h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The pooling of tips in restaurants has been refered to in the "Ethics..." thread. In some places, this pool is refered to as the "tronc" and is formally controlled - either divvied up equally between the waitpersons - or even pooled weekly and used by the management to supplement staff wages...say X persent to waitpersons, Y percent to dishwashers, etc.

Now. Here's a thing. When a customer is paying by credit card, common practice is to leave the gratuity and total part of the slip blank, to be completed by the customer (it's normal to just fill in the total and let the restaurant do the maths).

HOWEVER, a couple of years ago, the High Court (UK) ruled that these tips belong to the management WHO ARE ENTITLED TO USE THEM TO MAKE UP PART OF THE STAFF'S MINIMUM WAGE!!!!. In other words, tips payed by plastic may not supplement staff wages, depending on the venality of the management. The UK is the only EU country where this applies.

So what I do nowadays - and I encourage you to do the same - is to leave cash tips wherever possible. It is then at the discretion of the waitperson to declare your tip to her/his employer and/or The Revenue (Yup. Tips are taxed.)

I do this too. Put a line through the section for gratuities and write the total in. Leave cash - that way you know the tip is going to the waiter/waitress and not the large chain restaurant that you're in.