The manager should've just waived the tip considering the circumstances and left it at that, now the whole nation knows Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, PA has crappy service!

What's the common sign you see at many restaurants? "If you had a good experience, tell your friends. If not, tell the manager."

These people should have called the manager over and seen how much of their meal would have been "comped."

That's exactly what I thought, except maybe that the whole nation thinks Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, PA sucks, or Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, PA are a*****es, or Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, PA have bad service...No, on second thought Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, PA has crappy service is exactly what I thought.

I hate the whole mandatory tip thing. It used to be for parties of 10 or more. Now, many places it's down to six. As someone who worked in the bar industry for many years, I tip very well. But if the place has a mandatory tip, that's what they're getting. I think sometimes it excuses poor service, because the wait staff knows it's going to get paid.

The dictionary defines gratuity as something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service. If you want to add a mandatory fee for a party above a certain size call it a group charge, or some such. Don't call it a gratuity, because it isn't.

These customers, however, can enjoy a certain amount of satisfaction in knowing that the bad publicity will cost the Lehigh Pub substantially more than $16.00 in the long run.

I think this is bulls**t:

He would loose more money in comping the food than he would if he just comped the tip...


My family and I went to Lunch last Sunday at Rockfish (those who know the place and compare it to the places I have eaten know that I do not consider this a classy place).

We were a party of 10 people and we got OK service, nothing spectacular, but it was good enough to merit a tip, not the 18% they had already added, which IMO is completely ABUSIVE considering that tip should be AT MAX 15%...

Not only that, but they have THE BALLS to add a line to the receipt that read:

ADDITIONAL TIP: ______________

On top of the 18% already added?

GET BENT!

If it wasn't for my husband I would have refused to leave ANY tip at all considering that the drink I was served had NO ALCOHOL at $7.70 per...

There are three important points here.

1. If it's a mandatory "extra charge" (or gratuity, tip, etc.), and they let you know before you eat, then it's part of the bill. Not paying that means that you're not paying the bill that you are charged for. That is a criminal offense. Whether or not it's right or wrong is up for a different discussion.

2. Some municipalities require a certain tip percentage (though I can't tell you any off the top of my head).

3. Big parties (college students especially) are notorious for staying well past the expected table-turning time. Furthermore, these groups of people are even more notorious for tipping next to nothing on the tab. So not only does the waiter not turn tables because his or her section is just a big party (meaning less money), he or she doesn't even get a decent tip. For example, last week we had a big party of 40 take up three servers' full station. They sat there for three hours (that's about 3 different table-turns..instead they got one). They left a 7% tip on $400 in sales. That's $28. Split between 3 servers, that's barely above $9. After they factor in the tip-out for the bussers and hosts and bartenders, they each made about $6. Now, generally in that amount of time with a three table section (average tip being about $4), those servers could have made about...$36. This is why mandatory gratuity was added to their checks.

I claim the highest tip percentage in my restaurant (about 18% after tip-out of 2.3%), and I still barely make 10-12% on big parties if I'm lucky.

I'm guessing there's more to this story than Ms. Pope says.

EDIT: And Kero, the manager can't comp the tip, because he cannot take income away from the server, he can only comp food.

Ummm... NO! The Manager can comp whatever the hell he wants to comp. It just depends whether he stands by the client or by the staff. In this case since the staff was SO s**tTY with the service, the expectation would be NOT to leave any gratuity... Just if it was a small party of 2-3 people.

The ESTABLISHMENT looses MORE money in comping food than in comping TIPS... Remember, TIPS is an Acronym:

To
Insure
Prompt
Service

We had this talk before. You want TIPS from a big party, then you better bust your ass serving that table the best you can.

Requesting a mandatory gratuity is like buying a used car before inspecting it and making sure it works. You wouldn't buy a used car before making sure it runs correctly, nor should I be expected to pay a mandatory gratuity before I had a chance to be served. That's bogus!

Edit to Add:

You should be glad you don't work at a French Restaurant, you talk about turning tables, those places have 2 servings A NIGHT! with required reservations. If you don't bust your ass there, you go home tipless...

Kero, it's obvious you've never worked in a restaurant business, because of some of your standards and because of this. There are some things that management CANNOT comp. Employee income is part of that. The manager could have comped off $16 in food, but he could not have comped the tip.

Just like at my restaurant (where we don't have auto-grat), we do not comp alcohol. We will comp food, but do not comp alcohol under any circumstances. It's just company policy.

For one, the establishment doesn't lose money by comping tips. The Employee does. That's the difference. Number two, TIPS may have stood for that at some point, but it no longer does. The server has no control over the speed of the food. The only thing he or she can do is make your stay as comfortable as possible.

And I do bust my ass for my big parties..just like I do for every other table I take care of, and it is a rare occasion to get 15%, let alone the 20% that I deserve (I'm a 20% server, as I've explained).

A mandatory gratuity is only so that server actually makes money, because of the notoriety of large parties to leave next to nothing. There's a reason I don't take large parties, and it's not because they're too difficult to handle.

If I was working at a French Restaurant, I wouldn't be complaining about tips, now would I? That 20% would already be included in my paycheck.

How DARE YOU! Make assumptions about me!

I will have you know, that I have worked in the restaurant business, raking in $200-$300 a NIGHT! When I was YOUR AGE! And while I'm at it, let me tell you that if I messed up service-wise, the meal came out of my check... so guess what? I seldom messed up!

It is a fact that in the USA, TIPS are not obligatory and are in fact a reward for prompt service. If I didn't perform to the best of my abilities, then you bet that I wasn't getting a tip.

And it is because I have been a server myself that I am so picky when it comes to service. You mess up and the gratuity gets reduced by 1% for every occurrence.

There is no legal policy that forces restaurants to change a mandatory tip of 15% - 20% for big parties, (btw I agree with you that big parties don't tip much by themselves, usually) Nevertheless, since the mandatory tip is a company policy, at the discretion of the manager of the establishment, it can be comped. He looses money when comping food, but not when comping the tip since it is for the server anyways.

Now in case that the food was god-awful then the manager can negotiate at his discretion to comp the food and not the tip.

EXACTLY my point. The Employee f**ked up, and as such he/she deserves no tip.



In my book, the entire dining experience includes everything, food, presentation, service. In my book, TIPS still stand for that and Prompt Service will be rewarded as such.

Let me be the judge of that...

It's actually a MAX of 15% that servers make at French restaurants, especially in France. But I will double check for you... I have reservations a several of France's finest this holiday season and will let you know... Not to mention my husband IS French and he can vouch for that...

The whole concept of tips is completely foreign to me (literarily).
In the Netherlands, I rarely see any tipping at all. Even so, tips are extra's that a customer should be able to decline, or else it shouldn't be called a tip.

That's the exact opposite of my experience. I've worked as a waiter near the Dutch/Belgian border (Belgian side) in a small tavern on a busy biking path. About 85% of our customers were tourists out for a nice bike tour. 45% of those were Dutch, another 45% Belgian, the rest came from all over te world.

You could see clearly which countries have a tipping culture and which don't. Of those that don't have one (Belgium, Germany, France, The Netherlands, ...), Dutchies were among the best tippers. If service was good, they rewarded it. If it wasn't, there'd be no tip. Belgians on the other hand rarely tipped, except perhaps to impress their girlfriends.

Of course, in the countries that don't have a tipping culture, servers are paid decent wages (in those days I could make up to 100€ a day, some 30% of which would be tips).

What if *gasp* restaurants started paying their staff what they were worth and the gratuity stopped being their income and became an incentive for hard work? I understand that my coming to the restaurant pays the salary of the server but I don't really think it is fair to tell me that I am the best source of income he (or she) has. Not fair to me and (based on the fact that I have to feed my family and have little left after that) not fair to the server.

Afraid that's not so. "Insure" is what you do with your car at Geico. "Ensure" is what you are trying to do when you give a tip. So if it were an acronym, it would have to be TEPS.

Thanks for the correction. In either case a Gratuity is a REWARD for good service. Nothing more, nothing less...

If servers got paid the salary of what they are worth instead of tips, the majority of them would see a huge decrease in their income.




In the end the couple are the ones who broke the law. The menu quite clearly stated that the tip (by whatever name you want to call it) was mandatory and would be added. You can not just pay what you feel the product is worth.

I can guarantee you they were a*****es, rude, and obnoxious about their complaints. If they weren't they would have had the added fee waived.

I seriously doubt that the news story will result in any drop in business at the restaurant.

I agree completely. If the service sucked, they should notify the manager and explain the reason for not tipping.

At least they didn't subtract the tip from the bill.

And maybe the story should have pointed out the REAL reason the couple got arrested, which may have very well been for being rude and obnoxious @ssholes... and not because the didn't pay the tip on a bill.

Not pay the bill? Sure, have them arrested since that is considered stealing from the establishment...

But not paying the GRATUITY (the reward for good service) when there was none? I don't think so...

These guys were at a pub. I don't know about you, but when I head to a pub with my friends it certainly ISN'T with the idea of staying for an hour and then heading home.

Personal Story:

My family and I went to a restaurant in Newport, RI many years ago (Blue Hen - which has since closed down).

We were a party of 8:
6 adults
2 children (1 was a baby)

- We waited 45 minutes for our table (past our reservation time)
- Despite the fact they knew we had a stroller in advance and requested seating on the first floor - they made us walk up the stairs, with stroller, to the third floor
- Service was ATROCIOUS, food took forever, didn't come out correctly
- After sending items back numerous times it was clear the waitress was getting very annoyed with us (I don't think we were being picky - when you ordered chicken breast and you get a hamburger, that's a mistake)

Then it all went downhill from there. My sister asked for a refill of her soda, to which the waitress replied:
"Refills aren't free, just so you know, I'll have to charge you for another one." To which my sister replied, "Your menu says free refills." "No it doesn't," replied the waitress. So my sister asked for the manager, who brought a menu. My sister pointed out, on the menu, 'Free Refills' to which the manager replied, "OH, that's our old menu, I'm sorry, it's not true anymore." My sister said, well these are the menus you brought us before, and just brought again, so refills should be free. HIS response: "Lady, this is not burger king. You don't get free refills."

Needless to say, we asked for the check so we could get the hell out of there (who knew what they did to our food at that point). As the waitress went to get the check, she passed behind my sister and under her breath whispered 'b!tch'. Now, I know we were asking them for a lot, but honestly, I've worked with friends in the restaurant business and none of them thought we were being unreasonable!

The check came, and of course (as quoted on their menu) for parties of 8 or more - 18% gratuity added. However, after that service, and considering we only ordered 5 dishes for 6 adults (and shared with the two kids, one an infant), we did NOT pay the gratuity.

On our way out the manager comes running down the stairs 'stop them stop them they didn't pay their bill!!'. My brother-in-law took over at this point 'We paid our bill. We are not tipping for that service, you must be joking.' After some arguing back and forth - the manager says 'Stay here, I'm calling the police, you didn't pay your bill I don't care what you say!'

While waiting for the police (yep, we waited, because at this point the scene being made was so ridiculous it was just too funny and people were canceling their reservations after watching what was going on), the manager came back out and pointed out a window to us in the restaurant. 'I hope you are happy, you made our waitress cry!'

Now, come on, we honestly never raised our voices. We raised legitimate concerns, and the tip would have been like $10 which we know she would have split with other waitresses. So why was she crying?!?

The police officer came. We and the manager told both sides of the story. To which the police office replied to the manager, 'Why are you wasting my time? These people obviously paid their bill. Gratuity is never required for awful service.'

The manager stormed off. The police officer came over to us laughing and said 'get out of here, you did nothing wrong, have a nice day!' To have arrested us would have been absurd!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.