Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

[Fun Times]

This couple got busted for not paying the tip on a check for BAD SERVICE!!


http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Time-In-Prison--70426052.html?yhp=1

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

Did they break a law or the restaurants policy? The restaurant knew they waited for their food they should have done more for the customers.

 

[vegasphotoman]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

wow thats jacked
the shouldve talked to the mgr first ....

Either way I have also gotten super lousy service before (in a group) on several occasions, needless to say the tips werent earned by the waiter/tress
but they still got thier mandatory tip from us. Next time especially with a place that ISNT too busy, I will complain straight away.....there is no need for lousy service unless they are short handed, at that the busboys should pick up the slack or the mgr.

I tip busboys all the time as soon as they bring our coffee etc, and almost always get super service, at the least, from them.

 

[trendsetter240]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

That's the law in PA...as sickening as it is.

Tipping in general has gotten way out of hand. I don't mind tipping for good service but making it mandatory is just another form of taxation.

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

Why any restaurant would try to press charges on this is beyond me.

Can you imagine what the results to the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, Pa. will be from this suit?

 

[eaglejim]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

Well I would be in jail also because I just don't believe in paying (tipping) for poor service,they are working for the themselves and if they don't show an interest I don't show one (red cent) either,on the other hand if we are well taken care of they will be talking about us to their friends, and 9 times out of 10 they remember us and we get great service on are return visit

 

[HappierWet]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

I won't go to a restaurant that has a mandatory gratuity policy, and we have had some fairly large groups walk out because of it. I don't believe it is a law, just that there is no law against it. Several local college towns ( including bethlehem ) have places with terrible service....and they all have the same foolish policy.

 

[Tyme2fish]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

Mandatory 18% gratuity??
Hello Judge. Hello lawyer.
I detest lawyers but I would counter sue this restaurant for every chili dog I could get.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

"He said managers offered to comp the food, a claim the couple denies ever happened."

This is killing me....The bar manager offered to comp the food (yeah right) but they were hauled away because they didn't pay the tip...

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

Mandatory tip stay away.
We tip well for good service but being obliged to tip a set amount for bad service is another thing.

 

[mscher]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

This same subject was on another forum, which I will paraphrase (I if legally can), a real Lawyer's response,(at least in his state - CA).

A dinner bill with a percentage gratituity already figured in, is in effect, a written contract between the patron and the resturaunt. Not paying the tip is actually a breech of contract and not necessarily a criminal offense. It could be argued in court, on whether both or neither parties live up to their obligations of the contract.

It may have been incrorrect to arrest the patron, for some type of theft, since they did pay the food portion, of the bill.

Sound's good to me.

 

[Les Robb]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

An 18% mandatory tip pretty well eliminates anything else unless the waiter or waitress comes over and gives you the winning lottery number for the night.Why would the typical person work harder if they know they will get the same return as the obnoxious slowpoke working the other side of the room?

Sad but the owners of the restaurant are to blame. A mandatory 10% would cover the slobs that walk out, and good service would be rewarded with 20%, and 20% is pretty well established in my neck of the woods.

Take all incentive away and you have a sorry worker that doesn't give a darn about doing better, kinda why communism doesn't work so well.

Oh Well

 

[greggholmes]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

this is from New York...

http://abcnews.go.com/US/CrimeBlotter/story?id=89938&page=1

"Taveras was charged with misdemeanor theft of services, but authorities declined to prosecute him after determining that a restaurant patron can't be forced to leave a gratuity.

Prosecutors said establishments have to call it a surcharge or service charge, not a tip, in order to make it a mandatory add-on charge for large parties. "

"Under the Fair Labor Standards Act? ?tip? is defined as ?a sum presented by a customer as a gift or gratuity in recognition of some service performed for him.? A tip is distinguished from a service charge, which the restaurant cannot use as a tip credit to offset the minimum wage. The key distinction between the two is that tips/gratuities are within the customer?s discretion, but a service charge is not.

In the Taveras case, the prosecutor decided to drop the case because the restaurant called it a ?gratuity? instead of a ?service charge.? However, if the restaurant had called a ?service charge,? the prosecutor may have pursued the case. "

 

[pecheux]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

What bites me is that this case went as far as this couple being hancuffed and put in the back seat of a police car like criminals ... for such a minor problem ... what 's the problem with the law here ????

 

[trendsetter240]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

What bites me is that this case went as far as this couple being hancuffed and put in the back seat of a police car like criminals ... for such a minor problem ... what 's the problem with the law here ????

I couldn't agree more. It's plain wrong.

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

Im sorry, but after waiting that long I would have and have (bad syntax, I know) left it situations like that. Get a grip- you go out to have a good time and have someone other than you cook, serve and clean. And it is the law for for gratuity in parties less than 6? OMG!

If the service is bad , thats how you let them know ....unless you have the nuts to tell them so to their face.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

This same subject was on another forum, which I will paraphrase (I if legally can), a real Lawyer's response,(at least in his state - CA).

A dinner bill with a percentage gratituity already figured in, is in effect, a written contract between the patron and the resturaunt. Not paying the tip is actually a breech of contract and not necessarily a criminal offense. It could be argued in court, on whether both or neither parties live up to their obligations of the contract.

It may have been incrorrect to arrest the patron, for some type of theft, since they did pay the food portion, of the bill.

Sound's good to me.

bzzzt wrong.

Its not an agreed to contract unless the patron has seen it beforehand and agreed to it.
And its only enforceable if its written in plain language on the menu.


Its a lot simpler than that, its a bill. Thats all.

A gratuity thats on the bill isn't a gratuity, unless someone changed all the dictionary's. Its actually a service charge or a fee.


And each state is different as far as service charges.
In Mass a service charge is a tip.

I run a catering business, I have owned 2 restaurants,
I had to change my contract from "service charge" to "booking fee", otherwise the $1000 service charge I put on weddings would have to go to the waiters, insane eh?

I'd say the cops screws up but the restaurant owners are idiots, you can't buy that sort of bad publicity.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

i have had many food service worker friends. to this day, i do not go to required gratutiy resturants, bad service gets a penny left, "heads down" on the table. that is the universal code for bad service.

good service, gets a good gratuity. Florida 15 % is usually.

what really gets me though, is the Buffet Line restaurants, you get the food, and carry it to the table. then a waitress comes up, and takes the tray, and gets you a drink. THEY WANT A TIP.

 

[HappierWet]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

.

what really gets me though, is the Buffet Line restaurants, you get the food, and carry it to the table. then a waitress comes up, and takes the tray, and gets you a drink. THEY WANT A TIP.

And that's Ok, I'll leave a buck or two for each person at the table, as long as when I come back with a fresh plate the old one is gone and the server is prompt about refilling the drinks. Do the Dadgum job and EARNIT

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Couple ARRESTED for not Leaving a TIP!! Unbelievable!!

What I don't understand is why waiter/waitress gets pay next to nothing when there is the Fair Labor law stuffs. I know they get tips and most of the time lot of tips, enough to make up for the 2 or 3 dollars/hr or whatever they get paid. Shouldn't they be paid at least the minimum wages? That way, gratuity would become gratuity again instead of required. Waiting table is a crappy job, physically and mentally demanding. They should be paid more then 2-3 bucks/hr. The other thing that I don't get is why a group have to pay mandatory gratuity? They pay the same price for the same item as a table of 2 would. As I type this, I realized that restaurants pay the way they do is probably to encourage exceptional service from their staff. It works most of the time but then we get the above story because some expect it regardless of service level. It seems that a lot more peoples nowaday think that they deserve something for nothing.