Here is the Letter I am sending to the CEO, we will see if she responds, if not It will become my personal mission to educate the customer of this deceptive policy. Debra Smithart-Oglesby CEO / President of Dennys 203 East Main Street
Spartanburg, SC 29319
Dear Ms. Smithart-Oglesby I am writing to you after what I learned about a Dennys Corporate and Franchise Policy this morning. I was served by a very nice young lady at our local Dennys at 3701 Bee Ridge Rd, Sarasota FL 34233. I was happy with the service I received and left over 80% of the ticket for a tip. I personally handed the tip to my waitress as I wanted to ensure it was not picked up by anyone else. When I handed it to her and thanked her for her excellent service, another girl appeared and the tip was promptly handed over. Shocked, I said I want my waitress to have the tip! It was explained to me that policy is that all tips made by a trainee are given to the trainer. I currently am living on a very tight budget, this morning I chose to give 5 of the 7 dollars I had in my purse to the waitress. I know how it is to work hard and make little and I wanted to make her day. To have that money taken from her and given to a girl I had not seen all morning was very upsetting. I requested that the tip be returned to me but was told it would be illegal to take the money back from the trainer once it had left my hand. I was deceived; I believed my tip was going to my server only to have the trainer take it. The anger at being deceived was compounded when the money was not immediate returned to me but instead this deceptive policy was touted as the corporate policy that will not change. This is an inappropriate policy because I, as the customer, give a voluntary tip, with the expressed purpose of thanking the waitress for the service received. It is not my responsibility as the customer to ensure adequate income to the trainer so they are willing to train. Dennys as a corporation is responsible to have an adequate compensation plan in place to ensure quality training takes place outside of the money customers give as a thank-you for service. Clearly, I understand this is much less expensive way for Dennys incentivize trainers to train. Without the tip money intended for the trainee, Dennys would have to implement a different payment plan for the, costing the corporation significantly more than it costs to just take the tip money which is given in good faith to the waitress. While this practice may be less expensive for Corporate it is deceptive and takes advantage of the goodwill of the customer. I hope that you will consider my thoughts on this subject and rethink the appropriateness of this policy without the knee-jerk reaction of simply creating or enforcing policies to hide this practice from the customer. Sincerely
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