It's illegal to pool tips in my state, but people still do it off the books a lot. Good dishwashers will often be tipped out via this tip pool, and I've seen re

It's illegal to pool tips in my state, but people still do it off the books a lot. Good dishwashers will often be tipped out via this tip pool, and I've seen really fantastic restaurants grind to a halt overnight because someone there decided to enforce that code and stopped tipping out the dishies. There's a huge difference between someone who does the bare minimum vs a dishwasher who's fast, good at cleaning, and helps out around the kitchen where needed, and the market rewards them and punishes those who don't compensate them for it, even it it is under the table. The guy I knew who left to find a similar tipped job elsewhere was making $40/hr with the pooled tips (nice restaurants mean high prices and high tips) and everyone was happy to pay him out that much until one person wasn't.