Delay in salary, truant tips pinch restaurant employees & their families

PUNE: Ashutosh Maji (27) came to the city from a village in Bengal in October and started working in a small restaurant-cum-bar in the MG Road area. His employee had curtly told him he would get his salary in cash on the 11th day of each month.
Ashutosh, having three kids back home, didn’t complain then. Today, Ashutosh is in deep trouble. He has not received his salary yet.Worse, tips have dried up following the Centre’s demonetization move.
“I am worried about my family back home — entirely dependent on my salary. My wife has been calling me multiple times for the past two days because she would now be forced to use whatever savings we made for something very important,” he opined.
None of his seniors could give Ashutosh an assurance on when he would get his salary. “I do understand the problem, but I really need my money so that I can send a major part of it home for my family’s sustenance,” Ashutosh said.
The cash crunch has hit many like Ashutosh — dependent on wages in cash. Chiranjeet Kumar, a waiter at a popular North Indian cuisine restaurant at Koregaon Park, said tips from customers had also completely dried up.
“Apart from the regular pay packet I get in cash in the second week of each month, I used to earn Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 from tips. On a good day, I even got Rs 200. Now, with the cash crunch, people are bent upon saving whatever currency notes they have. While they are paying the bill by card, they aren’t giving any tips. For three days, I have found nothing in the bill payment diary left by the customers,” he said.
Long queues in front of ATMs and banks added to Chiranjeet’s frustration. “Most of the ATMs are shut for almost a week. Whenever they opened, there was a heavy rush. I could not withdraw cash because I could not stand in serpentine queues owing to my duty hours. The restaurant manager also looked helpless. People are saying things will be OK in a few days, but this is a major problem for us,” he said.
Ravi Thapa, an expert in cooking Chinese dishes, is also depressed.
“The other day a customer, impressed with my cooking, offered me Rs100. Within a jiffy, his wife came and they murmured something. The man immediately put the wallet back in his pocket and gave me an embarrassing smile. I hail from Mizoram and have a big family back home. Until now, I haven’t received my salary. The manager told me banks were not offering money and ATMs were shut,” he said.
Ravi, who works in an eatery at Kalyaninagar, stressed something should be done so that people like him got salaries.
Ravi’s colleague, Suresh Thapa, said, ‘If this continues, I will have to go back. But I shall ensure I get my money.”
The manager of a popular restaurant on Dhole Patil Road admitted its employees were not getting salaries. “Generally, their salaries are paid in cash between 10th and 13th each month. But the non-availability of cash and limits of withdrawal have tied our hands this month. Attempts are being made to salvage the situation. Our representatives are going to banks everyday and withdrawing whatever amount is possible. It is being distributed as salaries slowly. We have many people to pay and the employees have been asked to be patient,” he said.
“Tips, too, have drastically decreased, but we cannot do anything about it. No customer can be forced to pay tips,” he told TOI.