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.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/ISUPPORTKANPAI/
Petition Site
I Support Kanpai, Shame on Monica Covington
Yes, sadly you are right. Not racist, just an observation. I had an entire section filled by a group/family or something of all black people. They were there for 2 1/2 hours and pitched a FIT when finding out that gratuity was added to a group their size. So they argued with the manager for seperate checks so gratuity wouldn’t be included and then left me zero dollars for a tip. I had no tables except theirs for three hours and with my hourly wage I made a total of $6.60. I was praying the stereotype I had heard of wasn’t true, but the other waitresses were giving me sympathetic looks the whole time.
I quit that night because I felt like my manager should have agreed to give them seperate checks, but since they were obviously together, the group policy should have applied. He was intimidated by them though, I could tell. So I told him to shove it and left.
It seems like all I am reading this morning is news about ‘poor, unfortunate victims’ who just out of the blue have terrible things happen to them. And are going to sue.
Turns my stomach. The Land of ME.
The restaurant has a right not to serve her.
But if the service is so bad, why does this lady return? I bet she’s some sort of nut.
Here’s a related article—different person/restaurant:
I Was Banned For Not Tipping
Thu 07 Jan 2010
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2423167/posts
UGH!!! I used to like the slimy “drop” in my egg drop soup... until your post! LOL
Here’s an idea. How about the restaurant pay their waitstaff enough so tipping isn’t expected. I’ve been to places that specifically state NOT to tip and the service, surprise!, is much better.
The result? I typically avoid the sit-down restaurants.
“Yes, because we can’t keep continuing to serve her anymore because the servers and chefs are not willing to serve her,”
If I own a resturant... and one of my employees refuses to serve a customer, they’re fired.
Tipper Gore?
Remember it was reveled prior to the 2000 election, Al and Tipper, on an income of millions gave almost NOTHING to charity.
And with carbon futures crashing, maybe they don’t have anything left.
I completely missed the part about the chef.
yeah, its ridiculous.
Sorry. Love Asian food but ‘Drops’ have always been a turn off for me.
Depending upon the reason, maybe but you’re going to be cook, server and host/hostess with that attitude. The customer may always be right but a good manager support his staff when the situation calls for it.
A woman I knew, who waited tables at a very nice, very expensive restaurant in Washington D.C., told me that she regularly spat in the cappuccinos of diners who were rude or who had under-tipped on previous visits. This practice brought her great joy.
She said she wasn’t the only server who did such a thing.
It’s always a good idea to treat the waitstaff politely and to tip at least 15%.
That place is just down the road from my office. My kids have eaten there, but I never have. You’d think if this lady really liked the food, and she must, going there often enough to be singled out as a bad tipper, that she’d “give some props” to the staff, as they say.
In this case at a Japanese steak house, imagine a hibachi table setup where the chef cooks and puts on a bit of a show at the same time and is the primary server. Not the same as if it were the kitchen staff joining in.
Ironically, they kept coming.
I wasn’t going to post this but...my wife and I used to own 4 Pizza restaurants. We had several customers that our drivers, even the one AA delivery guy, would not deliver to. You can guess which customers those were, right?
Finally, after getting yelled at and threatened by two of those customers, I paid the drivers out of pocket. But, I took them off of my mailing list, which is where I gave the discount coupons. Soon afterward, they no longer called us. I guess they drove to Caesar’s. {yuk}
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