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Saturday, May 05, 2012

This Group Didn’t Want to Pay an Automatic Gratuity, Restaurant Responds by Locking Them Inside & Calling Police

Have you ever gone to a restaurant with a group of friends (or a large family) and had an automatic gratuity (i.e. tip) added to your bill because of the size of your party?

We’re sure it has happened to most of you. Many restaurants do this.

So here’s a question: what happens if the server waiting on your table is lousy? Should you still have to pay the automatic gratuity?

While many people feel you shouldn’t be forced to pay a tip if the service is unacceptable, one group in Texas found out the hard way that some restaurants view the policy as non-negotiable.

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28 comments:

Anonymous said...

not trying to take up for a restaurant but if the prices on the menu say 18% WILL BE ADDED to parties of six or more and you are in a party of six or more, plan to pay. that's the price on the menu, if you don't like it get up and leave before you order. If its in fine print on the bottom of the back page maybe I may have a different view on this. Most places that charge for this have it printed on the entree page. If you have bad service ask to speak to a manager and if he/she are not helpful pay and never return.

Anonymous said...

Don't want to tip stay home.

Anonymous said...

Black people do not tip. i know plenty of bar tenders and servers. They all say blacks do not tip. When a group comes in, they all know there will be no tip or very little. Here is what happened to one server. Group came in but sat at different tables. They all ordered their food and when it came, they all pulled the tables together. Table 1, total bill came to $77.58. Table 2, total bill came to $59.25. Table 1 left $2.00 tip. Table 2 left $2.00 tip. $4.00 for a bill of $136.83. AND no, the servers did not say anything BC it would have been RACIST, right?

Anonymous said...

They don't tip and then run the server to death.

Anonymous said...

10:31 thanks for enlightening us clown! lol. I tip all the time. And have had plenty of incidents of overtipping to compensate for my white counterparts.

Anonymous said...

I am a 58 year old white guy who always tips, for the most part. There have been 2 instances in my entire life that I tipped two pennies, which I understand is the universal signal to the person who waited on me that they did an incredibly horrible job. I know and understand before I walk in that I will be paying 15 to 20% more than menue price for my food. Sometimes I have left feeling half sick knowing I've just paid close to a hundred dollars for something I could have fixed at home for twenty. Lessons are learned this way, and I have taken them to heart. Everyone, including me, has waited on their first customer or had an aspecially bad luck day where at all effort, nothing goes right. These things entertain me and are still worth watching and paying for. It is the couple of times that an experienced wait has just totally not done their job that a message needed to be sent, but only once in every 27 years as I see it.

Anonymous said...

Unless the blurb about the 17% gratuity includes the words "if satisfied with your experience" they you pay it no matter what.
Gratuity means money or something given in exchange for a service. No where does the definition say service in which someone approves of or is satisfied with...

Anonymous said...

I find it hard to believe that "blacks do not tip". Does anyone have a defense to that statement?

Anonymous said...

Al Sharpton will jump on this in a heartbeat , I just puked again.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure they didn't want to spend all their entitlement money , food stamps , welfare , 10 kids out of wedlock money.
They been watching too much house wives of Atlanta.

Anonymous said...

Servers have bills to pay also, mind you in many places they only make $3.50 or so an hour plus tips. Usually the servers and bartenders take home more that the manager on good nights.

I've seen too many servers go home in tears. People that have worked in restaurants usually over tip. Because they know not everyone wants to pay for what they get. A happy server is a great server, in any good restaurant.

Anonymous said...

I think it's close to fraud to tack on a mandatory "gratutity" on top of menu listed prices.

Just raise your price and be done with it. Oh, that would make your food look more expensive...

Here's an idea: require all listed prices on menus to be the price AFTER TAX. Name the law the "Truth In Menu Act." Oh, that would make your food look more expensive...

See the pattern?

Anonymous said...

1031-It's not racist, it's true. Servers/tenders across the country will say the same thing.

Anonymous said...

It's a shame that they feel the only way to succeed in life is through the media and stealing.
I'm sure this was a planned thing.
They are in for a big surprise shortly.

Anonymous said...

Thugs don't have to leave tips. They are entitled to free food aren't they.

Anonymous said...

There seems to be 2 sides to the story for me.----Oneis that it's protecting a waitress for her work by adding the gratuity.

The other: We sure don't mind paying the 20% but-- we've had
some waitresses we would never have
left that much to because of
poor service.

EW

Anonymous said...

Our daughter served for years as she went thru college. She is the most liberal person I know, and voted for the Idiot. She knows certain people will not tip. I wonder if they tip certain people but not others? I say the restaurant did the right thing by calling HPD.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with the comments that "blacks don't tip". I was a server for 6 yrs and blacks would routinely tip little if nothing at all. All the servers would try to avoid those tables because we knew we were not going to get a good tip. Also i work with a rich black lady now who can easily afford to tip, but NEVER does.

Anonymous said...

Canadians don't tip either.

Anonymous said...

It is an unspoken truth about black peoples tipping habits...I know a lot of black servers and they will tell you the same thing. It's sad when the servers see a black customer come in the all hold their breath and hope they're not seated in their section...sad but true.

lmclain said...

8:14...black people DON't tip. Thats the truth. Label it however you wish, but the truth is the truth. Ask ANY server, anywhere. Maybe the math is too hard.

Tim Chaney said...

Older people are slack with tipping too, lets not make everything racial. Aren't we divided enough? Hate breeds hate

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

10:31 thanks for enlightening us clown! lol. I tip all the time. And have had plenty of incidents of overtipping to compensate for my white counterparts.

May 6, 2012 7:24 AM

In your dreams BOZO!!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Canadians don't tip either.

May 6, 2012 11:31 AM

Now that is Racist!! Oh I forgot, Canadians are "White" people. I guess they are Bow Tying White BOYS!

Anonymous said...

Canadian's come from an entitlement society, It seems those with a sense of entitlement don't think they should have to tip.

Anonymous said...

If I didn't tip I wouldn't eat in the same restaurant twice.

Anonymous said...

Be real! Order something in a bar/restaurant and don't tip, don't come back. Tip and be respectful and your return trip will be pleasant. Just expect the help to treat your return the way you treated them. The food will be the same but not the experience.

Funny how all this tipping nonsense is an issue when, in Maryland, half the value of the tip is in fees and taxes.

Anonymous said...

Old people, chinese, black, and jewish people don't tip.