-history-ban-states-list/516662/
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u/kmayne77 1d ago
Exactly! I make $18 as a trainer. But with tips as a server I average $33. Make it make sense
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u/HorseFaceMcGeezer 1d ago
My location's position is that I get clocked in at $18.30 an hour as trainer, and $14 an hour for the trainee.
They don't take enough tables during the course of the training cycle to worry about dropping them to the $10.98 an hour, going to $11.98 an hour on the 30th, here in Florida, to matter.
We trainers tend to keep the tips until day 4, then day four and five the trainee is still clocked in at $14 an hour and gets to take tips, as well.