Employee Shares Insane Pile of Dishes for Kitchen Staff to Clean in Viral TikTok

A viral TikTok posted by user @sebastiansicajau sparked a strong reaction from fellow users on the platform. In the clip, massive quantities of dirty dishes and utensils can be seen strewn about the interior of a restaurant kitchen. Many folks expressed that they were shocked at the sheer number of plates, knives, bowls, spoons, forks, etc. there were.

Others stated that dishwashers were more deserving of gratuity and tips than customer-facing jobs like servers or hosts/hostesses. Some commenters remarked that the kitchen looked very similar to Texas Roadhouse kitchens they've worked in the past, with several other users convinced that the staff was indeed working at a Texas Roadhouse.

In the video, kitchen staff can be seen housing down entire containers of what appear to be stainless steel items, while another employee works in front of multiple sinks that are all filled with brown water.

It's no secret that a number of industries in the United States were adversely affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a slew of understaffed businesses all over the country. However, in 2022, it was reported that many retailers effectively bounced back, save for those in the food service and hospitality sectors.

Which means that there are throngs of restaurants and fast casual chains that are often relying on its workforce to pull double duty.

However, it's hard to gauge if understaffing contributed to the sheer amount of dirty dishes in the kitchen at the end of a service, or if the TikTok is really just the aftermath of particularly busy night at any restaurant.

But the issue that a lot of TikTokers seemed to have was with the fact that dishwashers typically don't receive a pool of the tips, and according to Indeed.com, they don't.

The job search site writes: "Dishwashers don't normally receive tips since they spend their time in the kitchen and don't serve customers directly. It is possible you might be tipped if your duties include bussing tables."

This isn't necessarily true of all restaurants, however, as some do indeed have pooled gratuities that extend to all members of the staff, and how those funds are distributed vary from restaurant to restaurant.

Nolo.com pens: "Back of the house employees, such as cooks and dishwashers, may participate in a tip pool, but only if the employer doesn't take a tip credit. Because your company takes a tip credit for wait staff and bartenders, your company cannot require those employees to share their tips with non-tipped coworkers."

What do you think? Should dishwashers receive tips even though they are typically paid at a set hourly rate, unlike many servers and bartenders who receive an obscenely low base wage, meaning that they must rely on tips just to make ends meet?