College students Leslie Pope, John Wagner, and four of their friends went out for dinner at the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. They had to get their own cutlery and napkins, had to walk to the bar to get refills on their drinks, and they had to wait over an hour for salad and chicken wings. Meanwhile, their waitress was outside, taking a smoke break. Because of this, they paid their $73 bill, but refused to pay the $16.35 automatic gratuity. Because of their principled stand, they were arrested for theft and now face a day in court.
Generally, I have no problem with automatic gratuity for large parties, but a group of six isn’t a large enough party to merit an automatic tip in my opinion. If the service is that terrible, and it sounds like to me that it was simply because they had to set their own table and refill their own drinks, they shouldn’t have to pay a tip. It would’ve been easier to just pay the bill, but doing the right thing has never been easy.
I hate to be that guy, but sometimes? A waiter or waitress doesn’t deserve a tip. There, I said it. I’ve had great service, and I tip generously for it; I’ve also had some horrible service, where I left a dollar. It’s not good etiquette, but if someone doesn’t earn more than a buck, they’re not gonna get more than a buck. That’s just how I roll.
Image: me and the sysop Flickr
Tags: arrested for not paying tip, theft, tipping, bad service, restaurants, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Leslie Pope, John Wagner, Lehigh Pub
