Pennsylvania couple handcuffed & arrested for theft for not leaving tip

[Lovebears65]

As most of you all know I am far from an Obama supporter but i believe most places to eat if your bill has so many people you are required to pay a 15 percent tip... It is nothing new

What does Obama have to do with the issue?

I am NOT blaming Obama. I said it was NOTHING new.. IF I was blaming OBama, I would say it was his fault..

 

[Rozman]

The bill sounds pretty reasonable for 8 people. Apparently the menu said that gratuities were included in the bill but the college types couldn't understand that concept. They were arrested for theft of services and it sounds like they are guilty.

I think restaurant owners have gotten smarter about things.
Because there is a certain element in our society that refuses
to tip or tips so poorly that they had no choice but to add the tip
to the bill...

Hell these folks brought this on them selves.

 

[Ernie S.]

I always tip. Usually >20%, but there are occasions when I leave $0.02, just so they know I didn't forget to tip.
I have never been faced with poor service with a large party, so I'm not sure just how I would react.

 

[Againsheila]

I always tip. Usually >20%, but there are occasions when I leave $0.02, just so they know I didn't forget to tip.
I have never been faced with poor service with a large party, so I'm not sure just how I would react.

I have and I really objected to the 18% gratuity added on to our bill for being a large party. The waitress delivered our food and never ONCE came back until she came back with the bill. A couple of us didn't get what we ordered. There was hell to pay when she finally deigned to grace us with her presence again. Our office NEVER booked a luncheon at that place again.

 

[OohPooPahDoo]

i think it's disgusting to have a mandatory gratuity. you cant demand a gift for crappy service.

Gratuities are not "gifts".

then what are they?

Payments for services rendered. I realize its hard for a selfish person to understand, but "gifts" are given without expectation of renumeration.

Tips are "to insure prompt service", if the service isn't prompt, you certainly shouldn't be paying a tip.

So when service isn't prompt because a restaurant is slammed busy and you knew it was slammed busy when you walked in - you don't tip. Wow. What a cheap piece of shit. This is why gratuities for parties of 6 or more are added. You've probably never worked in food service in your life.

I'm back to thinking we should do away with tips altogether and just have the wait staff covered by the price of the meal.

Maybe we'll get rid of the wait staff and the restaurant entirely and have your cheap ass cook your own damn meals?

 

[OohPooPahDoo]

i think it's disgusting to have a mandatory gratuity. you cant demand a gift for crappy service.

Gratuities are not "gifts".

Yes, they are.

Not in the context of tips given to wait staff. If you think its a "gift" you'd do everyone involved better to cook your own meals.

 

[Againsheila]

Gratuities are not "gifts".

then what are they?

Payments for services rendered. I realize its hard for a selfish person to understand, but "gifts" are given without expectation of renumeration.

Tips are "to insure prompt service", if the service isn't prompt, you certainly shouldn't be paying a tip.

So when service isn't prompt because a restaurant is slammed busy and you knew it was slammed busy when you walked in - you don't tip. Wow. What a cheap piece of shit. This is why gratuities for parties of 6 or more are added. You've probably never worked in food service in your life.

I'm back to thinking we should do away with tips altogether and just have the wait staff covered by the price of the meal.

Maybe we'll get rid of the wait staff and the restaurant entirely and have your cheap ass cook your own damn meals?

You think I'm a cheap ass because I think the price of what you consider to be a given, not a gift, be included in the price of the meal?

 

[OohPooPahDoo]

Gratuities are not "gifts".

Yes, they are.

Theyre supposed to be, but I don't think they really are anymore.

No, they are not "supposed to be". They are not "gifts". Its frankly unethical to stiff a waiter - at least not without attempting to resolve the dispute with management. (unless the waiter is also the owner, in which case many consider it faux pas for them to accept a tip)

If you're going to stiff a waiter without trying to resolve your dispute with management, best to not return to the same restaurant ever again. You'll be remembered, and you'll get spit in your food or in some way fuck you. When I delivered pizza I would take the pizzas of habitual no-tippers out of the hot boxes and make sure to deliver them last, ensuring they got the pie as cold and as late as possible.

 

[JoeB131]

This is what happens when you have a communist like obozo in the WH. You have no rights and the state controls everything.

Couple arrested over 'theft' for refusing to tip in restaurant - Telegraph

5:47PM GMT 23 Nov 2009
Leslie Pope and John Wagner were handcuffed and hauled away after they failed to leave a restaurant's mandatory 18 per cent gratuity - totalling $16 (£10) - for their party of eight.

"Nobody wants to be forced to pay a tip or be arrested for terrible service," said Miss Pope, 22.

The couple, students at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, had joined six friends at the town's Lehigh Pub for dinner. They claimed they had to wait almost an hour for their meal to arrive and Miss Pope said the service was so shoddy they had to get their own cutlery and napkins.

The group said they had to repeatedly ask for drink refills while their waitress smoked outside the pub.

At the end of the meal of salad and chicken wings, they were presented with a $73.87 bill. A $16.35 tip had been added as there was eight people in the party

Not seeing a problem here. 73.87 for eight people is pretty reasonable, even with a tip.

If you don't like the service, don't go there again. Give it a bad review on YELP and GOOGLE and Angie's List.

 

[Againsheila]

Yes, they are.

Theyre supposed to be, but I don't think they really are anymore.

No, they are not "supposed to be". They are not "gifts". Its frankly unethical to stiff a waiter - at least not without attempting to resolve the dispute with management. (unless the waiter is also the owner, in which case many consider it faux pas for them to accept a tip)

If you're going to stiff a waiter without trying to resolve your dispute with management, best to not return to the same restaurant ever again. You'll be remembered, and you'll get spit in your food or in some way fuck you. When I delivered pizza I would take the pizzas of habitual no-tippers out of the hot boxes and make sure to deliver them last, ensuring they got the pie as cold and as late as possible.

The last time I "stiffed" a waiter, it was because the service was so bad that I was ready to leave in tears. When the manager rung up the bill, he made the mistake of asking how things were and I told him. When I was finished, he said "How would you feel if breakfast was on us today". I told him I'd feel a lot better. Thanks to him, we did return to that restaurant again, and we never had problem with the wait staff ever again.

You think I'm a cheap ass because I think that wait staff should be paid enough by the restaurants and we shouldn't have to leave tips and yet you think it's okay to spit in people's food? I may be a cheap ass, but you are just an ass. I sincerely hope you never serve me EVER.

BTW, I usually leave a 20% tip. Many, many times I've left a lot more. I think a law should be passed and we should do away with tips altogether and have the waitstaff salaries put in the price on the menu. I do not believe that makes me cheap. Given your attitude, however, I can see why so many people have "stiffed" you. I would not only stiff you, I would never patronize your restaurant or pizza place again. Please tell me where you work so I can be sure to avoid it....

 

[Dissent]

Their is a shithole Italian place here that steals the tip, I ate there 1 time and will never go again,shit food,small portions,and the theft is just not worth it...

 

[del]

Their is a shithole Italian place here that steals the tip, I ate there 1 time and will never go again,shit food,small portions,and the theft is just not worth it...

cool story, bro

tell it again

 

[Dissent]

Don't you have something to whine about? Oh wait you are...

 

[del]

cool story, bro.

tell it again

 

[Dissent]

Complain...

 

[Immanuel]

The bill sounds pretty reasonable for 8 people. Apparently the menu said that gratuities were included in the bill but the college types couldn't understand that concept. They were arrested for theft of services and it sounds like they are guilty.

I'm sorry, but I disagree with you.

It is not a gratuity if it is mandatory. If the restaurant is going to force people to pay that then they damned well had better not call it a gratuity. In fact, it is nothing but stiff arming your customers. It is dishonest at its best.

I suspect this restaurant has piss poor service therefore they must force at the barrel of a gun their customers to pay tips. Doesn't sound like a place I care to eat at.


I have never not left a tip. I tip at least 20%, but it is no longer a tip when it becomes mandatory.

Hell, I wonder how many people don't look at the bill close enough and add another 20% tip at restaurants like that... talk about a frigging scam!

Immie

 

[IGetItAlready]

This is what happens when you have a communist like obozo in the WH. You have no rights and the state controls everything.

Couple arrested over 'theft' for refusing to tip in restaurant - Telegraph

5:47PM GMT 23 Nov 2009
Leslie Pope and John Wagner were handcuffed and hauled away after they failed to leave a restaurant's mandatory 18 per cent gratuity - totalling $16 (£10) - for their party of eight.

"Nobody wants to be forced to pay a tip or be arrested for terrible service," said Miss Pope, 22.

The couple, students at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, had joined six friends at the town's Lehigh Pub for dinner. They claimed they had to wait almost an hour for their meal to arrive and Miss Pope said the service was so shoddy they had to get their own cutlery and napkins.

The group said they had to repeatedly ask for drink refills while their waitress smoked outside the pub.

At the end of the meal of salad and chicken wings, they were presented with a $73.87 bill. A $16.35 tip had been added as there was eight people in the party

A "tip" is an undefined addition the customer makes a conscious determination to add to the bill based on the quality of service they receive.
When it becomes a mandate that skipping on will result in your being treated as if you had dined and dashed, regardless of the services rendered, for all intents and purposes it becomes an increase in cost of goods received.

If this is what it's coming to I say stop relying on the paying public to voluntarily make up for your being a cheap ass business owner and increase your prices so as to pay the help a legal wage. If it loses you business, oh well. At least you don't have to deal with the negative attention that comes with having paying customers arrested for not rewarding shitty service.

My own approach to tipping is 20% or more to anyone who makes an attempt to make my dining or drinking experience better than it might otherwise have been, or zero for anyone who has the people skills of a rock.
Don't like it? Go get a job where a shitty personality makes no difference.

 

[Cowman]

What's the conservative mantra? If you don't like it... leave.

Nobody is forcing them to eat there.

The bill sounds pretty reasonable for 8 people. Apparently the menu said that gratuities were included in the bill but the college types couldn't understand that concept. .

Oh i see. The restaurant says you have to pay and so you pay or the state locks you up!!

You go into a restaurant with the implicit agreement that you will pay. Otherwise it's theft.

 

[Cowman]

The bill sounds pretty reasonable for 8 people. Apparently the menu said that gratuities were included in the bill but the college types couldn't understand that concept. They were arrested for theft of services and it sounds like they are guilty.

I'm sorry, but I disagree with you.

It is not a gratuity if it is mandatory. If the restaurant is going to force people to pay that then they damned well had better not call it a gratuity. In fact, it is nothing but stiff arming your customers. It is dishonest at its best.

I suspect this restaurant has piss poor service therefore they must force at the barrel of a gun their customers to pay tips. Doesn't sound like a place I care to eat at.


I have never not left a tip. I tip at least 20%, but it is no longer a tip when it becomes mandatory.

Hell, I wonder how many people don't look at the bill close enough and add another 20% tip at restaurants like that... talk about a frigging scam!

Immie

Does it matter if it's called a gratuity or not if it's mandatory? If it's stated that it's mandatory, consider it the cost of the meal. Not paying that cost is stealing.

 

[Againsheila]

The bill sounds pretty reasonable for 8 people. Apparently the menu said that gratuities were included in the bill but the college types couldn't understand that concept. They were arrested for theft of services and it sounds like they are guilty.

I'm sorry, but I disagree with you.

It is not a gratuity if it is mandatory. If the restaurant is going to force people to pay that then they damned well had better not call it a gratuity. In fact, it is nothing but stiff arming your customers. It is dishonest at its best.

I suspect this restaurant has piss poor service therefore they must force at the barrel of a gun their customers to pay tips. Doesn't sound like a place I care to eat at.


I have never not left a tip. I tip at least 20%, but it is no longer a tip when it becomes mandatory.

Hell, I wonder how many people don't look at the bill close enough and add another 20% tip at restaurants like that... talk about a frigging scam!

Immie

Does it matter if it's called a gratuity or not if it's mandatory? If it's stated that it's mandatory, consider it the cost of the meal. Not paying that cost is stealing.

Not putting it in the cost of the meal, but presenting it after the fact is deceptive.