Don't Tip Your Dancer? Go Directly to Jail . . .
"If you're frustrated by poor service at a restaurant, think twice before you decide to not tip. You may be in for a bit more than just a dirty look from the waiter.'Nobody, nobody wants to be forced to pay a tip or be arrested for terrible service,' Leslie Pope said when her happy hour ended in handcuffs.
Pope and John Wagner were hauled away by police and charged with theft for not paying the mandatory 18 percent gratuity totaling $16 after eating at the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, Pa. with six friends." http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/loca…
I tell people that you can be arrested for any reason, but of course most refuse to believe it. Anyway, next time a rob stripper demands some cash the wise choice might be to pay up! There is a lot of zero tolerance filth and accountability crap---think Bush mentality---going around so you never know when it might bite you in the ass.
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Although the worst ever was in Costa Rica, they tacked on all kinds of odd charges at a few places, then forgot to how to speak english when I asked... but I digress.
I try hard not to let myself get ripped off, I'll take it to the manager and rarely have much of a problem after I do that. Even at a club, unless it's nominal, I'm not going to pay it. It perpetuates the system of rip offs.
And we shouldn't be bringing our debit/credit cards inside strip clubs. Paying cash should avoid any automatic tips and I'd question whether any strip club would ever dare try to demand we pay a tip or they'd call the police.
Sometimes the police work with the club. And, most likely it wouldn't be for a tiny tip (but, then again see the couple in the article who got arrested and hauled to jail; heck, they might even get convicted; accountability and such crap.)
Recently I left a waitress a .25 cent tip because:
Someone else brought my tea
and my food
and a condiment
and refreshed my tea.
The only time I saw my waitress-she took my order and brought the check.
Also, I complained to a manager (at another place) because a waitress ignored me and I had to flag her down. Two other waiters also ignored me. The next time I went to that place, she stepped up her game, but she was still inadequate.
And for dances at an SC, it's all gratuity, as far as I'm concerned.
Another thought. Is this like the housing bubble? Has a few idoit men in better times with lot's of money wanted to shown off and out bid each other for a piece of 'A?' Now there are expectations on the rest of us normal guys simply looking for some distraction from the daily toil.
It was 18%, and I guess it was the bar's policy that tips are automatically added to the bill for large parties, which in this case was 6 or more people. Usually those kind of policies are stated right on the bill and/or on the menu.
"If so, it should be not called a tip and be classified as service fee and taxed as income."
Tips ARE taxed as income.
BTW, there's almost no way that those "theft" charges will hold up in court.
Another liberal fantasy. Anyway, the damage has already been done in that they've got criminal records. *If* I read/remember the article correctly, then their attorney is already begging to cut a deal with the government. There is a huge shortage of criminals so these folks are just caught up in the game.
"There is a huge shortage of criminals..."
Jablake, are you being sarcastic, or what?
Well, maybe not the *entire* police department. :) Just the gentlemen earning extra on the side for being helpful. This is Miami so I doubt not paying the tip would result in arrest for theft of gratuity; it more like result in result for gun possession, drug charges, murder (even if the supposed victims are still alive), etc. Pay the tip-----one way or the other.
"'There is a huge shortage of criminals...'
Jablake, are you being sarcastic, or what?"
No, I'm being very serious.
"Arrest-Proof Yourself: An Ex-Cop Reveals How Easy It Is for Anyone to Get Arrested, How Even a Single Arrest Could Ruin Your Life, and What to Do If the Police Get in Your Face by Dale C. Carson and Wes Denham (Paperback - Jan 1, 2007)." http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=se…
The Ex-Cop also touches slightly upon the economic value of making arrests and getting convictions. People's jobs depend on keeping the prisons filled. That is why you'll see all many of silly arrests and draconian sentences. Not saying the government won't let out a mass murder or two due to "over crowding." Got to keep the cattle scared and eager for more police and more prisons and subservient to endless laws. Even in the good old days (decades ago) people were doing jail time over nothing-----A condo unit that I owned *Unit 16* actually had a history where a man did a year in jail for the "crime" of living in that unit because the unit was deemed too small----I believe it was 413 SF and in order to be legal needed to be 425 SF. Now liberals and cattle class and pseudo-conservatives would believe that couldn't happen essentially because this is America. Bullshit. Power corrupts.
The Wall Street Journal had a piece a some years back where they were completely outraged by a judge making the statement that she was sick of police officers coming into her court and telling lies under oath.
My opinion was that The Wall Street Journal was exhibiting clear symptoms of pseudo-conservatism e.g. law and order even when corruption is demonstrably pellucid.
The gravamen was that day in and day out police officers would come into court and swear under oath that the alleged drug dealer dropped the drugs. So, thousands and thousands of drug dealers are just going around dropping drugs so police can make arrests? It was a running joke amongst the police and some would argue the ends justified the means. Who cares is police officers lie under oath as long as the drug dealers are arrested?
It goes further than the ends justify the means, however. The Wall Street Journal piece was going off the deep end in rage because the judge was telling truth about an issue that might make some people dislike the police---not everyone approves of fabricating evidence etc.
jablake, you're taking this thread way off tangent from what was a simple 2 college-age objectors to lousy service and a restaurant automatically adding 22% tip to a tab (and probably more to the story as to what prompted police to be called) compared to avoidance of arrest for actual criminal activity. Not paying a gratuity is hardly comparable to drug and weapons charges.
You're missing the point. The "crime" may be for not paying the tip, but the police not wanting to look silly have a habit of upgrading the charges. :)
So, don't pay that stripper tip and don't be crying when the police upgrade the charges-----hint, hint, hint-----you don't need have drugs or weapons it is just too easy to see you "drop" the drugs----again you don't need to "drop" drugs or have drugs. It is a game. Normal people pay off and the fools that don't may end up with an arrest record and perhaps jail time.
The story refers to an 18% gratuity so I'm not sure where you are getting a 22% from. Also, the more to the story mentality is just the normal cop-out people often use for a number of reasons. Probably they'd like to think it could never happen to them because they support the police. Or, they don't want to think valuable resources are being wasted on such nonsense. Or, etc.
I bet the tenant of Unit 16 believed the police would never arrest him and especially that he wouldn't do jail time (the courts would protect him idiocy) for living in a residential unit that was like 413 SF instead of the mandatory 425 SF. The cattle won't learn as general rule.
BTW, my laudry man would call the cops over a $1 dispute. The solution is to pay the $1 or the $10 or whatever small amount he demands and then go to a different laundry-----fortunately choosing a different laundry is a real solution in my area. No need to put up with poor service. The laundry man who'd call the cops (not on me, btw or my friends either) wasn't a bad person. And, he believed he was in the right. He may have been in the right----I don't want a $1 stolen from me even if I'm not going to call the police. Bottom line that laundry would call the police and I just didn't like that mentality so I took my business to a laundry across the street.
Also, that laundry went under! :) New management and I now have been using that laundry for years. A machine doesn't heat the owner is happy to replace my money and makes me feel like a valued customer. Downside? His prices are higher. It would be better dollar wise not to have my money replaced and get the lower prices of the laundry man always calling the police.
In the book that I cited above the Ex-Cop tells about a child who was arrested for throwing pecans at a school bus. The charges? Something like felony launching of deadly missles etc. The law is a big business fraud. :)
I remember children throwing pine cones----those are a lot more dangerous than pecans, btw. It was child's play and it wasn't limited to the children. I remember the bus driver getting out and launching a few pine cones-----he wasn't actually trying to hit the children just scare 'em a little. In this sick society those children may be arrested on felony charges because it is a money game; a fraud.
Case closed.
I remember at the waffle house they add on a mandatory tip if you order a carry out order (I ordered a cup of coffee). What a joke but it is still considered hella cheap with strip club prices.
Makes the case for a federal consumption tax replacing the income tax.