What I want to know is who says you have to pay a tip? Its not my fault that restuarants don't pay their employees enough. They should be required to pay them like everyone else. If I go to Lowe's I don't live an 18% tip or whatever I shouldn't have to at a restuarant either.


Patrons claim service was so bad, they had to get napkins and silverware for themselves
By DAVID CHANG
Updated 12:20 PM EST, Thu, Nov 19, 2009

If you’re frustrated by poor service at a restaurant, think twice before you decide to not tip. You may be in for a bit more than just a dirty look from the waiter.

"Nobody, nobody wants to be forced to pay a tip or be arrested for terrible service," Leslie Pope said when her happy hour ended in handcuffs.

Pope and John Wagner were hauled away by police and charged with theft for not paying the mandatory 18 percent gratuity totaling $16 after eating at the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, Pa. with six friends.

Pope claimed that they had to wait nearly an hour for their order and that she had to get napkins and silverware for the table herself.

“At this point I became very annoyed because I had already gone up to the bar myself to have my soda refilled because the waitress never came back,” Pope said.

After the $73 bill came, the group paid for food, drinks, and tax but refused to pay the tip. After explaining the bad service to the bartender in charge, Pope claimed he took their money and called police. The couple was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car.

“I understand that, you know, we didn’t pay the gratuity, but it was a gratuity, it wasn’t something that was required,” said Wagner.

The owner admitted that the group waited unusually long for their food, but said the pub was extremely busy that night. He said managers offered to comp the food, a claim the couple denies ever happened.

“Obviously we would have liked for the patron and the establishment to have worked this out without getting the police involved,” said Deputy Police Commissioner Stuart Bedics.

Police charged them with theft since the gratuity was part of the actual bill. However, it is doubtful that the charges will hold up in front of a judge. The couple is scheduled to appear in court next month

Gratuity--" a gift or reward for services rendered"

Sounds like they got arrested because they refused to give a gift for bad service? Hope they sue the bar and the city.

I wish I was them, I'd get a helluva lot more than a free meal before my lawyer was through with this fiasco.

Personally the "added gratuity", typically specified for larger groups of 6 or more down here in the South, really pisses me off and I prefer not to go to places that have that policy. That said, it almost always saves me money, since I rarely tip as low as their percentages and IF the gratuitiy is added I almost NEVER go above it, unless the service was truly exceptional.

I believe if a person leaves a tip at all it should be based on quality of services recieved.

I believe if I want to leave 5%, 10%, 25% or no tip at all that is up to me and im not aware of any laws that say I have to leave a tip period; especially for horrendous service.

I ate in cracker barrel the other day and it wasn't all that busy but it took a very long time to get our food. The waitress said one of their cooks didn't come in that day. I didn't ask why. In that case I know it is not the waitress's fault. She did a good job with the drinks etc. so I still tipped the same.

quote:

...I'm not aware of any laws that say I have to leave a tip period; especially for horrendous service.

You have just given our beloved government an avenue to help offset the staggering costs of nazional healhscare. We will be forced, upon pain of imprisonment, to tip the doctors and various staff when we go in for our top-notch, never-a-wait healthscare. I can see it coming our way in an amendment that will be added to the bill at some future date once it becomes law...

Why did they remain there and wait for the cops? They were detained by the authority of a bartender and restaurant mangr.?

I'd say the real management of that establishment, aka the owner, should fire that manager and the waitress and bartender. Then send these people a handwritten letter of apology telling them what he's done to rectify the situation along with a rather large gift card to the restaurant. At least that is how I choose to run my business.

I wonder if that mgr was an MBA. Those kids are about worthless. A friends wife manages a Starbucks and is absolutely convinced that what they sell is coffee. She doesn't understand that no cup of coffee is worth $5. This rest. mgr. probably thinks that the rest. sells food. When hired, they should have it explained in no uncertain terms that what they are really selling is a feeling and an experience provided through service. Problem solved.

quote:

Originally posted by homebrewer:

quote:

...I'm not aware of any laws that say I have to leave a tip period; especially for horrendous service.

You have just given our beloved government an avenue to help offset the staggering costs of nazional healhscare. We will be forced, upon pain of imprisonment, to tip the doctors and various staff when we go in for our top-notch, never-a-wait healthscare. I can see it coming our way in an amendment that will be added to the bill at some future date once it becomes law...

Hey Dumbass- keep it in the poli forum.

Why did the police arrest them??

Why did the police arrest them??

quote:

Pope and John Wagner were hauled away by police and charged with theft for not paying the mandatory 18 percent gratuity totaling $16 after eating at the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, Pa. with six friends.

quote:

Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, Pa.

more on this:
the charges dropped:
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com...ouple--71865807.html

The restaurant will wish they'd comped them and given them a bottle of wine to take home before it's over. If nothing else, the negative publicity has cost them dearly IMO.

Amen!

I would have also fired the idiot pub lawyer.