Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Couple Busted for Refusing to Pay Tip
- Thread starter mscriv
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I worked as a Restaurant Manager in the UK for 6 years. I always used to tell my employees never to expect a tip and that if they did get one it was an additional bonus for good service.
The waiting staff were not highly remunerated but it was slightly above minimum wage. On good nights when things went smoothly, employees could earn double their standard wage whereas when service was not so good they had no bonus.
It is however frustrating that you can spend a great deal of your time providing an excellent service to a table to receive little tips. I find that the most difficult customers tip the least and it is often the tables you least expect who give a big tip.
When I tip myself I tend to start with a ballpark 10% and adjust this upwards or downwards depending on my experience.
The waiting staff were not highly remunerated but it was slightly above minimum wage. On good nights when things went smoothly, employees could earn double their standard wage whereas when service was not so good they had no bonus.
It is however frustrating that you can spend a great deal of your time providing an excellent service to a table to receive little tips. I find that the most difficult customers tip the least and it is often the tables you least expect who give a big tip.
When I tip myself I tend to start with a ballpark 10% and adjust this upwards or downwards depending on my experience.
While I agree whole-heartedly with your frustration, there's that sense of entitlement again that's inherent in this broken system. If the base wages were high enough then it wouldn't be as annoying. Right now if a server provides good service and a table chooses not to tip, the wait staff is actually being punished. In the perfect system, it would simply be not being given a bonus (which is disappointing, but at least they still get paid properly).
When I worked retail there were a few customers who you just could not please. I'm sure I could have offered to pay for their purchases myself and hired a limo to take them home, and they'd still find something to complain about. I remember one customer who treated me like her personal shopper, directing me to "go grab a cart, then get two of these items, and meet me in the other aisle when you're done". She didn't even say please!
Unfortunately my base pay was still the same no matter how easy or difficult it was to deal with a customer.
QFT. This is always what happened. I would end giving bad service to a table or a table that looks like they are crappy tippers/don't like you and then they end up giving you the best tip ever. And then there are the tables that you work your butt off because you think you are going to get a lot of money and they end up giving you a crappy tip.
The other servers used to say that "rich looking" people didn't tip that great, they are rich because they keep their money not give it away.
The cops did nothing wrong. Like it or not the cops were doing there job. Chances are they did agree with the Resurant but the cops job is to enforce the law. Not to be judge. The judge/ DA will more than likely throw the charges out.
I'm less likely to tip when I sense the air of entitlement. When you work hard, I'll be generous... as it should be.
I generally tip 0-25%.
I cannot see how the police could arrest them. They broke no laws. Arresting someone because they refused restaurant policy is a civil matter not criminal. If I was the LEO I would tell the owner to hire an attorney if he wanted to pursue it in civil court but I would not arrest someone because of a civil dispute...there is no code basis to do so.
It is BS to say the cops were just doing their job...they are not the pub's personal enforcers and should have used better judgment. The arrestees have a case for false arrest against the PD as well as civil claims against the pub now.
I am also very pro LEO before anyone gets any ideas...but this is clearly wrong.
It is BS to say the cops were just doing their job...they are not the pub's personal enforcers and should have used better judgment. The arrestees have a case for false arrest against the PD as well as civil claims against the pub now.
I am also very pro LEO before anyone gets any ideas...but this is clearly wrong.
i agree on this one. it would only be theft if they had left the restaurant and took off. they stayed and just argued that they don't need to pay. it's a civil matter. does the police arrest you if you are not willing to pay for a car repair or any other service that is in dispute? do they arrest you if you dispute your phone bill and refuse to pay? oh boy, those cops are clueless unless there is something to the story we don't know.
What a bunch of lies from the restaurant.
If the manager is willing to comp them, the restaurant would have never called the police.
LOL, good one.
If the manager is willing to comp them, the restaurant would have never called the police.
LOL, good one.
I don't know why the restaurant is getting so much stick in this thread. That mandatory tip would have made the total $89, which for six people to eat is not that bad, IMHO. What kind of service do you expect for $15/head? If it genuinely was bad service, just pay the $90 and don't go there again. That level of penny-pinching is never worth the trouble it causes (as they have just found out).
--- EDIT ---
Wait, it just occurred to me that they were probably paying their portion of the bill, and $73 for the two of them is more than enough to expect great service, so yeah, go for it, make a stand against their crumby service.
--- EDIT 2 ---
Wait again just a minute! I re-read the article and it looks like $73 + tip was the total bill for EIGHT PEOPLE! Jesus, what cheap-skates.
--- EDIT ---
Wait, it just occurred to me that they were probably paying their portion of the bill, and $73 for the two of them is more than enough to expect great service, so yeah, go for it, make a stand against their crumby service.
--- EDIT 2 ---
Wait again just a minute! I re-read the article and it looks like $73 + tip was the total bill for EIGHT PEOPLE! Jesus, what cheap-skates.
i generally hate tipping and yes I have relatives who have done this profession so don't give me that stupid line of reasoning.
my general disgust in tipping is the way tips are handled by restaurants. A normal waitress is pressured to split her tips with the bartender, busboy, and hostess even if all of those people suck and do an awful job. Therefore, even if my waitress is nice, you are in effect paying for other people and I dont agree with that.
More importantly, I just think 15%-18% is way too much. I am not into food so i dont go to overpriced stupid restaurants but the ones I have been too...i look at what kind of work the waitress did to determine my tip. I dont let arbitrary society rules guide my decisions. I tip what I feel is deserved and I only look at sheer amount of tip not %. There is little additional work involved in brining me a $50 plate vs a $10 plate. On average, I dont tip more than $13-$15 an hour.
but again, i dont like food that much, so i seldom go out to eat. I also eat very healthy so its hard for me to eat out at restaurants.
my general disgust in tipping is the way tips are handled by restaurants. A normal waitress is pressured to split her tips with the bartender, busboy, and hostess even if all of those people suck and do an awful job. Therefore, even if my waitress is nice, you are in effect paying for other people and I dont agree with that.
More importantly, I just think 15%-18% is way too much. I am not into food so i dont go to overpriced stupid restaurants but the ones I have been too...i look at what kind of work the waitress did to determine my tip. I dont let arbitrary society rules guide my decisions. I tip what I feel is deserved and I only look at sheer amount of tip not %. There is little additional work involved in brining me a $50 plate vs a $10 plate. On average, I dont tip more than $13-$15 an hour.
but again, i dont like food that much, so i seldom go out to eat. I also eat very healthy so its hard for me to eat out at restaurants.
Surely with a large group the tip is just included in the bill - that usually works well enough - it certainly doesn't have to be mandatory.
Same here.
That doesn't work so well if you aren't a regular. If the service is poor you give them a low tip or no tip and explain why - that is a very effective way of making sure the service is good.
To be honest I wouldn't have got in a fight with the management about this, I'd have just left.
If you like spirits and they free-pour and you drink at the bar regularly you should definitely tip
.
You just know the owner of the restaurant is ticked off at the negative publicity and how this story has blown up with the internet. $17 is so not worth what has happened. There's a lesson to be learned here.
A post like this and a thread like this requires a link like this.
http://upc.*************/uploads/images_other/MrPink.jpg
Plus the cost for lawyer.
Hundreds per hour.
Whoever called the cops will not be getting a job in the industry again.
i would have walked out even before ordering .... waiting a full hour for ordering, i have better things to do
and for the comment "what service do you expect for 15 bucks/person"
i was in restaurants where as a 15-20 bucks customer i was just as well treated as the customer who ordered that 200 a bottle wine at the next table
and restaurants charging tips automatically ?... idon't know if it's possible here but i would simply boycott them
and for the comment "what service do you expect for 15 bucks/person"
i was in restaurants where as a 15-20 bucks customer i was just as well treated as the customer who ordered that 200 a bottle wine at the next table
and restaurants charging tips automatically ?... idon't know if it's possible here but i would simply boycott them
A mandatory gratuity?
I have seen this thing in high end restaurants in resort areas, not in what appears to have been a moderately priced restaurant.
If I go into a high end restaurant, I know there will be a "forced" tip per se, so I plan accordingly. If it's clearly stated and you walk in and order, you are accepting a contract.
One thing I didn't like was the local bus system had these free trams that were not free. The bus system eventually had to have them be free, as advertised or widely believed. I guess a line or two could have been free and the rest were for a small fee, but this didn't seem to hold up.