If you are a restaurant manager, will you call the police because a customer did not want to pay the mandatory gratuity?
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The manager of the restaurant called the police and the customers were arrested, handcuffed and charged with thief for not paying the mandatory 18% gratuity. They paid for their food, drink and tax and claimed that the service was so bad.
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Not if I ever wanted to see those people and their friends again.
Thank you Marijo for sharing your views. Restaurants needed business, so, couldn't they find ways to make it beneficial for both. In this particular case, it was a party of 8. If the sign said that a mandatory gratuity is charged for a party of 8 or more, then, is it justifiable not to pay gratuity if the service was sub-standard?
Tipping you mean? Well, to call the police sounds too much over such petty case. I would rather make them settle it in a nice or a more reasonable way like to knock off by an amount both are happy with after all , tomorrow they might come again who knows?
Customers are always kings.
Hi Hilda.
In Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey have local law that allows restaurants to charge a "mandatory gratuity" for a party of 8 as long as there is a clearly visible sign or is written in the menu as such. I think, they should change the term "mandatory gratuity" to "service fee or surcharge".
Thank you for your answer.
That seems pretty bad for PR. I understand why restaurants do that. If there is a large table and a lot of food is ordered a waiter can lose a lot of money if no tip is left. For each item ordered from a restaurant the waiter owes about 3 percent to the busboy/help staff. If no tip is given the waiter owes money for having waited on that table. Maybe restaurants should just pay their staff real wages...
Yes, it certainly is a pretty bad PR. But then, I always wondered if the waitstaff even get a minimum wage. Thanks for sharing your views Andrew.
I am not from the States but it is a facinating concept, how can a gratuity be mandatory, it is a contradiction in terms. Include the 18% in the meal charge and pay the staff their wages from it. Once a tip becomes compulsory it is no longer a tip but a cost of eating out at the resturaunt. I would be willing to bet that a large part of the gratuity and tips is never taxed as income because it is undeclared and is just an undeground way of paying poor wages to otherwise hard working and deserving staff.
They could have used a better term such as a service fee or a surcharge. You are right, how can a gratuity be mandatory? In some restaurants' menu, they inform the customers that if it is a party of 8 gratuity is mandatory, but still it does not make it right. A tip is an appreciation for good service but what if the service is sub-standard?
It is always good to hear from someone in New Zealand. Thanks again Ralph for sharing your views.
No. I would not. Tips are supposed to be for good service. Somewhere along the line that has been forgotten. Restaurants and waiters now seem to feel the tip is their right. However, though I haven't done it, I don't blame someone for not tipping if the service was bad. After all, the person person should earn the tip. It takes a lot of nerve for the restaurant to call the police over this. I have to believe that most police forces wouldn't do what was mentioned above.
if the service was terrible I wouldn't expect them to pay
No. I would not add a 'surcharge' for service (for parties of six or more) regardless, since that is forcing someone to tip. Kind of like having a gun to the head to help the needy.
No i would not call the police. In these days waiters think that tip is thier right but its up to customer whether to pay the tip or not
Tehmina
I worked in a restaurant for years. While the manager did show support for his staff, he showed disdain for his customers. He created a scene and long-term may have hurt business. The best course of action was to take the money offered and ask them never to return.
No.
Gratuity by who? Haven't we the patrons paid the wages of restaurant workers and waitresses long enough? At what point will the establishments take responsibility for paying their employees? If restaurants paid their employees enough to begin with, then their employees wouldn't need tips - no?
How can the patron be responsible for their wages? And even if we were, don't we have a right NOT to tip if we felt the service was lacking - just as an employee has a right to fire an employee who isn't working to expectations?
Nope
In my opinion, if the restaurant can provide good services, customer will pay the gratuity on their willings, furthermore, i think 18% is a litte high though.
I think that they got what was coming to them. As a former server you need to know that if the gratuity is mandatory it is because you brought in a huge party that takes a lot of work. Sure the service might not be up to the standards they wanted, but that does not mean that this server should not get paid for serving them. If they were arrested, then that means they did not even try to compromise on a smaller percentage. When it is a restaurant policy, then you have to pay the gratuity and live with it. Evidentally, if you don't it will land you in jail. THIS IS WHY YOU ALWAYS TIP!
I believe that under the Consumer Law, any service needs to be of mechanizable quality. If the service of the restaurant was such that it was not of mechanizable quality, then the service would be illegal, which would make all contracts null and void as a contract can only be binding if it is legal.
The contract in this example was for service to be rendered and a gratuity to be paid for that service.
Instead of arresting the visitors, the restaurant may want to improve it's service, however the manager should know exactly what was bad about the service.
Mandatory Gratiuity? Even the saying takes away from the meaning of gratuity. What happened to being rewarded for offering great customer service. No, I would not call the police. This is a personal choice. Bad customer service stories spread like wild fire, however the good stories are often left untold. Being in business is hard, and your customers are what keeps you there. Business owners are seeming to forget this.
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The words mandatory and gratuity do not go together in the same sentence.
A gratuity is meant to be a reward for good or outstanding service. A gratuity is earned. It is not a right.
The restaturant has got it all wrong when they state a "mandatory" gratuity. If they want their staff to be better rewarded there are two things they might do: pay them more and teach them how to deliver exceptional customer service.
I would dare any restuaranter to call the police on his customers for expressing that the service was bad.
Wow - how stupid can one be?
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