Gratuity problem with management
I'm having an issue with my employer that I don't know how to resolve.
A party of 19 highschool boys walked in without a reservation. We are a small single restaurant. Our capacity is limited. So this took up half our restaurant. We only have 2 servers working at a time. The boys were rude, and demanding. Each wanted to pay individually. One adult came in and decided to pay for the entire team. We charge auto gratuity for groups of 8 or more at 17%. This is clearly stated on our menus and on the recipet, both which were provided.
Said adult, paid the total which was $280 with gratuity, and tipped 20$ extra. There was an issue with his payment, and I had to swap computers because one was not working for a specific bank. In the process, something didn't save correctly. The gratuity was supposed to be saved as a tip for the employee not for the entire staff. Total was about 65$. My manager refused to tip it out, and instead tried to adjust the customer tip to add the gratuity differently. In turn, this somehow deleted the entire payment. We had to track down the customer the next day, to have them come back in to pay since their payment had been voided.
A different manager decided this warranted not charging the gratuity, which was a guaranteed tip. Customer also refused to leave a regular tip. I understand not wanting to tip. But the gratuity is there as a guaranteed tip for the service required on a large group. This should never be waived. I lost a 65$ tip, and managed is refusing to compensate for any of it. They felt, with a new restaurant moving into town, they don't want to loose business. I don't feel like this is an excuse. I feel like the company should at least compensate me the mandatory gratuity.