In my current kitchen we don't get tipped out from the FOH but if there is an appreciative party out int he dining room they do sometimes send back 10 bucks a person or so for a 3-man line. I can tell you that this make everyone so happy because that paid for their gas to get to work and maybe a late night snack after the shift on the way home. In my last kitchen position (a fine dining restaurant--high bills low covers) we got tipped out by the servers but it was an arbitrary amount and showed up on our paychecks every two weeks. When A server was pulling a thousand plus on a busy night of fifty covers (three servers on) I would usually end up with an extra 100-200 in each paycheck. This was usually more than the other cooks because I didn't enforce the whole war between the houses and didn't scream at them. The issue with tipping that I have is being in California. There is an 8 dollar an hour minimum wage that EVERYBODY has to get paid from a busser to a server to a cook. The new busser that just got hired makes 8 bucks an hour. He also gets tipped out quite well. I am not masterful though I tend to cook well, always keep up my end no matter how hard we get slammed and make the best food they are going to get from our restaurant. I get paid only a couple dollars more than this new busser. When offered this wage I tried to negotiate but as management can find cheap labor anywhere here and there were mitigating circumstances (I love cooking, food and working the line) I took the job and pay rate. I just find it odd that a busser or server or whatever gets a guaranteed paycheck nearly as big as a kitchen employee AND pulls in intense tips. This busser to my knowledge did not go to a school for years to learn to be a busser (he's a psych major).
