Apocalypse
04-02-2011, 01:42 PM
From a Wisconsin Blog.
It’s a busy Friday night at a popular local hangout in Muskego, WI. Tables full of hungry diners, like the Margarita glasses in their hands, are repeatedly emptied and refilled.
A table of four finishes their meal, and is presented by their waitress a bill (http://badgerblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/union_thug_diner1.jpg) in the amount of $123.49. The restaurant’s invoice provides helpful gratuity suggestions; dollar amounts totaling 15, 18, even 20 percent.
Yet one diner, picking up the tab for his entire table, elects instead (http://badgerblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/union_thug_diner1.jpg) to leave a $12.00 tip – representing just over 10 percent of the bill’s total – but only after writing the words (http://badgerblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/union_thug_diner2.jpg) “UNION MEMBER” just below the gratuity line.
A new union scheme, designed to bring harm to businesses whom they believe to be disloyal to their cause? Or, simply, an overly-frugal diner with a chip on their shoulder?
We talked to Bob Hinners, who tells us that he runs the restaurant, Tres Locos, with his mom, and who confirmed the accuracy of the story. “They seemed like nice people,” he said. “They had a few drinks, they seemed to enjoy themselves.”
Hinners tells us that he and the waitress, who also serves as a bartender, were surprised by the stunt, which he called “ridiculous.”
“This doesn’t make any sense, ” said Hinners. “The only person they’re hurting is the worker. It’s workers hurting workers.”
We asked Hinners if it was possible his restaurant had received a letter recently, threatening economic damage to his business if he elected not to show his ‘solidarity’ with the local unions, similar to the strategy exposed in nearby Union Grove (http://badgerblogger.com/?p=19627) last week.
“It’s possible we received something, and we just haven’t opened it yet,” Hinners explained.
We asked Hinners if it was possible these were the actions of a diner using their stinginess as an excuse to make union workers look bad. “I don’t think so,” Hinners replied. “Several other diners told us afterward that they had heard the party discussing whether or not to do this, that their union had suggested it, but questioned whether it would make any point.”
The next thing he knew, Hinners told us, “they just signed the bill and ran out the door.”
Hinners confirmed that after the “poor tipper” had left, he placed a copy of the receipt above the bar, adding the caption “Waitresses don’t work for free.” In talking with BadgerBlogger, he laughed, and offered a caveat. “I’m not sure how long I’ll leave it up there. It probably won’t be up for long,” he mused.
(Not lost on BadgerBlogger is the amusing twist that, in tallying his meal tab and the $12.00 tip, the proud, self-declared “UNION MEMBER” apparently failed at simple arithmetic (http://badgerblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/union_thug_diner1.jpg).)
We asked Hinners if, given the opportunity, he’d place a sign in his window expressing his support for either side in Wisconsin’s debate over “worker’s rights.”
“Whatever political fight is taking place here, we’re just here to serve food and drink. We do not take sides,” Hinners said in closing.
It’s a busy Friday night at a popular local hangout in Muskego, WI. Tables full of hungry diners, like the Margarita glasses in their hands, are repeatedly emptied and refilled.
A table of four finishes their meal, and is presented by their waitress a bill (http://badgerblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/union_thug_diner1.jpg) in the amount of $123.49. The restaurant’s invoice provides helpful gratuity suggestions; dollar amounts totaling 15, 18, even 20 percent.
Yet one diner, picking up the tab for his entire table, elects instead (http://badgerblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/union_thug_diner1.jpg) to leave a $12.00 tip – representing just over 10 percent of the bill’s total – but only after writing the words (http://badgerblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/union_thug_diner2.jpg) “UNION MEMBER” just below the gratuity line.
A new union scheme, designed to bring harm to businesses whom they believe to be disloyal to their cause? Or, simply, an overly-frugal diner with a chip on their shoulder?
We talked to Bob Hinners, who tells us that he runs the restaurant, Tres Locos, with his mom, and who confirmed the accuracy of the story. “They seemed like nice people,” he said. “They had a few drinks, they seemed to enjoy themselves.”
Hinners tells us that he and the waitress, who also serves as a bartender, were surprised by the stunt, which he called “ridiculous.”
“This doesn’t make any sense, ” said Hinners. “The only person they’re hurting is the worker. It’s workers hurting workers.”
We asked Hinners if it was possible his restaurant had received a letter recently, threatening economic damage to his business if he elected not to show his ‘solidarity’ with the local unions, similar to the strategy exposed in nearby Union Grove (http://badgerblogger.com/?p=19627) last week.
“It’s possible we received something, and we just haven’t opened it yet,” Hinners explained.
We asked Hinners if it was possible these were the actions of a diner using their stinginess as an excuse to make union workers look bad. “I don’t think so,” Hinners replied. “Several other diners told us afterward that they had heard the party discussing whether or not to do this, that their union had suggested it, but questioned whether it would make any point.”
The next thing he knew, Hinners told us, “they just signed the bill and ran out the door.”
Hinners confirmed that after the “poor tipper” had left, he placed a copy of the receipt above the bar, adding the caption “Waitresses don’t work for free.” In talking with BadgerBlogger, he laughed, and offered a caveat. “I’m not sure how long I’ll leave it up there. It probably won’t be up for long,” he mused.
(Not lost on BadgerBlogger is the amusing twist that, in tallying his meal tab and the $12.00 tip, the proud, self-declared “UNION MEMBER” apparently failed at simple arithmetic (http://badgerblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/union_thug_diner1.jpg).)
We asked Hinners if, given the opportunity, he’d place a sign in his window expressing his support for either side in Wisconsin’s debate over “worker’s rights.”
“Whatever political fight is taking place here, we’re just here to serve food and drink. We do not take sides,” Hinners said in closing.