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Man Arrested For Not Tipping Waitress Enough

LoKyBuckeye

I give up. This board is too hard to understand.
Man Arrested For Not Tipping Waitress Enough

http://www.wftv.com/newsofthestrange/3725762/detail.html

POSTED: 11:24 am EDT September 13, 2004
UPDATED: 12:41 pm EDT September 14, 2004

LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. -- Humberto A. Taveras put his money where his mouth is and ended up arrested, accused of leaving an inadequate tip at a restaurant.

Taveras, 41, faces a misdemeanor charge of theft of services after he and his fellow diners argued with Soprano's Italian and American Grill managers over the legality of requiring an 18 percent tip for large parties.

"They chased us down like a bunch of criminals," Taveras said. "It killed our weekend."

Taveras and eight others had pizza at the restaurant in this resort village Sunday night. He said they weren't completely satisfied with the food and left a tip of under 10 percent. Taveras said they also were not told of a mandatory 18 percent gratuity for parties of six or more and did not see notice of it on their menus.

Restaurant owner Joe Soprano said all the menus have the notice, and the waitress informed the group. He said he did not choose to pursue charges because of the money, but because Taveras' group was obnoxious.

"It's unfortunate it has come to this, but this guy was rude and abrasive. They practically threw food at us," Soprano said.

Taveras plans to fight the charge. The arrest raises the issue of whether the gratuities that restaurants automatically tack on for serving large groups are legally enforceable debts.
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
 
If it is legally enforceable, then what is the remedy for poor service? Why is it enforceable for a party of 8, but not two seperate parties of 4? It sounds ridiculous to me, because I've had service/food that certainly did not merit a good tip.
 
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The menus I've seen with the statement on them nearly all say that the charge will be added unless you request otherwise before ordering. The restaurant where my daughter works has something similar. I can see why they have the statement on there...my daughter's crew has been stiffed by numerous big parties that run up a bill of over $1,000 and leave a $50 tip, and in one case, no tip at all, and service at that restaurant is superb. Most culprits are Japanese tourists who actually are somewhat ignorant of tipping (they don't hap tipping in Japan), but there are the occasional Amercian assholes who think they don't need to tip just because they think they're dumping a lot of money at the place.
 
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I guess I'm straddling the fence on something like this. On one hand, I can see why restaurants do this sort of thing. To eliminate the servers getting stiffed when they provide good service and just happen to be serving a group of cheap assholes or people ignorant of the unwritten rules of tipping. On the other hand, when I see something like that on a menu I can't help but think to myself that maybe the servers don't feel the need to be as good as they can and should be since they already know they're getting a good tip no matter what. I'm sure most of them don't have that mindset but it does cross your mind at times. I've never experienced anything like that but I suppose if it were to happen the logical thing would be to discuss it with the manager and see if some adjustment could be made if the service were not up to standard.
 
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BuckeyeNation27 said:
why does spending over $1000 dollars mean that the service was better than if you only spent $50?

I didn't say that. The majority of business at her restaurant are couples and small groups of 3-6 people. Normal bills are anywhere from $75-$300 for these groups (count on $35-$75 depending on the food and type/amount of drinks ordered). The problem with large groups is that the servers are at the mercy of a single group of 12-20 people vice 3-4 groups of 3-6 people. If one of the smaller groups is a tightwad group and leaves a small or no tip, then the servers still can rely on the tips from the other small groups, so they don't lose as much. But when you rely on that single large group, whom you may serve for an hour or more for certain parties and get stiffed, you're just plain fucked.
 
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you can dispute the mandatory tip....not the entire purchase itself....well you can dispute the purchase..but wont win that one...

exactly right mili....

one of my life-long friends had to wait tables (chi chis) while working his way through law school....he said that large parties were a gamble....you spend your entire night waiting on them and they can tip you 5% one time and 25% another...depending on how big of tightwads the groups are....

its not fair to the servers for sure....
 
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correct methomps.....that is why any large purchase should be made with your credit card....not debit cards not cash....

why...because mc/visa will actually intervene as a mediator in a dispute....and the cardholer wins 90% of the time...

say you have engine work done on your car and you paid cash for it or put it on your debit card.....and 20 miles down the road your engine blows up again...you are s.o.l.....you are dependent on the repair shop to be an upstanding business....

however; if you put it on your visa card....you could call visa and tell them the situation and they will pull the money back out of the repair shops account and act as a mediator....and businesses know they lose 90% of these disputes....
 
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this is what that lady should have done
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/9687452.htm

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<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr><td width="100%"> </td><td> </td><td nowrap="nowrap"> email this </td><td> </td><td nowrap="nowrap"> print this </td></tr></tbody> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" width="100%"> <tbody><tr><td width="15" rowspan="2">
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</td><td class="v1">Posted on Fri, Sep. 17, 2004</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" align="right"> <tbody><tr><td><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="250"><tbody><tr><td><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr><td align="left" class="adlabel"> <script language="JavaScript1.1"> _krdDartInc++; document.write('<SCRIPT LANGUAGE=\"JavaScript1.1\" SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/montereyherald.news/news;kw=center6;c2=news_homepage:wink2:os=center6;group=rectangle;tile='+_krdDartInc+';ord='+_krdDartOrd+'?"><\/SCRIPT>'); </script><script language=\"JavaScript1.1\" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/montereyherald.news/news;kw=center6;c2=news_homepage:wink2:os=center6;group=rectangle;tile=2;ord=1095474087633?"></script>
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Woman arrested for allegedly ordering murder of two patrons

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[size=-1]Associated Press[/size]
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<!-- begin body-content --> WESTMINSTER, Calif. - A 20-year-old waitress has been arrested for allegedly ordering the slayings of two customers who allegedly made rude remarks and tried to grab her as she served them drinks, authorities said.

Ngan Thi Bich Vo was arrested at her Westminster home on Tuesday as she was preparing to flee to Vietnam, police said. The woman's boyfriend, wanted for questioning in connection with the Aug. 16 killings, may have left the country.

Police also arrested Danny Tran, 23, of Garden Grove and Long Le, 22, of Westminster, who were allegedly in the shooter's getaway car. Each has been charged with two counts of murder and with gang enhancements. Bail was set at $1 million each, police said.

Vo, Le and Tran will be arraigned in Westminster on Friday.

Vo was among three people named in a murder complaint stemming from the shooting of Tri Thanh Phan, 38, of Fountain Valley and Kurt Martinsen, 29, of Lake Forest at a Vietnamese nightclub in Garden Grove.

Authorities said Vo called her boyfriend and asked him to intervene. She told her boyfriend, who was at another nightclub, that she felt the two customers had insulted her by tugging on her skirt and trying to flirt with her, said Garden Grove Police Lt. Mike Handfield.

"She was highly upset, and that may have been the anger that caused this," Handfield said. "She called and facilitated the murders. There is evidence that suggested that she took part in a message to `take care of business.'"

A lone gunman walked into the crowded restaurant, strode past four tables and opened fire. Police said the gunman then ran out of the restaurant and jumped into a car in which two men were waiting.

Phan and Martinsen, who had reportedly bought the waitress a rose as a gesture of apology shortly before they were shot, died at the scene.

Police said they were still searching for the weapon and four other people, including Vo's boyfriend. The boyfriend, who has previous drug convictions, is believed to have left the country shortly after he was interviewed by police, officials said.

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

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