I doubt he would even give it back. But there's nothing to lose for trying.

She tried that and it didn't work. He said you stole it. If he really believed that he'd have fired you on the spot. I think he just wanted the money. Answer. Steal it back. He already said you did it.

Besides their job :/

I agree that OP should talk to the boss and all that but is it only me who is wondering how $20 gets someone through another two weeks?

It's called ramen noodles and KD, which OP could have bought a lot of with $20. Look for another job OP, and if you have an HR department I'd suggest you call it. Also check your company policy on relieving tips. If you're allowed to receive them then what he did was theft.

Wouldn't he be $20 up when he counted the till?

Do tips actually belong to OP, I don't live in the US so I wouldn't know, but wouldn't the money paid for a service in a business, technically belong to the business, yes lots of bosses let you keep the tips, but is it actually illegal for the boss to take the tips. As long as they declare it to the tax man of course.

nope, the tips belong to OP unless it's a pooled tip type of place, and from what OP is saying, it isn't.

no #53, the tip dos not belong to business they go to the server that got it. OK think about this for a moment, you just had a great dinner, the service is excellent and you want to leave a tip. now do you leave it on the table thinking it's going to go to the business or going to server? bottom line the money is hers and that was theft, report him!

The only money that belongs to the restaurant is the money that paid the bill for the food itself. Tip money is for the person who actually serves you the throughout your meal. It's a way of thanking them for their service. Better service = better tips. Tips are sometimes the main source of a waiter or waitress income due to their usually bottom line hourly pay. The only time that tip money is not kept by the waiter or waitress is if the business has a tip pool type system. All tips then are put together and redistributed evenly across the staff of waiters and waitresses on payday. To be honest I believe the tip pool system is a very poor system. Many will and do try to get carried by the others.

IMO its not a way for us to thank for the service, just a way for the consumer to pay for food and get stuck forking over wages that restaurants are too cheap to pay. I know most countries don't understand tipping because it's not custom there. Don't get me wrong, I'm a very good tipper. But I wish that the wait staff got paid enough where it was nothing more then a thanks and not what they needed to make ends meet. The lower, next to non existent minimum wage they receive makes it so. And when they have to tip out to everyone else shows we are doing nothing more then picking up the slack of a cheap employer. Got to love our customs.

Depending on where you live severs generally get paid $2.15-$3.00 an hour. Some states require more. The thing is tips are how you make a living. The boss had no right to take that $20. I would report him for theft. It's probably about that time to look into a better job of choice. Maybe a better restaurant?

$3/h? That pathetic atleast here in Canada it's about $9/h for waitstaff

No in the us servers make half minimum wage at most places and the tips are theirs to cover the other half. It's considered as part of their pay and is even claimed on their check as such.

technically the boss is just assuming it was a tip. where the 20 came is really unimportant. op could have got it from a rich spouse

If you're not getting tipped the restaurant is responsible for making up the difference to minimum wage. It's a federal law.

And plus, when there are companies that get the tips instead of the server, the customers will usually give the tip to the server directly.

75 - In Canada we are still expected to tip, even though our servers make minimum wage (currently around $10/hr in most provinces). It's kind of ironic, because in America waitressing is one of the lowest paid jobs but in Canada it's one of the best jobs you can get without a degree because you are making minimum wage, plus all the bonus money form tips.

In most US jurisdictions, restaurant servers are exempt from being paid the federal minimum wage BECAUSE they are allowed to keep tips. Some are paid as little as US$2.15 per hour, and have to make the bulk of their income from tips. In almost all cases if restaurants have policies requiring a server to give up any portion of their tips, they're required to pay minimum wage, but most servers don't know that, so the companies keep getting away with it.

That's just so weird. Our guest usually give $2 tips, but I typically get $5 of small tables, and usually $10-$20 off larger tables. At least twice a month I get a $20 bill. That has to be illegal, but how would you prove it? That's the hard part. Cash doesn't leave a paper trail, unless you got it at the end of the night and was recorded electronically all you can do is report the jerk. So sorry OP, this is why people shouldn't see the world in absolutes.

It'd only make decent people feel bad. And OP's boss doesn't appear to be one of these.

I hope she manages to get through the month