Joined Jun 2006
Jambi-rific in Seattle!
Forum Thread
Another tipping thread
May 3, 2012 at
07:51 AM
in
News
Furious staff LOCK family inside restaurant for refusing to pay full 17% tip after bad service
A Houston family were locked inside a restaurant and the police were called after they refused to pay the full 17% tip.
That is the amount the restaurant adds to parties of more than five diners, but Mark's complaint was that the staff were rude, their drinks were not refilled and mistakes were made on their orders.
'We asked her, could the gratuity be removed?' said Marks.
'Could we give our own tip?
'I asked the police officer twice, maybe three times, is it against the law if we don't pay the gratuity and he never gave me a straight answer.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2138736/Tipping-optional-Family-locked-restaurant-staff-refusing-pay-gratuity-bad-service.html
A Houston family were locked inside a restaurant and the police were called after they refused to pay the full 17% tip.
That is the amount the restaurant adds to parties of more than five diners, but Mark's complaint was that the staff were rude, their drinks were not refilled and mistakes were made on their orders.
'We asked her, could the gratuity be removed?' said Marks.
'Could we give our own tip?
'I asked the police officer twice, maybe three times, is it against the law if we don't pay the gratuity and he never gave me a straight answer.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2138736/Tipping-optional-Family-locked-restaurant-staff-refusing-pay-gratuity-bad-service.html
129 Comments
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The service charge for large parties is there to protect the servers who rely on tips. If a small party came and tipped horrible on good service then it sucks but won't do much damage to his/her revenue. On the other hand if a party of 20 came in and they all stiffed the waiter/waitress then it makes a huge difference. This is why the government allows restaurants to have these "18% included for parties of..." and so forth.
The customers of this restaurant I can understand if they don't get good service then they would not like to pay the tip but the moment they came in the restaurant and ordered they are abiding by the terms written in the restaurant (and in this case the menu). They read it and agree. It's like a gamble. You bring lots of people in, and if bad service occurs, you're still going to get charged because of the number of people. If the final bill comes out with the charge and you refuse to pay the amount it's no different then if you went shopping at Macy's and the bill came out to xx.xx amount and you refused to pay it all (maybe you were refusing the tax).
Perhaps the service wasn't really good but in the end of the day, someone cooked and brought out food, drinks, napkins, whatever you needed for a large party. They also have to clean up the messes of a mass of people. Simply put, there was work involved. That work whether you deem excellent, good, poor, or horrible, needs to get paid for (because obviously noone works for free). And that's why there is a charge. What you do in a situation like this is, you pay for the service (good or bad) and then if you didn't like the service, go to a different restaurant or ask for a different server. It's not really rocket science here.
Also we don't know the full story (and most likely never will). For one, the customers could of received great service and are lying about it to try to sleeze their way out of paying tip. This happens alot trust me. I've worked in the business 5+ years almost 5 days a week. Believe me there are many people who receive great service and will tip horribly when it comes time to pay. The fact that it wasn't in their control (automatically tacked on) could of been their reason to lie. Another reason could be something happened which we don't fully know such as the waiter being treated poorly by the customers (and yes it's a two way street). For example, perhaps they came in joyfully but started making harmless racial jokes (or what they thought to be funny). Perhaps the server was extra sensitive in this area. Who knows? But in the end the law is you purchase something then you have to pay for it. Whether it's a Gucci purse that cost $200+$40 tax or a night out at the tavern for $200+$40 tip. (sorry the numbers aren't calculated. just an example).
Resturants will tally up the sales for a server and some places will automatically "Assign" tip income based on it. (The servers have to pay taxes on this income, whether they collected it or not).
That's why large parties get the tip automatically added, so the server doesn't get stiffed.
And I wanted to just quote these for the couple of people who popped in saying that they should have paid it
the customer complains about the service and the manager wants to make the customer happy and removes the 18% so the customer can tip on their own accord.
However if the management refuses and the bill comes out let's say $45.82 after tax and gratuity, then that's the final amount. And if you refuse to pay it then it's against the law just as if you hired a plumber to fix your bathroom leak and his final bill was $88.24 after tax, and you refused to pay the exact amount.
the customer complains about the service and the manager wants to make the customer happy and removes the 18% so the customer can tip on their own accord.
However if the management refuses and the bill comes out let's say $45.82 after tax and gratuity, then that's the final amount. And if you refuse to pay it then it's against the law just as if you hired a plumber to fix your bathroom leak and his final bill was $88.24 after tax, and you refused to pay the exact amount.
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In this case, based on the incident that started the whole thing and after reading some of the older reviews on Yelp for LA Fisherman (look at post 13 for one of the reviews), it sounds like they have a really poor management team who don't care if the customers are overcharged or satisfied with the service.
but really it's common sense. take this to court and what do you think the outcome will be? last i saw it said "18% will be included in the check for parties of 6 or more" not "18% will be included in the check for only good services".
I wouldn't ever go there strictly out of principal. 15% is standard, if you don't like it, get a different farking job.
but really it's common sense. take this to court and what do you think the outcome will be? last i saw it said "18% will be included in the check for parties of 6 or more" not "18% will be included in the check for only good services".
the customer complains about the service and the manager wants to make the customer happy and removes the 18% so the customer can tip on their own accord.
However if the management refuses and the bill comes out let's say $45.82 after tax and gratuity, then that's the final amount. And if you refuse to pay it then it's against the law just as if you hired a plumber to fix your bathroom leak and his final bill was $88.24 after tax, and you refused to pay the exact amount.
but really it's common sense. take this to court and what do you think the outcome will be? last i saw it said "18% will be included in the check for parties of 6 or more" not "18% will be included in the check for only good services".
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If you don't want to back up your statement with facts/proof, then we'll just disregard what you say.
New lounge troll, perhaps...?