"Dog3" wrote:
> This is the policy in many restaurants here. I've never seen anyone bitch
> about it.

I guess I've just been lucky... not having to pick up the tab and all. But
still, it's a ridiculous practice.


> Well, I think a year in jail is a tad bit 'stiff'

It's outrageous.


> So Mr. Soprano is an asshole.

Shur 'nuff.


> This just about sums it up. They probably ran the wait and bus staff to
> death. As I said above. Asshole.

Whatever happened to "the customer is always right"? How about at least
sometimes right? When then how about there will always be people we don't
like to work with, but we still have to?


> P.I.T.Y - Read the menu and you'll see it on there.

It still doesn't make it right. This is the service industry, for crying out
loud. The right to a good tip is not guaranteed, nor should there be license
for a proprietor to mark up prices in the name of "gratuity."


> Should have talked to management.

Should have told him to shove it up his rear.


> I really think this is absurd.

Yes, the whole issue is for the birds.


> Well, the restaurant was within it's rights to prosecute. It's considered
> theft of services here and there is a fine and possible jail time. OTOH,
> never have I heard of any establishment actually pursuing a patron like
> this.

A gratuity is just that: gratuitous, or according to Webster:

Main Entry: gra·tu·ity
Pronunciation: gr&-'tü-&-tE, -'tyü-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ities
: something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service;
especially : TIP

It is not guaranteed, nor obliged, nor mandated. Manipulating the law to
define failure/refusal to pay unnecessary fees as a crime is abominable.
Next, not leaving a tip in ANY establishment will be a crime.

This is certainly a product of what passes for "customer service" nowadays.
It's come to mean what the customer is willing to do to make the service
person's job less inconvenient, and by no means should it be that way. That
you would support this abrogation of your expectations through your tacit
acceptance of it is appalling to me.