Restaurant Refuses to Let Guests Leave Until They Pay Tip

You know the rule at restaurants: you don't pay, you don't leave. Who knew that rule applied to tipping your waiter as well?

In Houston, Jasmine Marks went out to eat with her family, and was met with sub-standard service from the wait staff. The restaurant then added an automatic 17% gratuity to the bill, because there were more than 5 people. The guests refused to pay the gratuity, so the restaurant refused to let them leave.

The gratuity policy was clearly marked on the restaurant's menus. But Marks said when they questioned it the workers wouldn't let her or her friends leave; she claims they locked the door and called the police.

"She was like, 'You have an unsettled bill and ya'll can't leave until you pay it,'" Marks said. "We paid our bill for what we ate, we paid the bill." Marks said it was only the 17 percent tip they were questioning.

"She said, 'That's fine. If you don't want to pay the gratuity we have HPD outside,'" Marks said. "I asked the police officer twice, maybe three times, is it against the law if we don't pay the gratuity and he never gave me a straight answer."

The guests eventually paid the 17% tip to avoid further incident.

OK, the whole gratuity thing may be the company's policy and all that, but I'm kind of siding with the family on this one. I believe tips should be earned, not just handed out. If you do a good job, I'll be more than happy to tip you. But if you do a crappy job, you shouldn't be rewarded for it. And you definitely shouldn't call the cops out to your restaurant just because someone refused to tip.

What do you think? Was the family right to withhold a tip for bad service, or should they have paid up anyway?