I'm not saying anything new here. It's not easy, but you have to balance out the fact that if you run enough of the tightfists away, you'll have to get rid of one of your girls to make up that difference.
Keep walking that wire.... 
Posted on 11/10/2004 12:29:27 PM PST by billorites
A $2 tip on a $77 restaurant bill may be cheap, but it isn’t criminal. So says a New York state district attorney, who declined to press charges against a man who refused to leave a restaurant’s required gratuity of 18 percent for large parties.
Humberto A. Taveras’ arrest on Sept. 5 came under New York’s theft of services law, which carries misdemeanor charges. With a party of eight, the Long Island man dined at Soprano’s Italian and American Grill, a Lake George, N.Y., restaurant that applied the tip policy to parties of six or more.
(Ironically, The Sopranos, HBO’s television series, had a recent episode involving a dispute over a gratuity for a large party of mobsters. That dispute ended in the macabre, with the waiter being killed in the argument.)
Ultimately, the case boiled down to language. Soprano’s restaurant described the policy on its menu as a "gratuity," which by definition means "discretion," says Kathleen B. Hogan, the district attorney of Warren County, who ultimately decided to drop charges against Taveras.
She mentions a Southern District of Indiana ruling in which a judge found that a tip or gratuity was strictly within the customer’s discretion and payment could not be forced. U.S. v. Indianapolis Athletic Club, IP90-1783C.
Had the service been written as a surcharge rather than a gratuity, Hogan probably would have prosecuted the case.
"It really did turn on the word," she says, adding that under restaurant policy, the tip should have been nearly $14. "It’s not like they didn’t leave any tip. They just left a smaller tip than you would want."
That’s for sure, say attorneys who represent the restaurant industry. On average, those interviewed for this article say they tip at least 20 percent.
"The whole reason so many restaurants do have notice is because this historically is a problem," says R. Rogge Dunn, a Dallas lawyer and former pizza restaurant assistant manager. "You get a large group that splits the tab, and some people are chintzy on the amount they’re going to leave."
Al DeNapoli, a Boston lawyer who represents the hospitality industry, says this is the first time he’s heard of someone being arrested for poor tipping.
"I’m surprised it was pushed this far, but there are people who are bad tippers all the time," he says. "Whether this is the case here, I don’t know."
Hogan says Taveras was unhappy with the service and said it did not warrant an 18 percent tip.
DeNapoli, who waited tables as a law student, says that not tipping, even when service is bad, may not be the best solution for disgruntled diners. Servers’ salaries depend on tips, he says, and they often share the money with busboys and dishwashers. Instead, DeNapoli advises you to speak with management about the situation or to "talk with your feet" and stop patronizing the restaurant.
Having someone arrested for poor tipping may also not be the best solution, even if it’s a fantasy scenario of many servers.
"You might have a decent civil suit against them, but whatever you would win in that case would be far outweighed by the adverse publicity," Dunn says. "My advice would be to look at the bottom line, and let it go."
Lake George is a resort town, and according to Hogan—herself a former waitress who always tips 20 percent—the publicity they’ve received from the incident concerns many restaurant owners there. Some of them, she says, changed their language from "mandatory gratuity" to "service charge" on large party bills.
"They want to make sure their employees are getting compensation," Hogan adds, "and make sure they’re following what obviously is the law in a federal case."
I usually tip 10% for "curbside service" from a restaurant like Carrabbas, Chilis or Outback. The person who gets your order together in the kitchen and bags it up is usually a server. They've taken time away from his/her other tables to make sure your order is correct and bagged properly.
Of course, that brings up the question of what do you do when you get home and find out your order is screwed up?
One problem they have, we are a small neigborhood bar, is that after a while all the regulars get to know all the girls and think of them as friends not bartenders and tips slow down. But on the bright side new poeple come in all the time and they tend to tip good.
Those girls aren't stupid! Any night I would have gone home with only 10% in my pocket would have been the last time I waitressed.
Don't let anyone fool you, it's very hard work but if you're good you make very good money!
Well Marines get a free drink at my bar today and I am a Marine so I think it is time for my free drink. By the way the bars web site is
here check it out. Connection is dailup so loading a page kinda slow.
I'm not saying anything new here. It's not easy, but you have to balance out the fact that if you run enough of the tightfists away, you'll have to get rid of one of your girls to make up that difference.
Keep walking that wire....
A "mandatory tip" is an oxymoron akin to the "mandatory voluntary community service" the so-called progressive educational establishment wants to foist upon high schoolers as a graduation requirement. It's double-talk.
I'm 48, so can appreciate the point of view with your workers. I was always one who viewed the people I worked with as family, whether some of them liked it or not. But that's how it is - you're with them at least a third of every day, and it's y'all against the world, business wise, (and sometimes customer wise).
Hang in there....
Ok, take a pay cut to 2 bucks an hour and I will tip you.
I never got that "required tip" thing.
Tipping is inherently voluntary!
I remember my days working in gas stations (full serve). The amount would be $19.90, the person would give a $20.00 bill and wait while the attended returned the $0.10.
When I became a gasoline customer instead of working there, I would split the amount I tipped. The waitress would get less and the gas attendant would get a tip.
If you want to leave more, you leave maybe 5%, il resto, plus or minus, when you leave the restaurant.
I can live with that.
There has to be some minimum, otherwise your large party MAY impact the server's ability to service other tables.
I don't have a problem with it, as long as they mention it when delivering the bill.
Ahh! So you've waited on me! ;->
"Tell that to the single moms in my restaurant who barely make ends meet."
Maybe you should raise your prices and their paychecks by 20% ?
I like your point. My husband delivers packages to your businesses and your homes. He runs until his shoes are worn through. Tip? He's happy when he gets a soda or an ice cream for a tip. Where's the Fed Ex guy's tip? One summer day a Fed Ex guy (not my husband) dropped off a package and looked amazed that I gave him a bottle of water.
For the record, I usually tip 15 - 30% depending on the server(s). :-)
That's the deal in Europe. It's a line on the bill called service and is typically 10-15%.
If you're a happy camper, you leave some change on the table in addition.
Since when is six people a large party? I'm the oldest of four children, so a simple family night out would constitute a large party?
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