houston family refuses to pay tip

[face]

obviously you have to legislate manditory tipping because people are being cheap and have crackpot theories like "if my steak is $40, why do i have to pay percent when the service is the same as a $10 meal".

i guess just force people to pay the tip.

the whole system doesn't work when broke dikk fuks decide to eat at places they can't afford decide to short the waiter because of their personal theories.

[blackbeSSt]

obviously you have to legislate manditory tipping because people are being cheap and have crackpot theories like "if my steak is $40, why do i have to pay percent when the service is the same as a $10 meal".

i guess just force people to pay the tip.

the whole system doesn't work when broke dikk fuks decide to eat at places they can't afford decide to short the waiter because of their personal theories.

[dj_destroyer]

The photographer clearly has no idea what they're doing leaving the whole plate in the pic... Look at any national chain and they don't show the whole plate.

That steak is larger than your palm and thick, a full 8ozs. You also get a salad (ceaser or house) or soup (changes daily) to start with this.

It's a nice meal, and a filling one if you split an app to start.

It's not for everyone (99% of the people on this forum), it's a place where you go for a special occasion or you want to impress a date. We have 15 beers on tap (mosty local or imported, no crap) and a winelist professionally selected by a sommelier. Everything is made fresh in-house with local ingredients.

It's well worth it (despite the sizes or price).

[TheAntFather]

yeah when is 5 a large party? I am assuming this is a mexican place being la fisherman and how many mexican familys have less then 5?

What is that supposed to mean? I'm hispanic and have a wife and 2 kids? Any race in the world (White, Chinese, Black, Mexican, Etc.) can have over/under 5 in their immediate family.

[wtt0315]

http://news.yahoo.com/video/oddnews-22772304/family-locked-in-restaurant-after-refusing-to-pay-tip-29164460.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Foddnews-22772304%252Ffamily-locked-in-restaurant-after-refusing-to-pay-tip-29164460.html

theres the video and the people that were locked in and the resturant

[TheCentaur]

There is a good chance these people were planning on not tipping no matter what and didn't get away with it. I, like many others in here, are sick of tipping culture though.

If someone who is just doing their job, has a tip jar in front of them for no reason, and asks me "what about a tip?" I reach in my pocket and pull out my middle finger.

[RunningMan7]

I dont know why everyone is so hung up on the legality of an mandatory tip. All the restaurant has to do is call it whatever they want. As long as they statea the charge before hand or it's on the menu, there is nothing a customer can do to complain about. You have every right to leave if you dont like the policy. The family chose to eat despite noticing that policy. if they felt that strongly about the policy, they should have left right away.

To be fair, the customers just wanted the right to pay whatever tip they wanted to pay, as she mentions in the video. But still, she is in no position to make it a demand instead of a request. All she has a right to do is pay up, complain about the service, and tell the restaurant that they wont get their repeat business. It is like getting food that is not up to par. You can complain about it. It is upto the restaurnat to decide whether they want to refund you the money or give you a replacement. And it is their right to ask you to take a hike. You can't sit there and say you refuse to pay if you ate the food and disliked it.

But I still see this myth that only tipping ensures better service. I have not seen any diifference in service at fast food counter places and restaurants. The courtesy and attention I get is about the same. Like I said, institute team and individual bonuses. The team bonuses will ensure peer pressure and the tiny individual bonus will also keep the high achiever content.

[onlooker]

Ask for sperate bills. Then you have 5 parties of 1.

[blackbeSSt]

I dont know why everyone is so hung up on the legality of an mandatory tip. All the restaurant has to do is call it whatever they want. As long as they statea the charge before hand or it's on the menu, there is nothing a customer can do to complain about. You have every right to leave if you dont like the policy. The family chose to eat despite noticing that policy. if they felt that strongly about the policy, they should have left right away.

To be fair, the customers just wanted the right to pay whatever tip they wanted to pay, as she mentions in the video. But still, she is in no position to make it a demand instead of a request. All she has a right to do is pay up, complain about the service, and tell the restaurant that they wont get their repeat business. It is like getting food that is not up to par. You can complain about it. It is upto the restaurnat to decide whether they want to refund you the money or give you a replacement. And it is their right to ask you to take a hike. You can't sit there and say you refuse to pay if you ate the food and disliked it.

i had some friends in a group of 8 ask the manager to not put the 18% on there. he refused. so they all ordered water, split 2 apps and stayed there 3 hours and wasted the waiters time and took up 3 tables. total was like $15. so the waiter got his $2.70 tip and they left.

[Kermit]

Similar story happened in Philly a few years ago. People refused to pay the gratuity because they had to get their own silverware, drinks, ect because the restaurant was overly busy. They were arrested.

[TheAntFather]

I have never been to this restaurant before, even though I live 10 miles from it. But, I now know not to ever go there, even if it was the last restaurant on Earth and I was starving to death, I wouldn't go in.

I'm a fair tipper, even though there is no law saying you have to tip anyone, I still tip, not because I have to or I feel forced to, it's because I want to. I basically leave between 10% to 20% depending on how happy I felt about the service. There was a couple of times in my life I left no tip at all. If I feel I'm getting shitty service from an undeserving punk who acts like he don't give a f*, or if I'm feeling bad vibes from our server and I'm getting refills 20 minutes late, I'm less inclined to leave a big tip. There was probably only 2 times I remember out of the all the times I went out to eat that I said "F* this service, they ain't getting shi* from me", and I didn't leave no tip. I'm 31 now, so I have like a 99% tipping percentage..lol

But, this restaurant in question is in big trouble. They are getting bad publicity over this. The manager should have waived the tip whether he thought it was right or wrong. I'm already going to post on my facebook to all my friends not to go to this restaurant. Me being from Houston and having over 500 friends on facebook, this was almost a hostage situation that shouldn't have happened. Bad management decision IMO. Here is a link below of what some people rated this restaurant, bad reviews all over the place.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g56003-d2065570-Reviews-LA_Fisherman-Houston_Texas.html

[DOMINATER]

EUROPE, doesn't tip sooe countries charge a flat fee for sitting instead of standing, If there was no tipping the steak would cost you thirty six, the owners just past the costs on.

[boeing power]

Owners and waiters both love the current tipping system.

Owners can pay shit wages, and waiters can make tax free money.

I don't like the automatic tip on your check, I find they expect more.

But it's probably necessary with all the cheap bastards out there.

[smitch124]

i had some friends in a group of 8 ask the manager to not put the 18% on there. he refused. so they all ordered water, split 2 apps and stayed there 3 hours and wasted the waiters time and took up 3 tables. total was like $15. so the waiter got his $2.70 tip and they left.

I woulda checked those appetizers very carefully before eating them...

[smitch124]

Owners and waiters both love the current tipping system.

Owners can pay shit wages, and waiters can make tax free money.

I don't like the automatic tip on your check, I find they expect more.

But it's probably necessary with all the cheap bastards out there.

Larry David would agree:

[blackbeSSt]

I woulda checked those appetizers very carefully before eatling them...

the waiter had no fukkin clue that they weren't gonna order meals. nothing out of sort with 8 people splitting 2 apps.

[RunningMan7]

Now if the restaurant does not deliver service at all where the people have to pick up their own silverware, refill their own water, etc. then I agree as that is lack of service and not just poor service. BUt you do not have an inalienable right to negotiate what you already agreed to do just because the food or service was less than par as long as it was delivered. If you didn't think a steak was good enough to be worth $30, will you just sit there and say the menu is overpriced and you have a right to pay only $10 for that mediocre steak? Maybe you can bitch to the waiter, but you can't legally demand that it be so. Because that is what the customers were trying to do with the service charge. They demanded to set their own tip level despite knowing that the 17% is mandatory.

I have this issue with buffets. how much are we supposed to tip for buffets. What about takeout? The guy has to do work for the takeout, probably just as much work. But the restaurant gets to save on silverware and if the restaurant is full, a free table for other customers to sit in . IN such a case, I feel the restaurant owner should tip the waiter for packing the takeout order. With buffets, same deal. You need less waiters who oversee more customers as all they ahve to do is fill water. So I give 10% at most as they can get more tips with less service per customer.

[yisman]

I think the idea of that show is to have Larry David make a fool out of himself, so the waiter would be the "reasonable one" here, but I disagree. I think he's right. 18% mandatory tip and then if you don't tip extra the guy goes over to you and wants more? I know it's obviously a TV show and fictional, but that would be pretty obnoxious.

[a4u2fear]

you pay cash, get up and leave without the tip, thats it.

[Devin22]

I check out my waitress. Nice ass = 18%. Nice ass and smiling = 19%. Nice ass and stops a few times to make sure I can see it = 20%

[antifoil]

this would be an interesting case of the false imprisonment tort.

[ttrace35]

Black people are good people.

[GamblerSpirit]

This would be a non-story if these patrons were NOT black. I guess they should have asked to be seated at BLACKS ONLY section of the restaurant. WTF is this bullshit?? SMH black people..

[baskets]

Black people are good people.

u actually believe this.

[Ironman07]

No matter what is says on the menu you can have serious legal issues from falsely detaining anyone. I have a extensive legal background and this is a very bad situation. the restaurant did nothing but create bad will and tarnish their image... the fact that the customers were black should be a non issue.

[Ralphie Halves]

In Vegas, they have your back more than most. (if you're a server)

My first Vegas serving job, we had this 8-top of Aussies that came in ten minutes until close at 11PM. Kept me, management, bar, and a portion of the kitchen there until 3:30AM while they were having a great time (which is fine, that's what you want them to do, but shit the waiting sucks).

The bill came, and they didn't want to pay the gratuity. I brought my manager over, who makes salary and wasn't getting a dime of benefit from staying so long, plus he had a newborn at home at the time, and the Aussies told him "We don't want to pay the service, we don't do that back home". My manager shook his head and said "Trust me, we know. You pay or security comes in and ruins your vacation." I split the tip with him.

Thing was, they probably ate at other restaurants prior that kiss ass to people they'll never see again just to avoid issue, and thought they could do it there. Oops.

[Optional]

Waiters demanding tips... what a classy system.

The whole 'social convention' looks more like organized begging to me.

Spotlight should be fully on the cheap ass business owners who don't have enough respect for their workers to pay them a decent wage.

Tipping should be reserved for exceptional service only. Which is common place in any decent restaurant in Sydney, probably because the staff are paid well and wouldn't have a job if they dared sneer at customers over small tips, let alone have the hide to ask for more!

Of course that meal for 6 would not have been $60 in Sydney. At least double the price at a guess.

[darkhat]

I tip 15 to 20 percent even if it's bad service, more if it's excellent. I use to be a waiter 10 years ago, and it sucks. Also, I understand how it screws over other people that are dependent on that waiter for a tip out.

Also, they get paid less than minimum wage because it is expected people will tip to equal it out. They did a shitty job, so you want them to get paid below minimum wage?

I get salary to sit in an office, and half the time i am neglecting all my responsibilities and just gambling online. I get paid the same whether I do well or do bad. I do the same for waiters.

[Hangoverblack]

Certain races of people feel like 8% is a very generous tip.

I was a server and a busboy for years. You want to talk about a sinking feeling. Sit a party of 10 who have this mentality. Not to mention Nothing is ever good enough. Ever.

[Optional]

Certain races of people feel like 8% is a very generous tip.

I was a server and a busboy for years. You want to talk about a sinking feeling. Sit a party of 10 who have this mentality. Not to mention Nothing is ever good enough. Ever.

Doesn't the whole system encourage cheap patrons to act that way through the meal in order to justify the small tip?

Put up a sign saying "Please only tip if you loved our service" and I bet those same people would tip the same but act a whole lot lot nicer.

[FuzzyDunlop]

lots of countries don't even have gratuities. built into American culture.

What we would consider a tip is built into the cost of everything on the menu. Waitstaff is on salary in countries like France and Italy and it's better than most entry to lower-mid white collared jobs here.

[darkhat]

Either people should know they need to tip regardless, or America should just pay them at least minimum wage. That's how i feel about it. I'm posting on SBR and making the same amount of money I would if i was doing my job instead.

[frogsrangers]

forced gratuities are always a touchy issue, the point of the tip is to insure good service. ive been in a similar situation once or twice but ive just sucked it up and paid it.

Forced gratuities exist because the server(s) who have that large table are unable to turn over the tables quickly to make more money. So if you have that table chances are that might be your only table of the night or one of the very few you have(compared to the number of tables you would normally have)

Unfortunately when I worked at On The Border when I was in college back in 2008, Brinker International(the entity that owns Chilis, On The Border, Macaroni Grill, etc.) did not implement a forced gratuity policy for large parties. So one night me and another server had a 45 person table full of ghetto black people. Even though there were 2 of us and it was our only table, we still could not satisfy their endless demands fast enough. Was the most demanding/needy table I ever had, they treated us like dirt. It was horrible.

When they were leaving all 45 of them wanted a to-go drink so we had to make 45 to go drinks which took a while. That sucked. You think with the nonstop service we provided them we would be compensated. But no. Their bill was $945 and they tipped us $3.00 in change. Just a bunch of quarters dimes and nickels scattered in the middle of the table. After getting screwed I went to the management to let them know what happened and they said "too bad" because a forced gratuity would "scare off" customers. But I said why would you want those types of people as your customers who treat your waitstaff like shit. So I complained even more to them and they fired me.

Forced gratuities exist to prevent the waitstaff from getting screwed over like that.

[frogsrangers]

This story was just on KTLA local news here in SoCal. Certainly isn't going to help the stereotype of certain races being bad tippers.

It will probably never go away. Right now I have a 2nd job as a valet at a hotel/restraunt and maybe, at best, 1 out of every 8 black people tip.

I read in a book about tipping that black people don't tip because they didn't learn how to tip from their parents growing up so they don't know how or don't know that they are supposed to. Also you have to factor in the "something for nothing" mindset that a lot of blacks tend to have.

[frogsrangers]

Server should get a real job. Meaning even if they want to serve tables, work at an etablishment that doesn't attract cheap trash.

I work at a 5 star hotel and top of the line restaraunt as a valet and we get cheap trash all the time.