Michigan server who got $10,000 tip says she was fired in ensuing dispute

efil4stnias said
I have always struggled a bit with "tips" and how they are shared.

On one hand, if the "server" is nice, attentive and friendly, deserving. But they dont prepare the food. If i sit back after i eat and think that was great, ( steak was cooked right or food tasted great, etc etc ) shouldnt the cook get some sort of compensation? Yet they dont.

So im tipping the server where a portion of should be going to the back of the house, so to speak.

Having worked in my youth as both waiter and cook, i get the that the kitchen would be a bit upset that the tip sharing only happened with the wait staff.

I guess the kitchen does deserve part of tips, but part of the problem is that restaurant owners in the U.S. has tricked us all into paying a large part of the salary of wait staff. While it's technically a "tip", wait staff depend on tips to actually make any kind of money since their base hourly salary is way below minimum wage in all but very nice restaurants. On the other hand, the kitchen is at least getting minimum wage and probably more depending on skill. But, I'll confess that's it's been 20 plus years since I waited tables so maybe it has changed.