Mandatory tipping?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mandatory tipping?
48
Sun, 09-19-2004 - 1:07am
http://www.wrgb.com/news/local/local_news.asp?selection=article_20754

I couldn't find a better site but the upshod is that this guy was arrested for *theft of services* because he refused to pay the 18% gratuity the restaurant required.

Do you think tipping should be mandatory and included in the bill?

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Avatar for baileyhouse
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 09-19-2004 - 8:21am
Tipping being included in the bill is there to protect the server....I don't know if all patrons are aware that servers make LESS than minimum wage. On average in this area they make less than $3.00 per hour. If a patron receives bad service then they should alert the management. In every case I have ever known about(my DD worked in food service for many years) the manager would usually solve the situation with a credit to the bill. I have known situations where the bill was totaly "forgiven". ALOT of people just don't like to tip, they are cheap. If a person doesn't want to tip then they should eat at McDonalds or stay home an cook for themselves. Mandatoring tipping is a necessary evil.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Sun, 09-19-2004 - 1:02pm

Quote from article: "his policy is to add an 18 percent gratuity for large groups"


Most restaurants add an 18% tip for a large party. I 'do' lunch with a party of 20+ women once a month at various places. It's so much simpler if a set price, with few choices, & a

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-20-2003
Sun, 09-19-2004 - 2:03pm
Tipping being included in the bill is there to protect the server..>>

Tipping being included in the bill is illegal. The judge in this particular case ruled as such. You can not make a tip mandatory. Besides, it's not there to protect the server, if the restaurant owner, wants to protect the server, they should pay them more - not try to mandate tipping.

Edited to provide the following:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/15/nyregion/15tipper.html

A Mandatory Gratuity Is Just a Tip, and Thus Not Mandatory, a Prosecutor Says

By JANE GOTTLIEB

Published: September 15, 2004

As it turns out, a tip is just a tip, even if you put "mandatory" in front of it.

Charges were dropped yesterday against a Long Island man who was arrested last week for failing to leave a required 18 percent gratuity at Soprano's Italian and American Grill in Lake George, N.Y.

The Warren County district attorney, Kathleen B. Hogan, said that she had determined that the man, Humberto A. Taveras, could not be forced to pay a gratuity.

Ms. Hogan said, "A tip or gratuity is discretionary, and that's what the courts have found."

But the dispute over a tip of a few dollars still cost Mr. Taveras, 41, of Roslyn Heights, several hundred dollars in legal fees.

"Basically, they stated that you can't enforce a gratuity; it's voluntary," said Mr. Taveras, who was on a train going home from Manhattan yesterday evening while his lawyer completed paperwork in Lake George, 60 miles north of Albany.

On Sept. 5, Mr. Taveras and his party, which included his wife, Marie, another couple, and the five children of both couples, were charged $77.43 for their meal, and an additional $13.73 for a tip.

Joe and Tina Soprano, the restaurant's owners, said the party of nine had not paid any part of the 18 percent gratuity required of all groups of six or more. Mr. Taveras said he had left a 10 percent tip.

The Sopranos summoned the police, and soon Mr. Taveras was arrested and charged with theft of services.

Mr. Taveras said he had seen no notice of the tipping policy on the menu, although Mr. Soprano said it was included on all menus. But Mr. Taveras said that the group had decided the food was not particularly good, and so did not pay the 18 percent.

Mr. Taveras was taken away in a police car, fingerprinted, subjected to national publicity. He said he eventually paid his lawyer a few hundred dollars to pursue the matter.

Mr. Taveras said he was not sorry. "I didn't like that my children had to hear, 'Your dad walked out on a bill,' and stuff like that," Mr. Taveras said.

Several telephone calls to the Sopranos' restaurant yesterday were not answered.

Mr. Taveras has dined at several restaurants since the arrest, and, he said, he has left some good tips.




Edited 9/19/2004 2:04 pm ET ET by imahockeymom

Avatar for baileyhouse
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 09-19-2004 - 8:14pm
The OP asked what people thought of mandatory tipping. I gave the reason I felt it was necessary....This story does not explain why the person would not tip properly. Did he receive bad service or is he just cheap. Without the answer I cannot reply to this particular story. If a person does not want to tip properly than they should not use the service that is offered by restaruants, eat fast food and wait on yourself.

Edited 9/19/2004 8:20 pm ET ET by baileyhouse


Edited 9/19/2004 8:20 pm ET ET by baileyhouse

Avatar for tmcgoughy
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-2003
Mon, 09-20-2004 - 11:42am

Tipping is one of those topics that really annoy me.

The first key to wisdom is constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.  -
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Mon, 09-20-2004 - 12:07pm

I agree.


Avatar for baileyhouse
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 09-20-2004 - 12:17pm
>>I feel no pity that they are working for $3.00 an hour. That's the job they chose and I have no obligation to make sure they are compensated properly, their boss does.<<

Do you understand how food service works??? They get under minimum wage BECAUSE of tipping...I have seen food servers work their A$$es off on a large groups and get little or nothing for it. Some people think Waiters/Waitresses or their PERSONAL servents for the time they are in an establisment and that they owe this person NOTHING for the hard work they do. As I said before IF you get poor service at an establisment report it to management, otherwise and rightfully so you apperar cheap...As for as being the job they chose well I guess we should just do away with this part of the middle/lower middle class also..On a personal note, your response to this subject surprised me.

Avatar for baileyhouse
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 09-20-2004 - 12:22pm
>>One of my SILs worked her way through college (and a Master's degree) by waiting tables. She was a very good & efficient waitress - and was able to work her way up to one of the nicest restaurants in our area. She made sure that she EARNED her tips by providing quality service. I also talked to my neighbors yesterday - both of whom worked in upscale local restaurants, and both said the same thing - tips are earned, not required.<<<

Are you saying they ALWAYS got the tip they earned??? I find it hard to believe that they NEVER got stiffed.





iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Mon, 09-20-2004 - 1:50pm

Are you saying they ALWAYS got the tip they earned??? I find it hard to believe that they NEVER got stiffed.


Of course not...but that goes with the job and that's what they said.


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 09-20-2004 - 11:38pm
You know, in lots of ways your country sucks. (Sorry to be so blunt but this topic makes me mad). You have this whole underbelly of society trying to survive on less than subsistence wages, who know that their employers can pay them next to nothing because there is always someone else desperate enough to queue up for these slave wages, and because of the absurd tipping culture. It totally sucks.

Your worker protection is not much better than a third world country where people have to sit and stitch Nike shoes for $1.80 an hour.


Ever heard of a minimum wage ??!!!

Octagonal

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