Arrested for not paying tip????

[ActYourWage]

This is a story of a couple that refused to pay a gratuity tip and were arrested.

College students arrested for not paying tip | Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/19/2009

with video
Students arrested for not paying tip | 6abc.com - 11/20/09 - Philadelphia News - 6abc.com

[mommyof4]

You gotta be kidding me.

[Inkstain82]

They were arrested for not paying the bill, which included an automatic tip and clearly said so in the menu.

If they don't want to agree to eat at a restaurant with those rules, the time to decide that was before they ordered and ate.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Inkstain82

They were arrested for not paying the bill, which included an automatic tip and clearly said so in the menu.

If they don't want to agree to eat at a restaurant with those rules, the time to decide that was before they ordered and ate.

I don't agree. They paid the $73 bill. It was the gratuity they didn't pay.

What they should have done was complained to the manager when the service was lousy. I've done that numerous times, including in situations where there was an automatic gratuity added to the bill because of the size of the party. In every single case, I got them to reduce the tip to what I felt was appropriate. In fact, a few times, I got them to reduce the bill itself.

[Broken Arrow]

Strange state or municiple laws must be at play here, because if this happened in the state I live in, then that would not have happened. Yes, not paying your bill would be considered "defrauding an innkeeper", but gratuities are considered optional....

Then there's the head-scratching part where they were arrested for that. Why? At best, it should only have been an infraction. The details in this story seems sketchy to me, but assuming it's 100% accurate, there had to be more to this.

[Inkstain82]

It clearly said in the menu that a 15% tip *is part of the bill*. By eating there, you've agreed to that.

[Broken Arrow]

Hmm, yeah, I guess if it's clearly written on the menu, then I agree that it's enough to be considered as a "binding contract".

But it still didn't have to end up with arrests. The police could have just ticketed them in these situations.... So, I still think there is more to this.

[Ima saver]

Well, I waitressed for many years. The locals did NOT tip ever. The jails would have been full!! lol Many locals still don't tip.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I'm not a lawyer or anything, but it does seem odd to me that they were arrested, as a criminal matter. If I don't pay a contracted bill to someone for other services, the person with whom I contracted would take me to court. It is a civil matter. If I don't pay the painter who slopped any ol' paint on my interior trim instead of doing the faux oak grain I contracted for, the painter must take me to court to attempt to collect payment. I would tell the judge I did not get the service designated in the contract. If the painter called the police in attempt to collect payment, the police would have nothing to do with it, I'm sure. Service issues are civil matters, not criminal, are they not? Table waiting is a service issue, too. If there is no table service, to whom can one pay a gratuity, anyway? The restaurant or its servers should probably pursue the matter civilly, not criminally. The menu may say a set gratuity charge will be added to the bill, but doesn't that imply that there will be service to be grateful for? If there's no service, the restaurant has nothing to charge a gratuity for. My opinion.

Nonetheless, it would have been better for the customers to address the issue when it happened.

The addition of a set gratuity to a bill does not bother me as long as the customer is informed ahead of ordering.

gratuity legal definition of gratuity. gratuity synonyms by the Free Online Law Dictionary.

"Patrons have, on occasion, brought suit over the practices of service providers of adding gratuity to bills. For example, in Searle v. Wyndham International, Inc., 126 Cal. Rptr. 2d 231 (Cal. App. 2002), patrons of a hotel ordered room service, which included taxes, a seventeen percent service charge, and a room delivery charge. The bill also provided a line whereby the patrons could add gratuity to the bill, even though the service charge was gratuity paid to the server. The patrons sued the hotel, claiming that the practice was deceptive because it did not indicate that the service charge constituted gratuity and that the service charge constituted obligatory gratuity, which the patrons claimed should be voluntary. The court held that the practice was neither deceptive nor fraudulent, holding in favor of the hotel."

[highsavings]

I hate the mentality that people think you must tip. This whole tipping garbage has gone overboard.

Don't get me wrong, I am known to tip 30% when it is ACTUALLY GOOD SERVICE, but if someone is just DOING THEIR JOB, I will tip less than 15%. There are seriously so many waitresses and waiters who just do their job and expect like they deserve a tip, which is garbage.

I hope that restaurant loses customers because of this. That is a bad reputation to have your customers arrested for not paying a tip.

[frito833]

I've worked at restaurants and usually, if you complain to the manager about lousy service, they will give you a discount. But I would have to agree that if it was written on the menu, I would eat the mandatory tip and tell all my friends and family to never eat there again. Bad word of mouth kills businesses.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by frito833

I would have to agree that if it was written on the menu, I would eat the mandatory tip

Nope. If they automatically add the tip but the service is lousy, complain to the manager. Tell him/her about the problems and say that you don't feel an 18% tip is warranted and say how much you actually are willing to tip. They should absolutely adjust it. The tip is voluntary, no matter what it says on the menu.

[lexi_kaye]

Just a thought here - but perhaps it was viewed more as shoplifting (as in not paying for an item - food) instead of as not paying for services? This might explain why/how they were arrested.

I agree- that seems like the service portion - but that might be how they were arrested.