Ravenwood - 09/13/04 07:00 AM
You might want to think twice the next time you stiff your waitress for bad service. In New York, it might just land you in jail.
A New York City man accused of leaving an inadequate tip at a restaurant was arrested, fingerprinted and photographed for a mug shot.The restaurant owner plans to press charges, not because of the money, but because Taveras' group was obnoxious.Humberto A. Taveras, 41, faces a misdemeanor charge of theft of services after he and his fellow diners argued with Soprano's Italian and American Grill managers over the legality of requiring an 18 percent tip for large parties.
"They chased us down like a bunch of criminals," Taveras said. "It killed our weekend."
Taveras and eight others had pizza at the restaurant Sunday night. He told the Glens Falls Post-Star they weren't completely satisfied with the food and left a tip of under 10 percent. Taveras said they also were not told of a mandatory 18 percent gratuity for parties of six or more and did not see notice of it on their menus.
UPDATE: The charges were dropped. The DA apparently realized that a "gratuity" cannot be made compulsory. However, had they billed it as a "service charge", they would have had a case.
Category: Oddities
Comments (1) top link me
And they couldn't enforce something like this when John Elway stiffed me on my tip??? There's no justice.
Posted by: Da Goddess at September 13, 2004 4:04 PM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014