Family Locked In Restaurant For Not Tipping, Woman Claims

What happens when you take issue with a restaurant's automatic gratuity?

Jasmine Marks told KPRC that she and her family and friends were locked inside a Houston restaurant after they refused to pay an automatic 17 percent gratuity.

The gratuity was added to the bill because Marks sat with a party of more than five, a policy clearly noted on the menu. But when Marks refused to pay because of poor service including rudeness and missing orders, she said the restaurant called the police and locked the door.

Despite Marks' insistence that the service she received wasn't worth a 17 percent tip, the bill was eventually paid in full.

The story generated mixed reactions when it was posted on Reddit.

"The restaurant should have just voided the gratuity," one commenter wrote. "They get the 17% from this family but then lose tons of business once this story makes the rounds. Basically the whole town has just found out their food and service sucks."

But another commenter said the diners were at fault since the restaurant had a clearly marked gratuity policy on the menu.

"It was on the menu that a party that size would have the gratuity included in the bill," the commenter wrote. "I will agree that 17% is a bit much, but they really have no right to complain."

In the end, perhaps Marks should be thankful that she wasn't arrested.

NBC Philadelphia reported that a Pennsylvania couple were handcuffed after they refused to pay a mandatory 18 percent gratuity at a pub in Bethlehem, Pa.

Hat tip: Fark

Flickr photo by: JefferyTurner

Comments

[iAnonymous]

12:32 PM on 11/06/2012

The automatic gratuities are not legally binding. You can refuse to pay them. You SHOULDN'T refuse to pay them, but you can. I bet there were bad acts on both parties parts. Hate to say it, but when servers see a big family with kids, they kiss their tip profit goodbye.

[Shaarinya]

11:50 AM on 11/06/2012

and this is why I rarely eat out. I have never enjoyed others telling me 'how I should spend my money, and how much' It's my money. I worked for it. I will do with it as I please.

[Djuan Sherman-Wash]

08:19 PM on 11/06/2012

so you don't tip when you eat out?

[ironchefjay2]

10:46 AM on 11/06/2012

I find that the best way to tip is the Japanese way. The tip is included in the cost of the meal. The service is always good and the server makes a living wage.

[headly67]

09:39 AM on 11/06/2012

Why wasn't the restaurant owner arrested for unlawful imprisonment?

[Kevin1961]

07:54 AM on 11/06/2012

That mandatory tip business is one of the biggest rackets in the world.

[Todd Ecker]

10:15 AM on 11/06/2012

Not with large parties it isn't. As a waiter through college I found that large parties tend to have people who work you to death, take up all of your time from other tables, and are more likely to have people leave who only pay (to the collective) the menu price (not including tip or tax) before they leave. This is why restaurants have adopted this policy.

[Kevin1961]

02:41 PM on 11/06/2012

Even in large parties, it should be "suggested", not mandatory.  I've been in larger parties, say 10 people, had terrible service, and was forced to tip 18%.  I paid it, but NEVER went back.  So the restaurant lost a customer, and all the owner needed to do is not have an idiotic policy that rewarded terrible service.
 

[Quarlo]

10:13 PM on 11/06/2012

God forbid the restaurant do the right thing and actually pay their own employees properly instead of shoving the responsibility off on the customer.

[madeinny]

04:36 AM on 11/06/2012

I used to be a waitress myself and party of 5 sounds like a small "party" to have an automatic gratuity added on. It's normally at least 10-15 people. 5 people is basically a small family out to dinner.
That policy would not be held up in court, a gratuity is not mandatory, it's a service charge which actually goes to the restaurant not servers. Also, making it mandatory allows service to slip. So if this family had horrible service yet they're expected to pay gratuity for this service - shouldnt management have dealt with this rather than cowardly boarded them up and called(ie waste the time) of local police? It is the establishment's duty to pay their employees appropriately, it should not be passed on to patrons who have the option to tip as they wish.

[Djuan Sherman-Wash]

08:21 PM on 11/06/2012

A gratuity is absolutely a tip. When was the last timed you served a table? Furthermore, groups of 6 is the avg for getting an auto grat.

[andrewrama]

03:31 AM on 11/06/2012

I work as a chef at a fine dining restaurant where you cannot just walk in on a friday or saturday night, you have to make a reservation days if not a week in advance. The reputation of such establishments are predicated on the fact that we provide not only quality food, but above par service. You cannot expect to eat at establishments such as mine without the understanding that such rules are applied for purposes beyond your understanding and far beyond something as simple as 'rating the service of the waiter/waitress'.

In most cases parties or chef tables are given their own menus which we hand select a majority of the items on, prep for everything down to the dessert for your party, the area you occupy is set aside which is rather costly on a busy night for other patrons who could have also occupied that area, the amount of attention the staff and chefs dedicate to chef's tables is beyond what an average diner would experience, with complimentary bottles/amuse-broche/off the menu items.

So those mandatory service charges are justified. Most people who are accustomed to such a lifestyle wouldn't blink at a 16-18% service charge but would in fact leave a tip on top of a final tally (that is actually standard and considered bad taste if one does not).

[sfurr]

08:56 AM on 11/06/2012

Amuse-broche? and you're a chef at a fine dining restaurant?

BTW, tell me the name. I want to be sure not to go there. I have never heard such snobbishness, and I've eating a a great many fine dining restaurants. I've never eaten at a fine dining restaurant that served an amuse-bouche at the chef's table, but didn't also do so at every other table in the restaurant.

[ironchefjay2]

10:43 AM on 11/06/2012

I am not sure what American snobbery you infest but I will say that I eat and have eaten many times at some of the best places in Europe and Asia. I have yet to find anyone as offensive as you to include the French. Why do you not name the place of your employment so we can all just stay away?

[andynielsen]

12:49 PM on 11/06/2012

How is this person being snobby? I've seen this practice quite frequently in higher end restaurants. Most of these establishments - with a few exceptions - have had provided incredible service to my table coordinated across multiple servers. It's an entirely different dining experience from a standard dine-in restaurant like a Chilis, Houstons, etc.

[Stephen Plunkett]

10:39 AM on 05/13/2012

A tip is "a voluntary gratuity for services performed and is the sole property of the person that earned it". A service charge is "a mandatory charge imposed by the restaurant". They are quite different under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The amount in this example is clearly a service charge and it's then definitely then part of the bill. The customer agreed to those terms when making the reservation so it is no different than ordering a bottle of wine and then refusing to pay for it.

It might be possible to negotiate this in advance as in "I will make this reservation only if I can make a voluntary tip to the server the amount that I feel is correct". Service charges, by the way, are the property of (and income for) the restaurant not the server and often are kept or only partially distributed back to the service staff, that's quite likely the reason this restaurant (and many others) impose them.

[Geoff KippsBolton]

11:46 AM on 09/22/2012

If you order a bottle of wine and it's undrinkable should you still be expected to pay for it?

[Kimiko Austin-Rijs]

10:15 AM on 09/24/2012

I wouldn't drink an undrinkable glass, let alone bottle of wine let alone pay for it. I would tell the restaurant right away and send it back.

[andynielsen]

12:50 PM on 11/06/2012

If it's undrinkable because it is corked then no, you shouldn't pay for it. However, if you had the restaurant open a bottle of wine that you just don't care for then yes you should pay for it.

[Tyler Gamer]

05:16 PM on 05/10/2012

Just as all these restaurant workers claim that customers can go elsewhere if they don't like the restaurant "policy" the workers can go elsewhere if they don't like the fact that "gratuity" is not "mandatory" (or supported by law).

[Kimiko Austin-Rijs]

10:16 AM on 09/24/2012

Well, if everyone took their advice and went else where then these restaurant workers would have no job to go to.

[dropinsurf]

10:20 AM on 05/07/2012

first and foremost if they were locked in that is false imprisonment or at least kidnapping every one in that party should sue the owner and every employee that was there at the time, and go file chargers with the police and tips are for good servers i will say if you get bad service leave one penny upside down as your tip

[rosariad09]

11:07 AM on 05/07/2012

TECHNICALLY WHEN A TIP IS INCLUDED IN THE CHECK IT BECOMES PART OF THE CHECK THAT WOULD MEAN THEY SHORT PAID ON THE CHECK AND ON THOSE TERMS THE MANAGEMENT HAD EVERY RIGHT TO KEEP THEM THEIR UNTIL POLICE ARRIVED IT WOULD BE THE SAME AS IF YOU WENT AND BOUGHT A $30 SHIRT AND ONLY GAVE THE CASHIER $20 AND TRIED TO WALK OUT THEY WOULD TRY TO DETAIN YOU IN THE STORE UNTIL AUTHORITIES ARRIVED SO FALSE IMPRISONMENT IS EXAGGERATED AND UNTRUE. WE DO NOT KNOW THE WHOLE STORY JUST WHAT HAS BEEN TOLD BY UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS AND IN MY EXPERIENCE CUTOMERS CAN BE RUDE DEMANDING AND JUST UNHAPPY WITH EVERYTHING NO MATTER WHAT FOR ALL WE KNOW THESE PEOPLE COULD HAVE EXAGERATED THE SITUATION TO EITHER GET FREE FOOD OR MONEY OFF THE CHECK WHICH I HAVE EXPERIENCED SO MANY TIMES. A GROUP OF TEENAGERS CAME TO MY RESTAURANT ONE FRIDAY NITE WERE LOUD TOOK UP A FEW TABLES SAT FOR A VERY LONG TIME AND MADE A HUGE MESS, THE TEENAGERS PARENTS GAVE THEM MONEY TO GO OUT THE NEXT DAY AN ANGRY MOTHER CAME IN AND DEMANDED THAT HER SONS MEAL BE REFUNDED BECAUSE THE SERVER KEPT THE $3 CHANGE AS ATIP WHICH WHEN ASKED THE SON SAID HE DID NOT NEED CHANGE. SO AT THE END THE WOMAN GOT HER 20 BACK THE SERVER GOT NO TIP ...

[dropinsurf]

09:10 PM on 05/07/2012

no it is false imprisonment and if you say it was in bill its not a tip so it should be called a service charge for bigger parties and when ever i see that i tell them we will split the bill so they cant charge since wait staff think big parties have to leave a tip they dont give good service

[nazztea]

02:56 PM on 09/21/2012

Ease up on the CapsLock, rosariad09.
It actually makes it harder to read your reply, and many people will just jump over a long post that is all in caps.

[rosariad09]

09:41 AM on 05/07/2012

FIRST OF ALL THE GENERAL EXPECTED AMOUNT FOR A TIP IS 18-20% JUST FOR THOSE WHO FEEL THAT 17% IS TOO MUCH. SERVERS(THE GOOD ONES) EXPECT IT AND DESERVE IT. IF YOU HAVE A VALID PROBLEM WITH THE SERVICE SPEAK TO THE MANAGER, THIS WAY IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO NOT TIP THEY KNOW WHY. DON'T MAKE UP OR LOOK FOR EVERY LITTLE THING TO BLAME THE SERVER FOR JUST TO HAVE AN EXCUSE NOT TO TIP. AS FAR AS THIS ISSUE IF THE SERVER REALLY WAS RUDE AND NOT COMPOTENT THEN THE CUSTOMERS HAD A RIGHT TO REFUSE TO TIP AS LONG AS THEY VOICED THEIR ISSUES TO THE MANAGER BEFORE THE BILL CAME, WAITING TO DO SO AFTER YOU HAVE RECIEVED THE BILL MAKES YOU LOOK CHEAP AND WRONG ESPECIALLY AT A PLACE THAT CLEARLY STATES THEIR TIPPING POLICY WHICH THE MAJORITY OF RESTAURANTS DO.

[Tyler Gamer]

05:04 PM on 05/10/2012

ahhh... but their tipping "policy" (which is not law mind you) doesn't say that the "gratuity" (which is by definition is not "mandatory") can't be removed from the bill either. It says it will be added but it doesn't warn the customer that they do not have the option to remove it (which again is like the poster above said, it is a service charge and should be called as such). So basically the restaurant is wrong, the customer is right... and the law could have easily been used against the company. Let them get before a jury and say that a gratuity is mandatory.

[andrewrama]

03:01 AM on 11/06/2012

In this case you are assuming the law enforcement that was called is not also aware of the law and in this case sided with the restaurant?

Are we to believe that your fuzzy understanding of words by stating their supposed definition knows more than the officers called to the scene of the crime and made a decision based on the facts available, and not one surmised from an article, miles/days away from the actual incident?

[Julie Baker Morse]

07:13 PM on 09/20/2012

They had better never "expect" it from me, because my servers either earn their tip via good service, or they just don't get one. I have my own little system, and I have no problem providing a little "report card", complete with percentage deductions, on their copy of the receipt.

[andrewrama]

03:04 AM on 11/06/2012

If you are ever in a party of six or more in any fine dining establishment with the service charge stated on the bottom of the menu and refuse to pay with your 'report card in hand'; please make a video of it so the rest of us can point and laugh at you getting hauled away to jail.

[NevaforLeadership]

09:15 AM on 05/07/2012

I went to a restaurant at the weekend and didn't tip.

Why?

Loud, inappropriate music.

Recycled napkins.

Filthy salt and pepper shakers.

Glib, nonchalant waitress.

Shame, because the restaurant has so much potential, and I have already told a whole bunch of people.

[rosariad09]

09:57 AM on 05/07/2012

HOW MUCH OF YOUR COMPLAINTS CAN YOU REALLY SAY ARE YOUR WAITRESSES FAULT MAYBE THAT WASNT HER SECTION WAS IT BUSY THESE ARE THINGS THAT YOU REALLY SHOULD CONSIDER BEFORE NOT TIPPING BECAUSE TO ME THAT SOUNDS MORE LIKE POOR MANAGEMENT NOT THE SERVERS FAULT.

[WWJJD]

01:29 AM on 05/08/2012

Turn off your caps lock. I am sure more people would read your comments if you turned it off. It is like you are YELLING.

[70sbabie]

03:57 AM on 05/10/2012

If all this was wrong with the restaurant then why did you even waste your time staying there....just to have something to complain about in hopes that YOU could get a free meal too?? If I walked in to a restaurant like that, no matter if I've told a bunch of people or not, I would have walked out, but that's just me.

[NevaforLeadership]

08:17 AM on 05/10/2012

Are you one of those people who makes your own assumptions about political candidates, then posts them as facts?

That's just you.

[catbutt]

01:42 AM on 05/07/2012

People say that a TIP is To Insure Proper service, but if that's the case, wouldn't it be offered at the start of a meal?
A TIP is an extra something (usually money), that is given to a server for Service Over and Above that of the restaurants normal. In other words, if your service is Par for the course, you shouldn't expect a tip. As a Washington bartender, I never expect a tip from anyone and yet I make 23% of my gross sales in tips. (over $60,000 last year)

My tip percentage is not the result of a restaurant sheepishly adding a gratuity to the bill, but rather the result of giving customers the service they want in a personal and meaningful way.
My customers appreciate my service and they TIP me with money, repeat business, and with introductions to new customers.

It's a shame that some restaurants think they are in the food business when actually they are in the experience business.

[honeybear64]

02:41 AM on 05/07/2012

"TIPS = To Insure Proper Service" is a false etymology. Even if it actually were an acronym, which it isn't, it would be "TEPS", since the appropriate verb would be "ensure", not "insure" - you're not taking out an INsurance policy on good service, you're just trying to ENsure that it happens.

Okay, this former English teacher will now shut up about that LOL!

"It's a shame that some restaurants think they are in the food business when actually they are in the experience business" - you are so right about that. I wish customers would realize the same thing. It kills me how people will go to restaurants, use vending machines, and so on, and complain about the price difference between that and what they could get at Walmart - well go to frickin' Walmart then! It'll be cheaper, but then you'll have to prep, cook, serve, and clean up for yourself. And if you don't like the prices in the vending machines at work, then brings snacks and drinks to work with you - when you use the machines, you're not just paying for a bag of chips and a soda, you're paying for the convenience of not having to bring them with you and store them in your work area, as well as being able to buy on impulse without having to leave the building. (People also almost never remember that prices in vending machines INCLUDE sales tax.)

[NevaforLeadership]

09:23 AM on 05/07/2012

Tip to ensure proper service.

That's the most outrageous, off-the-rails justification for tipping that I have ever heard and a symptom of an entitled society.

Thank you for your post. We need more of your kind of common sense.

I knew a woman once, the server in a small cocktail lounge, middle-aged, charming to everyone -- men and women alike. People never called the bar by its name. Instead, they said, "let's go to M's bar," calling the lounge by her name. When she moved to another cocktail lounge, the customers followed, and it became M's bar.

After work in the winter, she would put on her full-length sable coat and head for home.

[fisch123]

09:55 PM on 05/06/2012

I refuse to eat at any restraunt that automatically adds a gratuity to the bill.

[honeybear64]

02:12 AM on 05/07/2012

That is, of course, your right, and the proper response to a policy you disagree with - NOT to order a meal knowing a charge will be tacked on and then arguing about it later.

[JUSTME]

08:37 PM on 05/06/2012

The bottom line is that restaurants don't pay their servers a fair wage. In addition to serving customers, servers spend several hours during their shifts setting up the dining room, managing the cash registers, processing credit card payments, cleaning the dining room after the last customer leaves. There are also restaurants that make their serving staff wash the floors or vacuum at the end of the night.

Servers do a lot of work that is not directly related to serving customers, but is directly related to providing the restaurant owner labor at slave wages. So if servers make pitiable wages, the solution is to bring them under the protection of the Fair Labor Standards Act and not put the onus on customers to subsidize management's unfair labor practices.

A gratuity is exactly that--a personal transaction between customer and server. It is not, or should not be, a compulsory dip into the customer's pocket by a restaurant owner for his own benefit.