This Soprano needs to get whacked
with a common sense paddle, anyway.
This is definitely my pick for stupidest recent abuse of the legal system. This guy Tavares and his group get mediocre food and service at a restaurant, so they pay the bill and leave a lousy tip -- 10 percent, rather than the 18 percent asked for for a party of his size.
The restaurant's owner -- Joe Soprano -- ends up pressing charges (misdemeanor theft of services), saying Tavares owed the 18 percent for his big party and was legally bound to pay it.
Apparently Taveras got off the hook on a technicality: Soprano's restaurant doesn't call the fee for large parties a service charge, so there's no legal requirement to pay it. I'm sure Soprano's having the menus reprinted already.
Meanwhile, word's getting around that Soprano gets the cops after customers who leave a paltry 10 percent tip. That's gonna do wonders for his business.
This is one of those lose-lose situations that outsiders look at and wonder how a guy like Joe Soprano ever got into in the first place. He claims it's about the principle of the thing -- because Taveras' group was obnoxious, and hey, I get that. I've been on the receiving end of plenty of "customer is always right" customers who are just dead wrong -- but there's absolutely no way you can extricate yourself from a situation like this without smelling like that which roses grow in, rather than the rose itself. Sometimes you just have to take one for the team.
Comments
The only reason I might not agree Peter is that the real victim in this isn't the restaurant's owner; it's the poor waiter/waitress who waited upon Taveras (or Bonehead #1, Joe Soprano is Bonehead #2).
This poor person had to wait on this large ruckus party, which is really difficult, only to get a bad tip. Due to the way in which the pay structure for wait staff has evolved, they get paid next to nothing for their time, relying on these tips.
So really, that 18% wasn't going to the owner (who only has to pay the $2+/hour), it was going to the server. Bonehead #2 probably shouldn't have been so aggressive, but it almost seems like he was looking out for his employees, which is oddly heroic. So really, Bonehead #2 couldn't take one for the team in this, unless he surrendered part of the price of the meal to the server.
Posted by: Derik | September 15, 2004 03:50 PM
You raise a good point, Derik. And I misspoke before -- it wasn't the service that was the problem but the food.
Nowhere in any coverage I've read about this where Soprano has been interviewed has he actually said, "I'm doing this to support my employee who's owed this money" or anything of that nature.
Instead, he's suggested that he's just doing it as retaliatory measure just to get back at Tavares for being a bad customer. "It's unfortunate it has come to this, but this guy was rude and abrasive. They practically threw food at us," he told AP.
So while I feel for the waitron who took it in the pants because the kitchen was apparently off that night, I still think the boss is an idiot.
Posted by: flargh | September 15, 2004 04:03 PM
Oh, for sure. The low tip was just an excuse for Joe (Bonehead #2) to exact some revenge. I don't think it was ever the real issue.
Posted by: Derik | September 15, 2004 05:20 PM
I usually leave a 20% tip unless service is really bad. My grandparents leave at least $10, even for a $10 check. I think that if you can't afford to leave a decent tip, then don't go a restaurant.
The $2/h + tip system doesn't necessarily translate into $6/h, or whatever the minimum wage is. For example, in Barcelona, Spain, servers make about 7/h and the locals don't usually leave a tip (most tourists do though).
Posted by: FC | September 15, 2004 08:21 PM
All of my my friends that have been waitresses have told me that the $2/h + tip system usually works out to way more than normal minimum wage (I think they told me about $10 normally, more sometimes).
Posted by: Derik | September 15, 2004 09:59 PM
Having been a waitress and relied on tips for part of my pay, I know that you may or may not exceed the minimum wage depending on time of day/night of week that you are working. However, if I offered mediocre service, I expected a mediocre tip.
Posted by: suellen | September 16, 2004 03:12 PM