Sometimes, California has got some rock-solidly cool laws. Witness: Starbucks will have to pay its California baristas $106 million in back tips and interest, because the chain was splitting the tip pool with the stores' managers and shift supervisors. Per California law, managers and supervisors can not be paid out of the tip jar, of any business, not just the coffee industry. So a lawsuit brought on by one astute former barista went class action, and now all the baristas are about to get paid. Brian's speculative math figures it to be about $5,000 each.I've got to tell you, I love this law. You bet the employees should get every dime, quarter and dollar left in the tip jar. That's why I put the money in there. It's not so the managers and supervisors who didn't make my coffee can get some. That's just a cheap way for the company to get out of paying their managers and supervisors more, isn't it?
And this should not be limited to California, either. My own powers of assumption tell me that this means that the shift supervisors and managers at my local Starbucks are getting a percentage of the extra dollar I leave in the jar every time I drive through for my mocha. This bugs me. That person didn't make my mocha! Why, oh why, should they get some of the tip I left?
I think this should be the beginning of a revolution among baristas. They have to do it. I can't do anything to make any impact except withhold my tips, and I'm not going to do that. Even if the friendly girl who swirls the whipped cream on my drink doesn't get the whole dollar, she gets part of it, and I suppose that's better than nothing.
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