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Refusal to tip for lousy restaurant service results in arrest
Tipping is a really complicated issue in the US. What was once introduced as a way to reward good service, has now turned into a way for patrons to actually pay the salary of restaurant workers. One of my biggest pet peeves with tipping is the mandatory tip on groups. This used to be added to groups of 12 or more, then it dropped to 8 or more, and nowadays most places consider a group of 6 people to be large enough to warrant a mandatory 18% tip - no matter how lousy the service.
Leslie Pope and John Wagner encountered this stupid rule at the Lehigh pub in Bethlemen, PA. Their group was served by a pretty useless waitress who made them wait over an hour for their order, forced them to refill their own drinks and even navigate the restaurant to get their own napkins and silverware.
When it came time to pay, they were presented with a $73 check, plus a $16 tip. When they refused to pay the tip, the pub called the police and had them arrested. They were actually handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car.
The owner of the restaurant claims he offered to comp them their food, and admitted that it look a long time to serve the food. At the moment, the couple have been charged with theft, but chances are the charges won't hold up in court.
To me, the big question is whether the Lehigh Pub really thinks all this is worth the horrible publicity they are getting - to have a restaurant actually call the police when someone attempts to refuse paying for lousy service is a surefire way to make people avoid your restaurant for years to come. Because of their actions, reviews on sites like Yelp, and Rateitall have dropped to one star. Serves them right.
What do you think? Should you pay the "mandatory group tip" even if the service was really bad?
| Yes - the tip is mandatory, and they should be forced to pay it, no matter how bad the service | |
|---|---|
| No - bad service should always mean no tip. |
Filed under: North America, United States
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Paul Nov 26th 2009 11:05PM
I know of no law that requires anyone in or not in a group to tip. Some people say it means "to insure prompt service". Which was not the case here.
Shame on the pub and shame on the police.
Just wait for that ubiquitous sign "Closed for Renovations".
yaro.oruvan Nov 23rd 2009 9:40AM
The comment at the end of the clip is the MOST important part of the news.
"So what will you do next time you receive bad service?"
"honestly, we are probably going to pay the tip anyway..'
Yeah, this is exactly what the restaurant wanted. Force the customer to pay for service not rendered. ie, good service, which the tip is for.
Who is stealing from whom here? Who is the thief?
Does not matter. And the cops, who, instead of resolving the matter right there as too trivial, booked the couple, *contributed to the statement above*, and served ONLY the ROLE of a COMMON GOON, that the restaurant did not have to pay to intimidate the couple concerned.
SAD day for the dignity of cops in America.
James Kohn Dec 8th 2009 2:09PM
Epic fail on the part of management. A savvy operator would have taken a larger view and at least defused the situation. A truly talented manager would have identified an opportunity in this mess and turned the incident into a positive. Instead, they are feeding the huge monster: "negative word of mouth". - James Kohn, http://www.JamesKohn.com