Tipping is kind of a hot-button issue here at Lemondrop, but be warned naysayers: Not tipping could land you in trouble with the law.A couple from Bethlehem, Penn., were arrested for refusing to pay an 18 percent gratuity that was included in their bill because of the size of their party. They say the service was lousy -- the appetizers took an hour, they had to get their own silverware and napkins, and refill their own drinks.
Rather than shell out the $16 they owed for gratuity, Leslie Pope and John Wagner paid for the food, drinks, and taxes, but told the bartender they wouldn't pay for the tip. Cops were called. Arrests were made.
It seems in the great debate over whether or not a person must tip for crap service, it looks like the long arm of the law gets the final say.
UPDATE: Police have decided to drop the charges against Pope and Wagner, possibly because the tip included in their bill was equal to 22 percent of their total, not 18.
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Monday 23 November
By Brittany
They definitely shooulnt have been arrested! As someone who works in the service industry myself and who usual over tips, there are times I have left very small or no tips! A tips is something that is earned thought good service and keeping the customer happy! This is not something that is garenteed! If you want a good tip you have to put the effort into it. I also hate when resturants include tips on the bill! By doing that they are giving themselves less that I would have given if it were left up to me!
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Monday 23 November
By Julie
I also do not over-tip if the tip is on the bill. I will just pay the exact price of the bill if they include a tip, where I might have actually left more if they did not include it.
Monday 23 November
By eric
A "gratuity" means it's free to give or not to give it
If it's mandatory, it should be called a tax, charge, or something else appropriate
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Friday 27 November
By scoot
sure its free to give or not to give, but its implied from the moment you walk into a restaurant. The question is - how would you feel if someone complained about you at your job and as a result you made less money? Lets say that complaint has NOTHING to do with YOUR actual job. This shit happens a lot at restaurants. I can't blame customers because they don't know. But that's also kind of the point. As a customer - you just don't know. So next time you decide to "leave or not leave" a tip - dont forget this important detail - we remember you.
Monday 23 November
By Bonnie
I can't believe they were actually arrested for not tipping! If you don't earn a tip you don't get one... its rare that I don't leave a couple of bucks but an 18% gratutity is too high for bad service.
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Monday 23 November
By rone
Why should I have to tip you? Hey 'service industry' workers... feel like you're getting jipped cause you're not being tipped? GET A NEW JOB.
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Monday 23 November
By deia
then u serve u self dude,server work for 2.50 an h in new york
Monday 23 November
By Logan
I rarely leave a gratuity, unless the service I receive warrants it. When I do leave a gratuity it is generally something substantial, not change but, a bill or two. To demand a gratuity from me in any way shape or form will only make me angry and stop my return or any patronage of your current place of business/employment
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Wednesday 25 November
By CS Trojans
Dude, you are extremely rude. I can't believe you rarely leave a tip. You do understand that most waitresses make about $5.00/hr from their employer and the rest of the pay is their tips, right? You need to lighten up on the purse strings.
Monday 23 November
By Apple
they were NOT arrested for not tipping, they were arrested for not paying their bill in full. if a restaurant decides to tack on extra charges to the meal, you are responsible for paying. if you don't like it, go to a different restaurant.
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Monday 23 November
By iambic
I'm a college student who has been serving tables in one form or another since I was seventeen. Throughout my five years of working in the 'service industry' I have only stiffed a waitress ONCE due to incredibly poor and inexcusably bad service. Not tipping your waiter or waitress in unacceptable behavior in American culture. Where I live, servers get paid a minimum of 2.13 an hour and depend on tips for their livelihood. If a gratuity was added to this couple's bill, it is likely that they were in a very large group--which are not easy to wait on. Appetizers taking an hour is not their server's fault, it's the kitchens. In addition--if a gratuity was added to the bill, then it is part of the bill. Not paying part of your bill is effectively stealing. Stealing is illegal. So, no, I don't feel bad for the couple.
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Tuesday 24 November
By bluesy
it amazes me how many service people seem to forget that tips are calculated based upon the customer's satisfaction with their food and service. everybody knows wait people make crappy hourly, but some wait people don't seem to know it. throw my food at me, ignore me, be rude, refuse to refill my coffee ... there are many ways in which a wait person can earn my disdain instead of *my* hard-earned money. but if you do the basics - give me prompt, professional, friendly service, i'll give you a 20% tip
a wait person should not let their party wait an hour for appetizers. sure, it MAY be the kitchen's fault, but did you not notice that once you took the order, you didn't go back fo the table for an hour? the wait person is responsible for seeing the customers get what they want. "i was too busy to check on them" is a really good excuse ... for not getting a tip. if their restaurant has crappy kitchen service, they should be aware that this will adversely affect their tips, and perhaps go work in a place where the chain of service is complete.
i tip very well because i have worked in service. but i do not tip well for crappy service, nor would i.
Monday 23 November
By Kelly
If their service was really that bad, they should have seen a manager, who should have comped their meal. Restaurants usually comp meals in situations like this to avoid bad word of mouth and press (exactly like this article). They definitely shouldn't have been arrested.
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Tuesday 24 November
By cheryl
Ok, so the jerk (rone) who thinks he shouldn't have to tip, how would you feel if i came to your work and didn't want to pay my whole bill so that came out of your pay? I get $2.65 an hour, and I have to tip out 3% of my sales to bussers, bartenders, and hosts, whether you tip me or not. So if you have a $200 bill and don't tip, I still have to claim that I made at least $20, and I have to tip out $6, so in affect I loose money from taking your table, and chances are you are a pain in my but and take away time I could be spending taking care of my tables that will tip me. And the reason large parties have gratuities included is because they usually take longer and sometimes sit and talk for hours after they are done eating, so the server usually doesn't get many other tables, if any at all. Most of the time when a large party says they had bad service it is mostly their own fault. I am very organized when I take tables, so once you sit down, don't change seats. If their are 20 of you, I remember what you ordered and who is on your bill and what you are drinking by your seat number. If your table plays musical chairs it is harder to keep your bills organized and to remember who ordered what. And most of the time with big parties, they ignore you when you ask if they need another drink, and two seconds later will get mad that their drink is out. I wish I could come to your jobs and say "I don't want to pay full price so you don't get paid to take care of me today". Actually, I would say 50% of the time when something is wrong with a table it is their own fault. I know this will fuel a lot of people, but if every time I come to the table you ask for one thing, it slows me down - ask for everything at once, or ask when you order so I can get it ready -extra sauces, napkins, etc. If you change your mind after you order, we put in a rush order and it slows down the kitchen. If you say you are ready to order then ask whats on the menu, I could gets refills for another table, bring another their dinners, and probably five other things by the time you are ready to order. Every time you slow me down, all my tables will suffer, including you. And the big one - SIT WHERE THE HOST SEATS YOU!!!!!!! They rotate seating in order of all the servers so nobody gets overwhelmed. This is the number one reason that people get bad service! If you choose to move tables, don't be mad that it takes me a minute to get to you, especially if you can watch me at a table already. Restaurants only give servers so many customers at a time so we can better serve you, and when you demand certain tables you are giving your server too many customers at once and than you will have to wait for everything. Oh I could go on for days, but I think I have given enough for all the cheapskates to flip out so I will wait for all the names I will be called because of this.
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Tuesday 24 November
By Jeff L.
The issue gets muddy because both sides of this are right and wrong. If a service is not provided, then an establishment has no right to charge for it. If they had to get their own silverware, then they charged for a service they did not provide. Remember when the Federal Government decided to tax service industry workers a percentage of their pay automatically for tips regardless if they made the income or not? Same with restaurants that have tip sharing based on gross table purchase, or that pay less then minimum wage as a base ( with the legal excuse that that if the Feds see your tips as a ' fixed " income, then so can they ),
Restaurants that charge an automatic gratuity for larger parties usually give a written notice, by the cashier, or on the menu etc. - if you can't deal with that, then find another establishment that doesn't, before you order or make a reswervation. As the chef or cook is trying to time out your meal so that all courses arrive for the entire table at the same time, a bit of patience is required for large parties; Large parties usually have a reservation, so if the eatery isn't properly staffed that night, then they are culpable for improper service, in which case they should eat the gratuity from management - provided that the employee actually was working their position properly, and if not then they should eat the tip for personal incompetence because the rest of the team in the pool that did do their job is not at fault and still deserves their bit for the extra effort. Also, regardless of what one is allowed to do by law, if you are paying your employees less then minimum wage in this country as a base, I for one will never eat at your establishment (and having worked both service and management sides of food and beverage service, i feel my opinion counts at least to myself :P ). . . , Back and forth back and forth.
It is impossible to tell whet the exact ethical dilemma is until the evidence comes out in court, I for one will be following that story. Based on a general overview of what we know so far, I would however say this - The establishment should have had all it's customers needs met, which it seems it didn't, and the customer should have paid the entire bill and then complained or filed in small claims court. If the service was bad, they lost any moral high ground they garnered when they refused to pay a prerequisite fee,
Nobody likes bad service, and nobody likes a jerk customer - which we are dealing with here will be determined in court. when the full story is revealed.
Tuesday 24 November
By LMC
How can you get paid so little? Don't you have minimum wage in your country?
Also, is that why Americans always severely over-tip? Because waiters and waitresses get paid so atrociously over there?
The most you'd ever get added as a gratuity over here is 15% absolute max. 10% is considered a perfectly reasonable tip over here, but only if you've had good service, and it's up to you to pay it if you feel the service warranted it. After all, why should you pay extra just because someone did their job? It they do something extra, or just give very good service, tipping is perfectly reasonable, but not if they don't earn it. After all minimum wage is £4.77 an hour for 18 - 25 year olds, that's $7.90 an hour.
Monday 30 November
By kim
thank you for explaining things so eloquently for all of us service industry workers
Monday 14 December
By dks
Cheryl - Your post was perfect in every way! :) I was a server for years and know EXACTLY what you're talking about. Another thing with larger parties I noticed is they'll ask another server for something, the other server goes to get it and when I get to their table less than a minute later, they'll yell at me for not having the item with me. I had one large party of older women and one was diabetic. One of her friends ordered the soup for the diabetic lady and the person they asked (a hostess) went to the tell the cooks right away ( I was standing there getting the drink order). As the cooks were getting that heated up, this is all happened in less than 1 minute... I came out after grabbing some silverware setups for them and the lady asked for the soup again to another hostess who was helping them get seated. I went back and got something else for the table (can't remember what it was) and the lady YELLED at me for the soup. The first person who the woman asked was getting the soup, the cooks were heating it up (start of lunch). I don't know why people think that their food is ready at the drop of a hat, food has to COOK. Also, word to the diabetics, if your situation is really that bad, keep some food in your purse.
Tuesday 24 November
By bluesy
if the menu clearly states that parties over a certain amount of people will pay a pre-determined tip, then yes they should have paid the tip or taken other action. this is legally enforceable. if the menu does not clearly state this information, then they are not required to pay it. a trip is a gratuity in thanks for good work. there are standards for amounts, but one does not have to tip, whether it's because they are an asshole and got good service, or whether they are wonderful and got sucky service, tipping is optional.
were i having dinner with a bunch of friends and receiving lousy service, i probably would take some action, like calling in the manager and asking for another server.
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Tuesday 24 November
By LMC
Bluesy, is is really compulsory to pay gratuities if they're in the menu? Because in the UK, they always say something like "An optional 12% gratuity will be added for parties over 8 people". They would never force you to pay it. They really shouldn't call it a gratuity if it's compulsory. That's a service charge.