The fact is, most clients see the banquet gratuity added to the bill, they think that the money goes to the servers. It is in the best interest of the sales marketing people not to explain the details of the banquet gratuity or service charge to avoid any confusion. So when the hotel or function facility pockets the money that is implied to go the servers actually making the event happen, it is wrong. When a $15,000 wedding bill has a $3,000 gratuity on it, most would assume that the service staff is taken care of. The truth is that most of the servers never sees any gratuity. Although most places do the same practice, most would still say it is deceiving. $20 an hour for a standard 4 hour shift, may not seem low to some people but given the nature of the hours and working conditions, this is a hardship these people endure to make an honest living. ( a 300 person wedding dinner would dictate 15 servers, and two captain. so the $3000.00 tip should yield about $165 to each server and $250 each to the Captains... in light of that, the $80 each they will make be deceptive)

When people spend big bucks on wedding or on high end corporate events, exceptional service is expected. A banquet server can work long hours and late nights when it is busy and not at all when it slow. Additionally, I don't know any banquet servers with a so called regular schedule. An inconsistent schedule makes it hard to work other jobs or adapt to any type of routine schedule.

Do you see this as a problem, a deception or really just the nature of the beast?