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Our sister site HLN reports that a Houston, Texas family claims they were locked inside La Fisherman restaurant after refusing to pay a 17 percent tip on their meal. The restaurant’s policy states that the percentage will be automatically added to the tab for parties of five or more.

Customer Jasmine Marks told Click2Houston.com that the staff was rude, the drinks weren’t refilled and her group received generally poor service. Marks asked if she could speak to a manager to have the auto-gratuity stripped from the bill, but claims the staff locked the doors and told her that her options were to pay the 17 percent or speak with the police outside.

Right, wrong, what?

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(bill, how was your first time with me, and your second)

You’ll have to refresh my memory.

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the whole mandatory gratuity bit is a double edged blade. you could leave it off and get more, or less. with it on there, its an assurance that you are going to get that much.

our establishment has it printed in the menu that with groups of 6 or more an 18% gratuity will be added. 15% on sunday brunch. and while i know most places have the groups at 8, there is a circumstance that i think warrants the 6.

we are a participating location for the diner of the month club cards, the little box full of white punch cards, and also the happenings/entertainment books. and you can use up to three of them at a table. so a group of 6 eats for the price of 3. and while in their guidelines they do say to tip before the discount. so few people actually do that. so say everyones meal is $18 and they just get food, one card requires beverage purchase and one does not (the cards are good for, 17 or 18$ buy one get one) 6 people thats $108. thats an $18 – 18% tip. but instead they tip after the discount, and you get $9. for a group of 6 with a $100+ tab. really?! awesome.

that is the only case where i feel justified using the “mandatory” gratuity, which it definitely isnt mandatory because i leave it off all the time and get tipped crazy better. there are times when people think i was silly to not add the gratuity and then when the checks closed out, i’ve made 30% on a large party instead of 18%.

i feel that i am a pretty good server (bill, how was your first time with me, and your second) and i feel that i work hard for whatever i get, which is generally above 18%. but i also put in five years at Dennys, where you get the lowest of the lows, stiffed on a regular basis, people walk out on their checks all together. and i think that has given me an appreciation for my job and the money that people CHOOSE to give me. i am the same happy go lucky-try my best to remember your face/name/order-give 110% of myself to every table, whether they leave me 10% or 20%.

i love my job. waitressing. not many people can say that as honestly and as whole-heartedly as i do. but i do. if i didnt love it i would not stay in the industry because it is amazing how hard it can be. i think there are people who do not love their job and are just there for the money and thats where bad service comes from. and it does suck to be ‘forced’ to reward the bad server with a ‘mandatory’ tip. i think if there is a problem with something, address it while it can still be fixed. dont wait until the end. if its with the food, let the server know before youve eaten it all, if its the server, somehow get to a manager to talk about it. we cant help you if you dont tell us somethings wrong.

okay, wow this post is a lot longer than i intended. did i mention i love my job and get kind of passionate about it?

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My standard for tipping is 20%, with 25% if the service is good and 10-15% or less if it isn’t (and it was something the server had control over). Sometimes this changes; for example at bars, I usually tip a buck per drink unless I’m getting food too.

But I agree with Emily that other countries do this more sensibly. It was nice when I went to Japan to know that whatever it said on the menu was exactly what I would pay — no tip because the staff is paid better from the get-go, and taxes were already factored into the price.

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/shrug

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In this case, as long as it was stated on the menu, I would have asked to speak to the manager. If they weren’t willing to help me out I would have just paid it and never gone back, and probably told everyone I could about the poor service.

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There are lots of people out there like that. When my wife was in school she was a waitress and has lots of stories of dead beats. Many of them business people who would have a big lunch with a large group and then when it came time to pay, would leave a tip barely 5%, even though two waitresses were at their beck and call the whole time.

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I didn’t tip that guy at all.

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I tip 20% for good service, 15% for adequate service.

Most servers are paid subhuman wages, I dont mind paying the tip.

Mandatory service charges… the comments given are all correct, complain about it if the service was not good. But usually most restaurants state this on their menu… in the USA usually for a party of 8 or more is my experience. In Europe it is always on it.. except for standup counter service.

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Either the tip or the whole thing will suffice.

Bahahahaha, classic joke, TDevils!

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Either the tip or the whole thing will suffice.

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I think a mandatory gratuity is ridiculous in most cases. Call it a “service charge” or build it in to the prices, but it’s an oxymoron to have a mandatory gratuity. That said… I know many restaurants charge a mandatory gratuity for large groups (e.g. 8 or more). This seems okay to me, because (1) I imagine dealing with large groups is difficult and demanding and that the hard work of the server in such a situation may be difficult for the group to perceive, (2) tips often get lost in the fray when large groups are dividing up the bill, leaving the server shafted too often.

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However, I do wish we operated like other countries where servers are paid a reasonable wage and tipping is a “bonus” above and beyond it rather than an expectation.

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