When Leslie Pope and John Wagner decided to drop by happy hour at the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, Pa. with six friends, they had no idea that their visit would end with them handcuffed, in the back of a police car.
The couple and their friends amassed a $73 bill that they had no problem paying, but the service was so poor that they refused to cough up the mandatory 18% tip. They say they waited almost an hour for chicken fingers and fries and Pope had to go to the bar to get napkins, silverware and refills on her soda because the server was missing in action. After explaining the service shortcomings to the bartender in charge, and offering payment for food, beverage and tax, Pope claims that the bartender took their money and called the police.
When the law arrived, the couple was handcuffed, placed in the back of a police car and later charged with theft. Bethlehem’s Police Commissioner, Stuart Bedics, stated that the police would prefer to have not been involved, but the couple was arrested for theft because the gratuity was deemed a part of the bill. He does not think the charges will hold up in court.
The question remains: Will the court ruling set precedent in the service industry that restaurants can arbitrarily make tipping mandatory? As it stands, parties of six or more are often times mandated to pay gratuity of anywhere from 15% to 20%. If the charges against Pope and Wagner stand and not tipping becomes an enforceable offense, will servers relax service on tables with a tip mandate to attend to those smaller parties that can stiff them at will?
We will not know until Pope and Wagner appear in court next month. But until then, if you feel burned by bad service at a restaurant, think again before you choose not to tip. You may be in for more than a hard look from the server!
Check out other recent stories from the DC Restaurant News Examiner
Comments
Fascinating post.
Years ago I had a fight with the wait staff over bad service and had the tip taken off the bill. I was truly disrespected by the management over this but I stood my ground.
Are they a gay couple? Or a couple of college kids? Go to journalism school.
LOL... I just read. I go to high school instead. Good job.
From Merriam-Webster:
gratuity: : something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service; especially : tip
Any municipality that passes laws upholding "manditory gratuities" needs to read their stinking dictionaries. They're obviously dumber than a sack of rocks. How can something be both "mandatory" and "voluntary?"
Great posting. I will be interested in how this case turns out because of the legal implications of mandatory payment for service not provided and the subjective nature of good service. This is something courts and jurisdictions need to address, so it is good that the couple stood their ground. I will be looking forward to your reporting the follow-up. I also wonder how this extra attention is helping the pub.
HAHA I hope that couple wins in court and the courts won't uphold case. People need to tip on the service they receive and not buy how many people are in your bar. I hope this comes back and bits this pub in the Ass! Not only will this Pub loose business (I won't eat there anymore, but that is just me) and if this couple is found not guilty, than all restaurants in out area won't be able to charge the mandatory 18% (WAY TO GO LEHIGH PUB). That is my two cents I work in the restaurants world and I'm sick and tired of servers thinking they are entitled to a tip because of the number in their party and not based on their service level. Here is an inside tip (servers sometimes will neglect a large party and give better service to smaller parties because they already made there 18%! This is a bad move Lehigh Pub! All publicity is not always good publicity!
Great posting. I will be interested in how this case turns out because of the legal implications of mandatory payment for service not provided and the subjective nature of good service. This is something courts and jurisdictions need to address, so it is good that the couple stood their ground. I will be looking forward to your reporting the follow-up. I also wonder how this extra attention is helping the pub.
The case Leslie Pope and John Wagner of PA being arrested for not paying a TIP is similar to a no TIP arrest that happened over five years, in Lake George NY. The Warren County DA dropped the charges because of an old federal court ruling that stated TIPs are voluntary. I believe victims then sued the restaurant or the Lake George police for false arrest. In addition the IRS audited the restaurant because a TIP that is enforced is a service charge, which is taxable to the restaurant even is the money is paid to the employees.
Some of the stories about this are still on-line if you google “Lake George TIP arrest”.
Way to go PA.. keep up that sterotype of being a bunch of savage idiots!!
the service would have to be way way worse than they were explaining in order for me to not leave a tip. The cooks were probably backd up, if it was that busy it isnt the servers fault ..she couldnt make the food cook any faster. "stiffing" a server shouldt be a crime, but it is rude.very rude.
TIPS "To Insure Prompt Service". Tips started when patrons would leave money visible on the table to entice the service staff to serve them first.
I wish I frequented this pub, so I could start boycotting it in protest of this stupid waste of tax dollars. I hope the same thing happens here like it happened in Lake George...
This is outrageous. I'm hoping this couple sues the city for false arrest and the pub.
Interesting. As a bartender, I'd like to know the waitress' side of it. Whay was she missing? Was she sick? Did she have a family emergency and have to leave without telling her tables? There's more than one side to this and everyone who is "outraged" are probably people who look for reasons to cheap out on tipping anyway.
And...if the couple had to go to the bar to get the check then it was the bartender who put the gratuity on the check at the time of closing the tab. Most computer systems won't let you add gratuity until it's being closed.
And putting the gratuity on the check helps to ensure that the server doesn't run their ass off and get jipped on a high bill. THAT'S why it's there, to protect the server. However, I do agree that the gratuity in this case should NOT have been added but then again, it was the bartender who closd the check. And well, bartenders don't like to be told how to do their job so the bartender was just being stubborn.
You can never make tips madatory if the restaurant continues to pay below minimum wage. If the industry insists on a flat 18%, then waiting tables will become like anything else where one does not have to work hard for money. If the server knows they will get 18%, they have no incentive to provide good service.
its rediculus,it shouldn't be mandatory,it comes in the name gratuity,means a gift of money,stupid police shouldn't even take these people I will sue the police and restaurant.
Should you be able to refuse payment of a restaurant's corkage charge because you opened your own bottle of wine? If the menu or plainly visible sign disclosed the large group "gratuity" (yes they should use a different word) charge, then by refusing to pay it they've stolen from the restaurant.
If you didn't like the food, you can't just decide to figure out what the cook's wages portion of the bill was and deduct that from what you pay and expect nothing to happen can you? Why are the servers any different? Most of their wages are made up of the gratuities. This is understood by most people with the intelligence to hold down a job and find their way out somehow into a public eatery.
A lot of these places are not setup to accommodate large groups easily or profitably, and that "gratuity" fee is just something you need to accept to be accommodated. If you don't like it, choose another place to give your business.
The Bethlehem, Pa. police department will no doubt be facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit for unlawful arrest... afterwards I expect the city will ask the IRS to carefully audit the tax filings of the restaurant and its servers.
Is it really that much more difficult to wait on a table of six than it is to wait on three tables of two? Enough of a difference to warrant a mandatory 'tip'?
There has been lots of discussion about this incident on television over the last few days. I hope that the matter of good service is not overlooked. Good service should be the culture of any establishment that expects to attract and retain customers, and should not be solely dependent on wait staff. I agree with the comment that the customers should have addressed their concerns to the owner or manager, not the bartender. Hopefully, the owner would have been more concerned about the lack of service and how this reflected on his pub.
What is the stupid bartender's name anyhow? Everybody else gets to have his name in the paper. Why does the bartender get to remain anonymous?
--bet there is a lot of room in that place tonight.
People should tip only if they were pleased with service. Diners should not expected to supplement wait staff salaries.
The only relevant point to this story is that the police officers involved decided to arrest the patrons. Those officers must be fired- no doubt about it. That is police harassment and an outrage.
Is there a reason only two of the eight patrons of this pub were arrested? What happened to the other six people at their table?
sue!! sue!!! Sue baby!! Easy Cash!! This is civil not criminal..
Is there a reason only two of the eight patrons of this pub were arrested? What happened to the other six people at their table?
The officer probably asked, okay who's bill is this and they all pointed fingers at each other so the officer said pick a number between 1 and 20, and the two closest ones got picked. I can't believe the officers even arrested them. Can I call the police on strangers because they didn't buy me a birthday present?
If I lived near this restaurant, I would go there and sit down until the waitress would come to the table and then say, "Oh no thanks we're not eating here, we just wanted to visit the place that arrests patrons for not paying a tip for poor service."
Wow, that is ridiculous. As a former server/bartender I have wished this could happen to many a customer. However, I knew that I always gave exceptional service. lol. But really? It being part of the check? Unless stated on the menu that an automatic gratuity is charged, there is no theft here. That is genuinely for larger parties.
Tipping should always be customary... I understand the addition of gratutity to parties over a certain size, but one should ALWAYS be able to pay for the food and drink consumed and problem with service should be addressed with the management.
Management going thru all of that for $13 is absurd and they likely applied the tip after tax....
If the restaurant does not open your bottle and charges you for it. I believe that is theft. However, I agree that if you didn't like the food, but you ate it. You should pay for it.
Nonetheless, not stating a fee or gratuity explicitly as mandatory as part of your price listing is false advertising. This allows providers of a service to alter the price after the service is provided.
This seems like a systemic problem where the owners of this establishment can neither prepared to provide an incentive to their staff to serve well nor the clarity of pricing to their customers. This issue has to be dealt with on a national level as it is a known that wages in the the service industry are too low and a reliance on the gratuity system system leads to complications as such.
Actually, it would be "ensure", so that anagram doesn't hold up. Regardless of the waitress' side of the story, if the service was truly that poor, no tip is due. This is one of the stupidest stories I've read since the German police locking an entire town down to investigate reports of two 8-year olds manufacturing a working nuclear reactor.
Geniuses:
If people stop tipping and the service industry is forced to pay servers an income to offset loss of tips from cheapskates like these we will all be paying mandatory tips in the form of increased prices (unless you're foolish enough to believe bar and restaurant owners are going to reach in their own pockets).
The government taxes tipped employees based on sales regardless of what you tip them.
If I don't like the services my government delivers and I choose to not pay my mandatory taxes, I'll also face legal reprisals.
OK kindergarten is over you can go back to thumb-sucking.
Additionally this is a freaking stripmall pub.. the nerve...
Surprised this restaurant wanted this kind of publicity?
I wonder who now DOESN'T want to eat at LEIGH PUB?
They bartender in charge should have deducted some of the meal or drinks from the bill for the bad service.
I wonder what the owner of the establishment thinks about getting their place in the newspapers?
Click on the Link to the LEHIGH Pub near the top of the article, you will see a ton of bad reviews for this place, and you will see they have called the cops before for customers refusing to pay the tip added charges. Also note the comments on the staff.
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