Restaurant customer arrested for crime of undertipping
 

From the article:
This raises interesting questions.... are gratuities, even when automatically added to the the bill, enforceable? I consider the gratuity to be my means of providing feedback to the food establishment, and I tend to over-tip as a habit. But when I recieve blatantly shitty service and/or shitty food, I'm going to tip less. I'd be furious if I was treated badly but still legally bound to tip as much as the restaurant asked, especially at 18%.

I know that a lot of (ex-)waiters/waitresses will pipe up and convey their deep-seeded resentment for difficult customers, under-tippers, and the like. But are those problems serious enough to legally bind the rest of the country to a certain gratuity amount, even when the service is bad? If tipping isn't optional, why isn't that extra money just added to the food prices, and we can discard the whole notion of tipping?

If it's mentioned on the menu, then it's enforceable. To get around it, order separate checks.

Well, the question of it's enforcability hasn't really been tested in court, so your presupposition may or may not pan out. The court will have to answer the question of whether gratuities should be enforcable. By definition, gratuity is "A favor or gift, usually in the form of money, given in return for service." "Favor" and "gift" are both voluntary. I'm interested to see how it turns out, though finding out may prove difficult since media sources rarely follow up on stories such as this.

If a customer is required to pay gratuity, it should really be called a "service charge," or something equally indicative of it's mandatory status.

i was a bartender so from my experiences there i remain an over tipper. that being said, when the service or food is truly unsatisfactory i ask for the manager and explain the situation. i have found that to be the best way to take care of things, because if you just leave little or no tip they think you are just another cheap customer. if you bring a problem to their attention they will usually try to make it right.

that being said, i recently (about 3 months ago) went to a higher end seafood restaurant with my wife and some of her coworkers. my wife's lobster came out gray the first time. they obviously threw the second one on the grill to make a point. and the third one didn't come until everyone else was finished eating and we were getting ready to leave. the manager never approached us until after the waitress handed me a bill with a full charge for the lobster and i explained that i wasn't going to pay for food we never received. the asst. manager intervened and stated that we were lucky because we were only being billed for one lobster. i laughed at him and put the appropriate amount of cash for what we did receive in his hand and started to walk away. he actually yelled from across the restaurant that he was going to call the police because i was walking out on my bill. me being the even tempered guy that i am (and having a couple of beverages in me) walked back and explained to him that if i was going to get arrested it would be for something worthwhile... such as leaving him in a puddle of blood. of course, i would never do something like that but the guy's jaw hit the floor and right about that time his boss walked up, took my money out of the asst manager's hand, handed it to me along with 2 gift certificates and told me to have a better evening and "come back real soon."
then it was my turn to be completely shocked. he fired the asst manager on the spot.

other than this extremely bizarre instance, talking to the manager works better than just leaving little or no tip.

Good point... not to mention an entertaining story. Myself, I rarely resort to undertipping for poor service. In point of fact, I can't remember even one instance of undertipping, though I may have just forgotten. I have never had such apalling service that I deemed it necessary. When service is poor, I just tip the minimum 15%.

It's more of the principle of the thing... if I were to be subjected to abrasive, disagreeable service, I'd like to know that I'm not legally obligated to pay the full gratuity. The word "gratuity" shares it's root with "gratitude," so it logically follows that the gratuity should parallel the customer's gratitude for service rendered.

In my own restauranting, on the few occasions where the service has been notably lacking, I have informed the managers of the problems, to varying success. Sadly, most of the time the response is something as rewarding as "sorry for the inconvenience." I think they just get too much noise from whiny customers to discern the legitimate complaints.

True. It would depend on how it is phrased on the menu. If the word "mandatory" is mentioned, bad for the customer; if the phrase "for your convenience" is mentioned, bad for the restaurant. If both, bad for the menu author.

With people jumping the obviously sinking ship that was my previous employer, we ended up having large group "goodbye lunches" almost every week for the last few months. At several restaurants, the waitstaff did something interesting: there were always several credit cards, sometimes up to 15 or more. So people would just write down on a slip of paper how much they wanted their card to be charged, and added it to the stack. When the receipts came back, they would have been automatically split into "dollar amount" and "tip amount"--that is, if I wrote down $12 next to my name, my card receipt would actually show $10.68, and then $1.32 pre-printed on the tip line. (Or something close, I'm too lazy to do the math right now.) It's only just now occurred to me that maybe they did this to account for the "required" gratuity in their paperwork.

I was a little confused by the story. Didn't they put the charge on the bill? If not, then the defense that the customers didn't see the notice would hold up. Add in the fact that some people just can't do math.

We would sometimes have work lunches at a local restaurant. We always made it a point to leave %18-20. After this had gone on a few times, I noticed an odd itemized charge marked 'E.P.T' or something like that. I finally figured out that this was the gratuity already added to the bill. We had been tipping over %36.

BTW, if restaurants can charge 'theft of services' for not being adequately tipped, then they should be liable for fraud if they charge for poor service.

Or any company you exchange money for goods/services with that advertises friendly service and you end up with the Surly Employee of the Day. Frivolous suits...but they fit.

A few years ago we went to Planet Hollywood with a group of friends (6). The food and service were fine and when the bill arrived, a 18% auto-gratuity was applied. In addition, a blank tip line rested just above the final total line. I drew a line through the blank line, believing it already totaled, and signed the bill. The waitress saw the blank tip line and blew her stack. The manger came to the table and asked if anything was wrong and why I was failing to leave the waitress a tip. I explained that I believed the auto-gratuity covered my gratitude as tip. He stated the 18% was for the restaurant and the secondary tip was for the waitress. The bill before the auto-gratuity was over $120.

I was dumbfounded.

I understand that people in the service industry are paid terribly at times, but we now consider tipping our responsibility. It's no longer considered a gift but an obligation to subsidize the wage shortcomings of the restaurant owners.

I tip when its earned as a personal gift of gratitude... not because I should cover the restaurant's poor salary plan.

The 18% was a tip for the restaurant itself?? That's the first time I've ever heard of that. I always thought that 18% went into a Tip Pool of some sort and was distributed among the waitstaff. Bollocks to that. That sounds a bit like racketeering to me, if they're going to apply an automatic 18% tip on your total just for having a high total. That doesn't give the customer any choice.

An arrest for "theft of services" for undertipping indicates the cops are dirty and in cahoots with the restauranteur.

One of my coworkers got charged extra by a restaurant ... which claims that the charge was "automatically added" by VISA, not by the restaurant. She had used a VISA check card to pay for a meal, and $25 surcharge of some variety or another was added onto the card. She HAD signed for a decent tip amount, incidentally. She keeps on top of the bank balance (consequent to a husband who makes ATM withdrawals without providing her the receipts) and saw the different amount and immediately contacted the restaurant. They checked the receipts for the evening and confirmed that the card was put through for the amount shown on the receipt she had in hand. The restaurant owner told her that it was VISA that initiated the additional charges.

Sounds fishy to me.

It *is* fishy. I worked for a credit card company, and VISA as a company does not charge customers for ANYTHING. The issuer of the card (Citibank/BofA/Household/whoever) may have applied a charge, but she can dispute that IN WRITING with them if they failed to disclose that fee.

I hate the whole culture of tipping. Why should any employee's wages be dependent upon the kindness of strangers?

I've worked as a waitress, a bank teller, a store clerk, a supermarket cashier and several other service positions. I always tried to give good service in spite of low wages, yet I was only given tips in one of these positions. Why?

I think tipping is a hold over from an old world aristocracy /servant class culture. It survives because restaurant owners like having the customer pay his employees for him, as well as paying for his goods, and the customers don't want to seem cheap. What other business owners get away with this? We don't go to Pennys, buy a shirt and then give the clerk 18% of the cost to pay his wage. I think it's time to phase it out.

Why does the pizza delivery guy get a tip, but not the UPS guy? How about cabbies? If you are just riding around town without luggage, what do they do that deserves a tip?

I'm generally a good tipper, but I've been in situations where I found out afterwards by horrified family members/friends that I should have tipped someone, but didn't. Once, some guys came and set up a tent in my backyard for a big party we were having. Apparently I was supposed to tip them, but didn't. Oh well, now they think I'm a jerk. I learned my lesson, and then tipped the guys from the nursery who planted a tree we bought. But I didn't tip the other guys who trimmed a tree with a bunch of very high dead branches. I don't think I was supposed to.

It's all so freaking arbitrary. Who starts these customs?

Because tips are not your wages. They are a gift over and above your wages. You are not entitled to be tipped. Your wages are what you agreed to be paid by the restaurant and nothing more. The word TIP is several hundred years old and comes from an acronym To Insure Promptness. It's an incentive for people in certain jobs to perform well but is by no means guaranteed.

I've worked as a casino dealer and as a bartender. I've had to live on my tips and I tip well when the service is good. But I don't hesitate to speak or to vote with my dollars. If someone gives me poor service I leave a poor tip or no tip and I let them know exactly why.

Because it is only customary in certain situations. Bank tellers, store clerks, and supermarket cashiers generally make more money on their salary so people don't feel that tipping is appropriate. A gift is a gift, and you're not entitled to it. It's not a matter of "aristocracy", it's a matter of courtesy. It's a matter of rewarding those who perform well and not rewarding those who don't. In this way they determine their own income. Nothing could be more fair.

The only problem I had with tipping is the general communist nature of the Casinos. I would work my ass off, remember people's names and their action, I'd help them out if they forgot to press bets, joke with them, and help them to have a very enjoyable experience. I'd sometimes collect a thousand dollars in tips in a night. In the meantime they'd have cold, stone-faced, burnout dealers who were rude and unfriendly to customers (my ex-wife is still one). They'd collect all the tips and divide them equally with all the dealers (except those counting who got an extra share and the high-roller dealers who didn't have to share). I would come in the next day and pick up a $120 tip envelope. I was paying for thier houses, cars, the braces on thier kids faces, etc. I was being punished for being successful and industrious and they were being rewarded for being lazy and inept.

This is a large part of why I'm out of that business.

oops, already debunked.

I think it would be much better if waiters received a set salary that they could count on and not have to rely on voluntary gifts. It is not always fair because the customers don't always know the full circumstances. For example you have assumed that I earned more as a bank teller than as a waitress when, in fact, I was paid the same minimum wage for all the jobs I named. If it's merely a reward for good performance, why don't you reward the store clerk who performs well? If it's a courtesy, why don't you extend the same courtesy to the sales clerk?

I know waiters who are paid below minimum wage. Sounds sad, until you find out that they work in an upscale restaurant where they often come home with three hundred dollars in cash for one nights work.

I agree with you that tipping is largely a matter of custom, but I think that if the custom changed we would all be better off. Customers wouldn't have the awkward decisions of who and how much to tip and the worker would have a reliable, predictable income.

You've got one website and I've got another specifically about tipping. But even if the acronym is a new one, it's still applies. Tips are VOLUNTARY rewards for prompt and courteous service.

I made no such assumption. I said that they are generally paid more than waitresses which is true. I worked for bank of America for years and tellers make roughly $10-$15/hr to start depending on experience.

I made minimum wage as a casino dealer too. Actually, sometimes I didn't get paid or even owe them money. They report all of your tips to the IRS and take the taxes out of your minimum wage paychecks. If you make really good tips, you won't get a check at all.

I personally prefer the tipping system. As a customer, I like knowing that if someone gives me bad service I have some form of recourse that will hurt them in the wallet. Why should someone who gives bad customer service be paid the same as someone who gives great service? As a worker I also like tips, but I don't like splitting them. I'm perfectly happy keeping what I earn for myself whether it's more or less.

i worked as a bartender and loved living on tips. it took me 3 years after college to get back to the same income level in salary jobs. the only bad thing was that the state thought they weren't getting their share, so the computer/register were set up to assume that 10-12% of every item you rang up was received as a tip and would report on you w2. even if the jackass ran up a $200 tab and left you a $5 tip.

it still worked out ok. we generally received at least a $1/drink tip. if someone left "small change" on the floor we would sweep it off on the floor and leave it for the cleaning crew. they loved us and the customers got the point.

I believe that it is common practice at most places nowadays, including restaurants, to put all of the employee's tips in a pot which is split evenly at the end of the night, much like your casino (a form of communism!). But that breaks the tipping system altogether... the size of an customer's tip has little impact on the amount of money the employee takes home, because it is absorbed by the pool. So shitty employees and good ones are paid alike.

Not to mention the question of circumstances... maybe the waiter/waitress is working their ass off to help you, but the cook is a shithead and screwed up the food, and had to make it again, causing a long delay. The waiter/waitress gets dinged on the tip, the cook gets his regular pay, and the restaurant owner never even notices.

I think that tipping is a broken system, especially when it gets pooled, but I don't think it's going away... it's much too entrenched in our culture.

Having just finished a 13 hour wokday that sent me home with $50 in tips (actually not a bad day for a busser, with the $2.83/hr I get, it works out to over $6.67/hr), and having been a busser at 3 different restaurants (2 of which I made less than the regular minimum wage, to account for tips), I feel qualified to talk about tipping culture. Working for tips is pretty much crap for both the server and the customer. As a server, you bust your ass for the most part, and you still get people ordering what we have lovingly dubbed "The Jewish Martini" (water, 2 lemon wedges, 3 packets of sugar), people trying to get Early Bird Specials an hour after the special ends, and people trying to make substitutions on specials ("Instead of the cauliflower, I'll have the African rock lobster."). I'm all for stretching the dollar as far as it will go, but these are the people who will run you around like a medieval serving wench, then consider 10% a gift. Don't get me started on tip-sharing. In a perfect world, everyone would do everything they could to upsell and give the best possible service. Also, I'd be twenty pounds lighter and nailing Lindsey Lohan. In the real world, if you are a good server, you end up leaving with, maybe, half of what you actually earned. It's a system that rewards laziness and calls it 'fairness'. As a customer, tipping is crap, because instead of rewarding good service by giving the server a little extra money, you feel obligated to tip and (if you've ever been in food service) tip heavy because, instead of it being a bonus, the server is counting on your tips to pay their bills. The only person who wins is The Boss, who can get away with paying his waitstaff a pittance of less than $3/hour for a very demanding job (if you don't think waiting tables is hard, you need to pull double-shifts on both Friday and Saturday, at a fairly popular restaurant, then get back to me), and never has to really crack the whip, because poor service punishes itself (unless you share tips, that is). That being said, here are my personal rules for tipping:

1) $5 or 20%, whichever is more. Being the type of guy who frequents King's & Denny's, my bill is often less than $10. A generous tip would be about $2, for occupying (as I often do), at least 1-2 hours of this server's time. I think that a tip of at least $5 is well within my budget, but still generous enough that I'm not a complete prick.

2) Recognize things that are not the server's fault. If your steak is overcooked, and you have to wait some time after you send it back before you get another, this is not bad service. This is a bad chef. Tip as you normally would, and leave a small note for the manager explaining how the chef fucked up. If managers get enough of these notes, you will see a lot fewer poor cooks in foodservice.

3) Poor service should not be rewarded. If the service is geuinely bad (you are left waiting for some time before your order is even taken, the server is an asshole, etc), do tip less than you normally would. However, do also either talk to the server or leave them a note explaining why you're upset.

4) Sidetip bussers. We love it. We know where the beer and/or good tables are, we know which specials are genuine, and which are "We either to sell this today or throw it out tomorrow" specials, and we will help you out if you help us out. It is shameless, I know, but I have student loans to think about.

The pity about tipping is that it's *way* to ingrained into our culture. If it really were just a little something extra in exchange for above-average service, the servers would be motivated to try to get that extra few dollars per table, but they wouldn't be so dependent on the tips as to make waiting tables almost not worth the money, and the customers wouldn't feel obligated to tip, simply because of the low hourly wage servers get.

Damn, if it took me that long to get a meal at Denny's, I wouldn't go back. :eek:

The meal is usually over within a half hour...it's the coffee and the bullshitting that goes on until dawn.

You Yanks have created a real problem for us down here, with your blasted "tipping". :p We (Aussies), have a system where the restaurant, and bar staff are paid a reasonable wage (not great money, but OK), and any tips they receive are truly a gratuity. The staff do not (in theory), have to rely on tips. Forty years ago it was almost unheard of to leave a tip, except in very upmarket restaurants, but now it is almost expected of you, even if you are just buying a cappuccino and a muffin in a café. The staff's wages have continued to increase with inflation, but now we have the tips on top of it.

If it was dinner (evening meal), I will usually leave a small tip to round off the amount to the nearest $10, but anything more would only be justified by outstanding service and food quality. If I have been in a café for lunch, I usually don't tip at all.

As far as I know, tipping is pretty much restricted to the food and entertainment industries. If you get a guy in to prune your trees, you pay his bill only, and would not even think of tipping. The same goes for the carpet cleaner, your mechanic, just about anything else.

I have often wondered how much of the tips the staff actually see at the end of their shift. People just automatically pay a tip, and assume that their waiter/waitress will receive it. I guess that any restaurant that tries to pocket the tips will eventually never be able to hire decent staff, so it is probably OK.

Ah ha, so you're actually paying rent on the booth. :D

I am offended by the recent appearance of tip jars/cups at what are essentially fast food restaurants.

If you're not coming to me, asking me what I want, and then carrying it to my table, you ain't getting no fucking 15% ...

McDonald's has recently started adding the "tip" line to credit card receipts. What the fuck? Who does this (imaginary) money go to? I just mark a slash through it and go on my merry way. But I worked there in high school, and when I'm tempted to write "Get out before they fuck you some more" I speak form experience.

Think of it as paying them not to have sex with your food. :lol:

I find it frightening that there is such a thing as a "McDonalds Credit Card Receipt."

I saw a cardswipe machine in a KFC a couple months ago. In addition to VISA, MasterCard, AMEX, and major ATM brands, it took PA-ACCESS*. I found that frightening.

* Pennsylvania's Electronic Food Stamp Card.

The Quiznos that I slave at takes credit cards too. Sometimes for good reason; there are people who come in and buy four or five sandwiches at a time. That can bring a pretty hefty price tag. Others prefer to use plastic to avoid carrying money or paying a fee at the ATM (I cash my paycheck, then deposit what I don't need in cash in my checking acct, where it is immediately siphoned off by bills). Don't get me started on party platters either.

God, let this school go faster! I want my CDL! Dammit! NOW!

OTOH, I could live in Montana, where there is all of FOUR HOURS of training required to pass the CDL test, license included, and a road test not worthy of the name. SHUDDER

I almost never carry cash. I have direct deposit, and ATM fees piss me off. Besides, the only place I've gone in recent years that doesn't take credit cards is Chick-fil-a... so I just don't go there anymore. :)

I have direct deposit too ... but it's still nobody's damn business what I'm buying. Will my extremely rare fast food purchases come back to haunt me some day? Probably not, but I'm still not comfortable with documentation being available.

Oh, and always pay cash for ammo.

How long are those databases kept, I wonder? Does the "seven years for tax purposes" apply to corporations too? I mean, do they have a record somewhere of what store my first credit card purchase ever was in?

A while back (probably around 2000), just for shits and giggles, I asked the Science Fiction Book Club for a complete printout of all my purchases.

It was a huge sheaf of paper ... and went back to 1982. I had joined in 1978 or 79.