Couple busted for refusing to pay "mandatory gratuity"

I'm protesting math.

Your tipping system sucks.

Arrested for 16 bucks? I know times are tough, but seriously?

Fuck mandatory gratuity. When I was doing that stuff we didn't even have the luxury of mandatory gratuity, we had to *GASP* provide good service.

I really don't miss working in food service at all. The money's okay, but it can be thankless, tiring shit.

As if the restaurant owners aren't getting busted for wasting police time. Unfortunately the north american obligatory tipping culture will breed this kind of thing (at least in Canada they are too polite to bitch at you for the bad tip).

The Uk on the other hand, tipping is TOTALLY OPTIONAL. if you like the service tip what you want - if you don't want to you don't have to, sure the service is pretty bad but at least you aren't obligated to pay over the odds for it. I think it's a fairer system.

Yup, Tip if you want to. If they deserved it.

lol math

The problem is that, in the US, most wait staff is paid a pittance, like two or three dollars an hour, and rely on tips for their income. Plus in some cases they're expected to share their tips with the bus staff. I know in Orlando, we get a lot of tourists who come from countries where tipping isn't expected, and some places will add the gratuity to make sure their people don't get shorted. And there's also the practice of automatically adding a percentage for large parties.

Of course, bad service shouldn't be rewarded as much as good service.

Here's where these guys might be in trouble -- most places that add a gratuity for groups of a certain size usually clearly state so on their menus. So you know going in that 16% or 18% is going to be added before you order anything. So in this case, the restaurant could argue this is not a tip, but a part of the bill, so long as they specified somewhere before the order was placed that the gratuity was going to be added. Which makes it part of the check, not a tip.

Here's a tip: don't name your daughter "Pope."

Now I see why Larry David puts jokes about tipping in every other episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Thank God we've got a bit more common sense over here.

Canada is an entire populace of shitty tippers. I doubt any of you know what a bad tip is, much less notice.

You ever been to Pennsylvania? It can be kind of a fucked up place. Their legal system is, in particular, very fucking strange. This holding up, even if they got a slap on the wrist fine or restitution wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Yup.

You yanks are nuts.

I think tipping is retarded. But I do it because I have to or I'm the asshole.

Someone mentioned that servers/bartenders make less hourly because they get tips.... well this isn't my fault so I don't feel sorry for them and I don't see why I should.

Most servers (all) don't cook the food as well as dish wash and have to stay late to clean the kitchen. What's the risk to them? A customer yelling at them? Whats the risk to the kitchen staff? Many, many things. But besides that, how come McDonalds staff don't get tipped? They take your order and make your food don't they? AND they get paid shit and get treated worse by other staff and customers. Where's the difference?

Also, from my experience, most servers don't seem to comprehend that when they receive a bad tip it's because they gave shitty service. They just seem to think that it's because the customer was an asshole.

Now yes, I said above that I tip or else I'd look like an asshole but I will leave a good tip if the server is good at their job. Just the other night I had a really good male server. Gave him a really good tip. When I was down in North Carolina a few weeks ago the waitress we had was terrible. And the place wasn't even that busy. Left the minimum. When I was in Toronto back in August the waitress was BRUTAL... we left I think maybe a dollar each (there was four of us). Why should I be forced to leave 15% when she was horrible at everything she did?

Anyways, more or less what I'm saying is is that servers should just be thankful when they get a tip. It shouldn't be required.

Surname, sir.

Anyway, this story is stupid bullshit. I once tipped a shithead a penny. Would that be just as bad?

Wow - since when is there such a backlash against tipping? And where the hell do you people eat where service is so bad? I've NEVER gotten service so bad that it negated the tip and on the few occasions where the restaurant was slow getting the order out or what not, they comped my ticket of their own accord - in which case I gave the server an even bigger tip (I did eat for free, after all).

The shitty ones aside, your typical server works his or her ASS off and deserves every penny they make on any given night - usually more. If you have a perfectly pleasant, competent server and you don't leave a tip? Yeah, you're an asshole. Sorry.

As a guy who use to make 2.34 cents an hour as a waiting and 3.50 (oooh a raise!) as a bartender, allow me to thank all of you defending tipping for good service. If I provided good service, I hoped to be tipped for it, as that is how it works in this country. On the rare times I sucked at my job, I fully expected to get shafted on the tip.

For those of you who refuse to tip because you think it's stupid: Don't go out to eat in this country at a place where you rely on someone else to bring your food to you, please limit yourself to fast food.

Agreed.

In the short few months I lasted as a waiter, I gained an immense amount of respect for what they have to deal with. Always tip, provided they didn't shit in your gravy or something of the like.

See, anyone with the "It's not my fault you're a waiter attitude" needs to do one of two things:
1. Wait tables for a while yourself. Come to appreciate and understand the extra effort people go through to make sure your experience is different from eating at Arby's, because, here's a little secret for you folks: The food is not that different. Or
2. If you can't bring yourself to leave a deserved gratuity of at least 18% when your server did their job (which includes greeting you, taking your order professionally, delivering your drinks and keeping your refills coming, bringing your food to you when it's ready and fresh, and delivering your check when you're ready for it), then don't bother eating at a restaurant where it's expected.

Oh,and one big word of advice non-tippers. Don't non-tip in the same place twice. You are remembered.

It is common for establishments to require a mandatory gratuity but it is usually for larger parties, 6 to 8 diners or more. This is because a server's time and section are monopolized by the large party thereby inhibiting the money earning opportunity throughout the night. Fewer tables being sat and fewer being turned equals less money for the server. As such, establishments that implement this policy usually print or otherwise make it known that parties of 6 or more are charged an automatic gratuity. You may not think it's right and I may or may not agree with you but it is what it is. Some places also will not allow you to have separate checks if you are a large party. Bitch about it if you like. Hell don't patronize those places. Who cares? If they had been less than six they wouldn't have been assessed the mandatory gratuity and would have been in their rights to tip whatever they pleased. Essentially they are reneging on an assumed contract.

No servers don't wash dishes or clean the kitchen. They actually clean the dining room, bar, etc. They vacuum, dust, refill condiments, scrub tables, wash windows. They have their share of side-work as well as having to deal with pain-in-the-ass skinflints who more often than not are playing a private game of GOTCHA! and looking for a reason to not tip while dodging patron's shitty kids whose parents allow them to run rough-shod throughout the dangerous environment of a restaurant.

I don't know what anything you said has to do with Canadians being shitty tippers. Seriously I worked in kitchens for 15 years and to a letter the servers always made a game of screwing each other by pawning off the Canadians.

I also can't figure why so many of you nerds are such tightwads.

I tip food servers, pizza delivery people, barbers, drivers, bartenders, tattoo artists, and strippers. I also tip at the counter of any independently owned take-out taqueria, teriyaki shop, gyro place, etc.

Yep - nuts.

Anyone saying that servers don't cook or clean the kitchen has never worked the night shift at a diner. I've worked in three very different restaurants (Freebird's, Denny's & a Persian cafe), and in each of those jobs everyone did a little of everything.

By the way, tipping helps reduce your overall cost of service. Were tipping not the standard, employers couldn't get away with paying $2.15 an hour, and would have to raise menu prices to cover the extra cost of minimum wage.

Whatever happened to the good old-fashioned wholesome practice of making deadbeat customers wash dishes? That's what I wanna know!

Not tipping is a pretty dick move unless your service was total shit. When I delivered pizza I expected a buck or two. I work a broad economical area, and it never failed to shock me that the rich folks didn't tip, while the people in the trailer park would try to hand me 5 bucks. In broad terms I now assume that the people that don't tip are people that have a lack of empathy for working class jobs. I'm sure these assumptions can be proven wrong, but they're pretty much ingrained in me at this point.

Edit: all that said, forced gratuity is also a dick move.

No one has a problem with tipping. Over here tipping is optional but I still tip all the time. My problem is with the system you have where there are people working their fucking asses off (I know becaue I've done it), getting paid in peanuts and having to rely on handouts to make a living.

You know what mr. Restaurant Owner? How about you pay your fucking staff.

And on the lighter side, a couple of friends of mine while on vacation in Miami got into an argument with a waitress at a club and almost beaten up by the bouncers because they didn't know about your stupid tipping system.

Wow, it didn't take long for Beta Brendan to take Domingo's place as the resident ignorant fucking asshole from Canada.

I can count on one hand the amount of times I haven't left a tip, and that was only when the service was really bad. And I usually tip between 25-50 percent, depending on the meal.

Over here we have the evil socialist ideal of a minimum wage of £5.80 per hour, it's still peanuts but it means everyone is on a level playing field and we don't have people living off their tips. I have been a couple of places where it's already on the bill and it generally pisses people off.

I've only ever left no tip on a handful of occasions were the service has been terrible such as waiting half an hour for our order to be taken and rude waiters who tried to take our plates while we were still eating and then brought our bill without us asking and basically told us to get out! We paid the bill to the exact penny.

From my experience, customer service is far better in America so I dont begrudge the tipping at all.

Then get ready for $8 domestic pints and $20 appetizers.

And really, the issue with the original story is that these folks left the tip line blank when they payed their bill. It's that they refused to pay for an item that was on their check. All this restaurant has to do is produce a menu or a sign that says "An 18% gratuity is added to all parties of 6 or more" and argue that by ordering, these folks were agreeing to pay that 18%. It's like going to the store and refusing to pay the sales tax because the cashier was slow.

Over here we have minimum wage for staff and we still manage to only pay like £3 ($6) for a drink and £4-£5 ($8-$10) for an appetiser. The customer essentially paying half the staffs wages aren't what keep prices down, it's competition and the price of food that keeps prices down.

A tip is all about rewarding someone for the service they gave you. It should not be mandatory to tip.

Rusty is right, you Americans really do have it wrong.

Yep same here. Some of my closest friends are in the service industry here in Oz, and if you go over and above in your service you deserve your tip, if you just do your fucking job, you deserve your wage (which you're able to live on in this country). If you do less than your fucking job I'd argue you don't deserve either.

This whole 'the public subsidises the wage of the service industry but no other' you get in the states seems utterly fucking retarded to me. Capitalism gone mad - but in one industry only.

Again, nuts.

What the fuck are you talking about?

Maybe you got bad tips because you're an American, and Americans are LAZY FAT FUCKS AND HORRIBLE INDIVIDUALS.
Everyone knows that.

Seriously, are you doing an hyperbole competition with Seabass? Because if not, it's no wonder you worked in kitchens 15 years.

If you get bad service, or no apologies or acknowledgement for late food (late food may and probably depends on the kitchen, and not on the waiter. Usually.), no or shitty tipping should be expected. And it got both ways. Great service should be rewarded accordingly.

Yeah but where are your FREEDOMS you filthy COMMIE!!!

Anyone here ever tip at Subway? I know there is a space for it but I've never done it.

You don't really think that you subsidizing what should have been the owner's expenses actually keeps prices down, do you?

Bingo bango on what the non-Americans have been saying. Good service always deserves a tip, but tipping just for the Hell of it? Why are you guys endorsing a system that essentially lets business owners off the hook for not paying their staff properly?

Coming from a person that did it for a long time, it absolutely does. Restaurants (especially corporate ones) have a limit on how much per hour they can be spending on salary, and you can actually see where it effects profits. Food cost is always over the moon, Bar cost needs to stay especially low because that's where most of the profit actually comes from, so keeping salary low is the best way to go. I didn't always make great money, but I did better than most people where I was at, and I worked in a really slow place. Even as a guy who busted his ass, I still appreciate the system, because it taught me a pretty good work ethic. I was one of the only employees there not just working for beer money (college town), but to actually support myself, so I needed to make more. As a result, my customers got better service.

So the alleged greatest capitalist system in the world is propped up by charity. Huh.

I get what you're saying, Chris, but I find the concept of working for the profit of someone else while yourself depending on a third parties goodwill, unfair and borderline abusive. Unless the service staff gets a share of the profits on a good day.

But you're being tipped for performing a service, I hardly see that as charity.

There's also the fact that tips get reported to the IRS as income. So that paycheck a waiter gets every week is based on their hourly rate, but taxed based on the hourly rate plus tips. Which drives the non-tip earnings down even further.

You should get PAID for the service, not tipped for the service. Tips should be considered extra (for going above and beyond) not mandatory to help cheap ass restaurant owners pay their staff.

I've been to a few restaurants that have a mandatory tipping policy for large parties. Good thing I have yet to have a large party to take out. My girlfriend and I are pretty good tippers. Unless of course we have really shitty service, then we go pay the check and then immediately leave. We've encountered some pretty bad waiters. Although, if they're just starting out, and its usually pretty obvious, we leave them something.

Look, I know it seems baffling to a lot of people, especially in countries where the waitstaff gets paid an actual salary, but this is how the system works around here. And, aside from bad tippers, it actually does work. I know some bartenders around here who make six figures a year working 3 days a week, working at bars making 2.34 an hour. And if you don't feel like tipping, then don't, but don't expect great service. The people who can't understand your fucking order at McDonalds, and then fuck it up anyway while giving you a bad attitude? They don't work for tips. The server who brings you a refill before you finish your drink, reccomends the best things on the menu, and doesn't make you wait for your check? They work for tips in an environment where you expect to be waited on by someone who is attentive. If you don't want to pay for someone to be attentive to your dining needs, stay the fuck home. If it was all about having someone cook dinner for you and you didn't care about the services a waitstaff provided, why didn't you just order carryout?

Also, screw a big party like that. I hated taking them anyway because they dominated my time and section, and because we had to auto-grat 15% on the table, they never paid extra, so it cost me money.