Man Arrested After Leaving Small Tip

[Endangered Specie]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=817&e=2&u=/ap/small_tip_arrest

{

LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. - A New York City man accused of leaving an inadequate tip at a restaurant was arrested, fingerprinted and photographed for a mug shot.



Humberto A. Taveras, 41, faces a misdemeanor charge of theft of services after he and his fellow diners argued with Soprano's Italian and American Grill managers over the legality of requiring an 18 percent tip for large parties.

"They chased us down like a bunch of criminals," Taveras said. "It killed our weekend."

Taveras and eight others had pizza at the restaurant Sunday night. He told the Glens Falls Post-Star they weren't completely satisfied with the food and left a tip of under 10 percent. Taveras said they also were not told of a mandatory 18 percent gratuity for parties of six or more and did not see notice of it on their menus.

}

[alittlelark]

1. uh, yeah.....

Glad to see it. If the establishment made a stink it was due to unruly behavior and/or obnoxiousness.

Just Curious - was this $#)&%* a 'pub??

[gonefishing]

2. It's real simple!

If the 18% was on the bill then the guy did a dine and dash. If it wasn't on the bill he should sue the restaurant.

[Spiffarino]

3. I could understand if the guy was a mohel...

Oy!

[JohnnyRingo]

4. I doubt they chased him down 'cause he only left 15%

He probably spit on a quarter and laughingly left that.

Fuck 'im

[Tom Kitten]

5. potential irony here?

what if Humberto is a goombah and the Soprano's finds itself torched?

[LastKnight]

6. if its mandatory, whats the point in tips?

if its supposed to be a reward for good service, but its required, where is the drive for the servers to do anything more than the bear minimum?

maybe im starting to sound a bit like Mr Pink from Reservoir dogs... but thats bullshit, ill tip somone out of curtosey, but a required tip... no thats bs, thats a service charge and if the customer isnt notified its shit.

-LK

[baldguy]

7. You've never worked in a restaurant, have you?

[Surf Cowboy]

8. Obviously not.

[LastKnight]

13. yes, i have. nt

[IronLionZion]

10. That's how servers make their money

it's one of those unwritten rules we have in America. Otherwise food would cost a lot more.

[Endangered Specie]

11. Exactly... I believe they are one of the few who are legally

paid less than half the minumum wage.

I always tip decently (20%), even if they make mistakes or arent the nicest people on the planet, If its just crummy, I may dock to 15%, or if its geniune rudeness or really lousy, 10%, + complaint to management.

[LastKnight]

15. i tip the customary 15 percent . but if a resturant is gonna make it

mandatory... call it what it is, a service charge, not a tip.

if this resturant has the required tip, the serverperson could be rude as hell, spit in the food, swear at the customers, ect. but they will still get the tip. cause its mandatory. see where im comin from here?

so yea, i tip. but they wont get more than 15 percent unless they diserve it, hell ive tipped up to 100 percent. but if they diserve less they are gonna get less, i have no pity to waitpeople who are asses to me.

-LK

[Endangered Specie]

17. Complaining/threatining to not return to management is a better way

to get your point across.

Your attitude might change if you knew/worked as one, customers are usually bigger asses than the servicefolk.

[amazona]

19. tips are mandatory for large parties in decent restaurants

...and for very good reason in my experience.

[JohnKleeb]

14. damn straight

servers are hard workers with family, they are men and women, young and old, black and white, etc, you get the picture. I am a server's son, what can I say :D, I tip high.

[Deja Q]

9. At least the headline didn't read

"Newlywed Man Divorced After Withdrawing Small Tip" :evilgrin:

[LifeDuringWartime]

12. gawd i hate lake george

how the hell can a tip be legally mandated? might as well just increase their salary.

[TXlib]

16. My $0.02

I tip about 20%, including tax if the service leaves me with no complaints.

I'll leave up to 30% for outstanding service (for really small bills, I have left 100%).

If the service is barely adequate, but not quite bad enough to complain about, I'll leave 15%.

If I had to complain about the service, and I have strong reason to believe it was the waiter's fault, I'll leave 8%; that's what the IRS assumes they get, so if you leave less, they had to pay to serve you.

I've never left less than 8%, but I would leave zero if it were warranted. I don't know what that would take, reasonably.

I agree with a restaurant making a 15% tip mandatory on large parties, or even making it mandatory on any check (but please call it a service charge then, not a tip). I disagree with making the mandatory tip greater than 15%.

I have been in a situation where the service was bad, and our party was charged a mandatory 15% tip. Before paying, we called the manager over. We explained what kind of service we received, and asked him if there was any reason we should not hold our server accountable for it, any extenuating circumstances. The manager said there were none, and asked us what tip we thought was fair. We decided on 8%, and he got us a new check reflecting that amount.

As long as the manager is willing to be fair-minded, this is a good system, because it protects waiters from cheapskates, and guarantees that if they get a smaller tip than normal, it's for good cause.

[amazona]

18. everyone knows large parties have to have a tip requirement

Otherwise Baptist church groups would do as they did in the old days, and 25 people would take a waiter's entire afternoon and leave a few coins amounting to less than a dollar.

As a former waiter, I say good on the cops for arresting this deadbeat.