Mandatory Tip

• Captain Cavalier

  

  This is the problem I have with a mandatory tip...bad service.
  
  http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Time-In-Prison--70426052.html?yhp=1
  
  I personally think that they should do away with a mandatory tip.
  
  But I guess I don't have to support the place either.
• justincredible

  

  Lol, so the restaurant offered to comp their meal but called the cops after they paid the bill but refused to tip? I call bullshit on that one. No way the restaurant ever offered to comp the meal if it ended with a couple in handcuffs. Absolutely ridiculous.
• j_crazy

  

  Yeah my Bullshit detectors were alarming as well.
• justincredible

  

  I'd make sure none of my friends/family ever went to that restaurant ever again.
• I Wear Pants

  There are mandatory tips?
  
  We need to switch to the European method of tipping. That is, tips are for above average service, not merely adequate.
• justincredible

  

  I Wear Pants wrote: There are mandatory tips?
  
  We need to switch to the European method of tipping. That is, tips are for above average service, not merely adequate.

  That would be nice. I don't mind tipping but I hate leaving tips for "blah" service. I'll tip upwards of 25% if the person is good, though.
• j_crazy

  

  If the service is heinous, no tip. but i usually tip 5% if service is bad, 10 for okay. 20 for good and more if it's really good.
  
  If waiters/waitresses made better hourly money I wouldn't tip for anything less than good.
• Tim Tebow

  I tip based on a.) service b.) looks hahaha
• BigAppleBuckeye

  

  I Wear Pants wrote: There are mandatory tips?
  
  We need to switch to the European method of tipping. That is, tips are for above average service, not merely adequate.

  Fair enough, but be prepared to spend more on the food itself, as the restaurant would have to pay their staff higher wages to keep them happy with crappy tips.
• raiderbuck

  I Wear Pants wrote: There are mandatory tips?
  
  We need to switch to the European method of tipping. That is, tips are for above average service, not merely adequate.

  Some places tack on mandatory tips based on the size of the party. In fact, a good majority of restaurants do that with parties with at least 6-8 people.
• Swamp Fox

  raiderbuck wrote:

  I Wear Pants wrote: There are mandatory tips?
  
  We need to switch to the European method of tipping. That is, tips are for above average service, not merely adequate.

  Some places tack on mandatory tips based on the size of the party. In fact, a good majority of restaurants do that with parties with at least 6-8 people.

  
  I'm not planning to go to Bethlehem, Pennslyvania now or probably ever but if I ever do, I will most certainly never darken the door of the Lehigh Pub. Their behavior was outrageous. They called the police???? I would sue them for everything I could think of and make sure no one I knew would ever patronize the place.
• tk421

  

  You can also get that mandatory tip removed. At least at the places I've seen before.
• Manhattan Buckeye

  Raiderbuck is correct, a lot of restaurants have a mandatory tip for large parties, but that doesn't mean you should have to pay if if the service that was promised wasn't delivered. If you ordered food (totalling whatever $$$) and the restaurant didn't deliver it, would the cops cuff patrons that refused to pay? I'm not going to make any judgments on this case since I wasn't there, but even a "mandatory tip" doesn't mean you should be paid no matter what, just like all other services that charge fees.
• I Wear Pants

  BigAppleBuckeye wrote:

  I Wear Pants wrote: There are mandatory tips?
  
  We need to switch to the European method of tipping. That is, tips are for above average service, not merely adequate.

  Fair enough, but be prepared to spend more on the food itself, as the restaurant would have to pay their staff higher wages to keep them happy with crappy tips.

  No, not really. They would just earn minimum wage if they were terrible waiters.
  
  It would provide an incentive for better service.
• Cat Food Flambe'

  

  If a restaurant mandates 18%, I'll pay it without protest (if the service is THAT bad, I'll "reason" with the management instead of taking out on the server - most problems are not the servers fault). But the server is losing money on the deal - left to myself, I'll usually start at 20% and work up
• thePITman

  

  I have a very scientific process for divvying my tip:
  
  If my service is absolutely terrible, the worst possible: $0.25
  If my service is bad: 10%
  If my service was average "at best": 12-13%
  If my service was average but pleasant: 15%
  If my service was surprisingly good: 17-18%
  If my service was exceptional: 20%
  If my service was exceptional, and the waitress is good looking: 23-25%
  
  I follow this to a T every time.
• Glory Days

  

  BigAppleBuckeye wrote: Fair enough, but be prepared to spend more on the food itself, as the restaurant would have to pay their staff higher wages to keep them happy with crappy tips.

  it would be interesting to see what the prices really did do. but i dont think they would go up 20-25% a meal. plus here is another thing. right now when someone has bad service, for the most part, they will just tip less or not at all and not think about it again(unless it was really bad), the manager might never find out. if there is no tipping, maybe it would incline more people to complain to a manager or supervisor about the service and the manager can actually hold the server accountable.
• newarkcatholicfan

  

  I do not eat at places that tell me how much I will tip.
• dwccrew

  

  justincredible wrote:
  
  That would be nice. I don't mind tipping but I hate leaving tips for "blah" service. I'll tip upwards of 25% if the person is good, though.

  I will too.