Posted on 02/26/2010 7:48:42 AM PST by dennisw
WINSTON-SALEM -- A woman who a local restaurant manager refused to serve claiming she is a habitually poor tipper told WXII Wednesday she is in the process of consulting an attorney.
Monica Covington was recently banned from the Kanpai Japanese Steak and Seafood House on Stratford Road after manager Michael Lam said servers and chefs refused to serve her because of her less-than-expected tipping history at the establishment.
Covington, who started a boycott petition against the restaurant, said the restaurant slandered her in the WXII report, which has set off a firestorm of opinions surrounding the issue of tipping.
"At this point, I am securing an attorney to address the slander against my name and character," Covington said in a statement to WXII. "I have always left a good tip at Kanpai Restaurant , even when I was given poor and less than honorable service."
Covington said her spat with the restaurant began in 2008 when she was told she would have to pay an 18 percent gratuity to dine.
"Yes, because we can't keep continuing to serve her anymore because the servers and chefs are not willing to serve her," Lam said Tuesday when asked if he refused Covington service.
On Wednesday, Lam said his establishment has never tacked an 18 percent gratuity on to her bill without her knowledge.
So far, 300 people have signed Covington's petition. Supporters of Lam's restaurant have also started an online petition.
Only old-timers will get that one. :-)
“The customer is stealing?...” Maybe not but they are being a jackass if they don’t leave a tip for decent service. People should either eat where tips are not expected or leave a tip...
“At TGI Fridays the wait staff have to give three percent to the tip pool based upon their gross sales. So if their sales were $1000 for the night then they should have gotten around $150 for the night of which they have to give away $30 to the pool (goes to other staff). So when a customer runs up a bill of $90 because of drinks and so forth and then stiffs the waiter or waitress he is actually costing him/her money since their salary is $2.05 per hour.”
“....stiffs the waiter or waitress he is actually costing him/her money since their salary is $2.05 per hour.”
$2.05 is well below minimum wage. The restaurant owner is stiffing the waiters before a customer ever walks in the door. The customer isn’t obligated to fix the owner’s greed. It is crazy that restaurants are given some kind of legal exception to minimum wage laws to screw their employees. Unfortunately too, the idea of tipping to reward excellence has degenerated into some kind of sense of entitlement, regardless of performance. I actually do avoid any place that adds a mandatory gratuity to my bill - where is the incentive for the waiter to excel if his tip is already guaranteed? It’s a bit like socialism.
“I always tip in restaurants.....In effect I carry the bums who don’t tip. That’s how I look at it”
I nearly always do, but I reserve the right NOT to reward mediocre or poor service. Tipping is a slippery slope - too many take it for granted.
Ironically, it was Mr. Pink who ended up getting away with the cash.
“The restaurant owner is stiffing the waiters before a customer ever walks in the door”
Exactly. It’s not the job of the customer to deal with the employer.
And don’t give me the garbage that only rich people could afford to eat out.
I remember. And he didn’t seem to have had that result planned. It’s just that everyone else ended up dead!
I had a Norwegian classmate who used to do the same thing until the first time we went out to eat together and I schooled her on our customs. Turns out she’d been leaving a dime or quarter for her tips!
We usually tip well, in the 25% range and up. BUT - I get seriously annoyed at the servers who think they’re entitled to 20% and up. When did that happen? I’m not that old. Food prices have already gone up a whole lot, and restaurants are empty, so when you are expected to add 25% plus close to 10% in taxes to a restaurant bill...no wonder the restaurants are consistently empty now.
We tip high because we can afford it, I worked in a restaurant for a few years, and I know there are cheap people who tip nothing. I still get annoyed at the entitlement mentality of people with NO education and really minimal job skills. Yeah, food service is hard...so are lots of other jobs. You don’t like your earnings in food service, then get into a different line of work. (On the flip side, if somebody doesn’t like tipping, DON’T eat in restaurants where you are expected to tip, or you are a world class jerk because you KNOW those servers are being paid slave wages unless you tip.)
this story has been going on for days now here with hundreds of post to WXII 12.com From post there we learn she is the Ministry Coordinator for her pastor brothers church and looks like a black Tammy Faye Baker from the PTL Club. Evidently the 300 that signed here petition are her church members and were told a complete different story by her brother that got them to sign. The petition for KanPai has something like 800 signatures in support and reservations are booked solid. Apparently this isn’t going to go down as Convinton had hoped. There’s her Change:)-o
http://www.wxii12.com/news/22648863/detail.html
Thanks for that info!
I found that thread and will be read the comments.
So interesting that she is involved in church activities and still sees fit to not tip those who serve her well in this Japanese steak house. Not very Christian of her. More like she has bought into the entitlement mentality lock stock and barrel
Once again ... great story! Thanks!
In today’s PC age you can often glean more from the comments than from the story at a mainstream/lamestream media outlet
In a fine dining establishment you should try to tip at least 18%-20%. Fine dining to me means running up a bill of %100 or more for two people. 25% is nice for the server, not obligatory in my book
In a more humble place shoot for at least 15% tip
There is no excuse for not being able to figure out 15%
Just divide your bill by 7 and you have it
Thus a $14 bill (pretax) means a $2 tip for that to reach 15%
Did the customer pay the price of the meal? If so, she didn't "steal" from anyone. The only one stealing from the staff are the owners of the Restaurant. The Restaurants need to either pay their staff better, even if it means jacking up the prices.
I very seldom leave tips and I very seldom eat out because I cannot stand to be held up by people who think they are owed a tip for doing their job.
Tipping is BS. The meal comes with a price, that price is supposed to represent the cost of doing business, if they need to jack up the prices to pay their staff better then they should do it. Tipping is merely the way restaurants get out of having to pay their staff what they are worth. If the owner doesn't think they are worth more than minimum wage then why should think they are worth more.
All of you people who grouse about tipping have rocks in your fickin' heads, you are being ripped off. Not tipping rips no one off, it merely saves you money.
Let me ask you a question: Do you ever eat at a McDs or Burger King or any other fast food place and if you do, do you tip? Most likely not. So explain that to me, why do you think the minimum wage waiter, bus boys etc. at some restaurants should be tipped but not the fast food staff?
Tipping: The biggest rip off in America except for Global Warming.
The owner owes his/her staff a decent wage, the customers do not, the only one stiffing the staff is the owner. Customers are not responsible for paying the wages of the staff, once again: Tipping the big American rip off of customers.
A friend of mine just started waitressing at TGI Fridays. The new waitresses always get the tables with black customers because they just don’t tip.
She did an entire shift for $12 in tips.
You are ripping off your waitress, since the IRS withholding assumes 15% tips.
Your thinking is repellent. You must deal with the world as it is. Not as you wish is were. Just do what others do as far as tipping
If you hate to tip then don’t go to places with waiter service. Matter of fact that option is becoming more popular with this recession. I see plenty of small Chinese takeouts where if you want to eat there you take your Styrofoam takeout box and sit down at one of their tables. You can grab some tea from an urn. No one waits on you
You are ripping off your waitress, since the IRS withholding assumes 15% tips.......
My thinking is the non-tippers also ripoff those who do tip. We pick up the tab for their stinginess.
“Every debt must be paid by you or someone else”
Truly. You'd never guess it of her: long mane of golden curls, pretty, Australian, (you know, special!) (Not a grubby, unrefined American.) But under all those curls was an often stoned, nearly illiterate, very hostile waitress.
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