When you’re working in the service industry, tips are everything. It’s how you earn a huge portion of your paycheck. If you don’t have tips, you don’t make a living; it’s as plain and simple as that. But that doesn’t always mean that it’s as easy as that. Tipping has become a hot-button issue for a multitude of reasons. Some folks don’t want to tip because they don’t think it’s fair for the onus of payment to be on the consumer. That doesn’t change the fact that the system is what it is, and you’re only punishing workers if you don’t tip. But even when tips are flowing, that doesn’t always guarantee payment. 

Tip pooling is a common practice in some service establishments, and this can be a good thing. You don’t want to get punished just because it was a slow night and nobody was sitting in your section. If you’re working together, you should be compensated together. But that doesn’t always happen in the right manner, and one employee learned that the hard way.