Family locked in restaurant after refusing to pay tip

Yahoo News ^ | 5/3/2012 | Yahoo news

[Verginius Rufus]

There was a segment on "Fox & Friends" this morning about this story. They said the patrons complained that the service was really poor. Five is an unusually low number for an automatic "gratuity" to kick in.

Of course it could be that these patrons never tip and just claimed that the service was poor. I wasn't there.

This restaurant will probably lose more money from the bad publicity than it they had just let this party leave without paying a tip.

[Ron H.]

How often do you get bad service? I can’t remember the last time we got bad service, twenty years ago perhaps.

Call me old fashioned but I was brought up to believe that one tips ONLY if and when you received service above and beyond the customary level of which the owner/proprietor is already paying the wait staff in the first place for. Never have I believed it was designed for doing what they were already paid to do.

If wait staff is going to be guaranteed a tip no matter the level of service they render then it is not a tip but more of an unjustified ransom by the owner who refuses to pay a livable wage to their hired help in the first place.

[Larry Lucido]

This smells fishy.

[heartwood]

Then I suggest you boycott restaurants that do not pay a living wage - either that or accept the unwritten understanding that a tip is what gives the staff a living wage.

Either way (restaurant pays or you pay directly), you’ll pay more.

[Ron H.]

Sorry pal, I just do not spend my disposable dollars in a restaurant who forgets what courteous service with a smile was all about. Give me service above and beyond what is the norm and I will tip a generous 10 - 25% of my bill as I often do now but let it be MY choice and not some cheapskate owner. Otherwise only expect a couple of pennies on my table afterwards to indicate my level of (dis)satisfaction with a waiters level of service.

I have left tips that equal my meal cost when it was appropriate which is too often. Oh, and I have no problem paying more for a decent meal so that the owner would pay a livable wage in keeping with their skill level to their help. Most every other industry I do business with does it that way so why should a restaurant industry be any different?

[Ron H.]

CORRECTION: ... which is [NOT] too often ...

[5Madman2]

18.16 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows for detention under theft

Because the Gratuity requirement is posted, this constitutes “Theft of Service” under the Penal Code and CCP 18.16 applies.

Would a prosecutor take the case? Probably not. But the action by the place was legal, just kinda stupid.