Years ago, I read a news story about Starbucks Corp. that left me stunned. In a nutshell, it seems that the company practice has been to place “tip jars” by the cash registers where customers can drop their loose change to tip the baristas. In California, there is a law that prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee tips. And because Starbucks allowed their shift supervisors to share in the tips, they got busted. The whole matter landed in court, and the judge ruled against Starbucks and in the baristas’ favor.
So what’s the big deal? Guess how much the shift supervisors took from the tip jars just in California? Are you ready? They took $86 million. I can’t even imagine what the total tip jar amount must be nationwide.*
