[Jeff Higgins]

I had to suffer through what was, to me, a pretty uncomfortable situation the other day. About a dozen of us, good friends all, went to lunch at a newish brew pub. Got served by one of the partners even. Good food, tasty in house brews, good atmosphere, nothing not to like.

Until the check arrived. One check. We asked if he could split it. He took our orders on one of those modern hand-held devices, after all. Nope. He refused.

As we all know, lots of folks don't carry cash these days (I still do). Effectively, that left one to three of us (he would allow us to split it three ways) to put it on our cards and work it out with the rest of us. So, one guy grabbed the check and paid it. That's when it got uncomfortable.

He simply said "no tip. You just blew at least a $100 tip. And, everyone of us will submit a one star review on Yelp". (yeah right - I won't). "No excuse - this is 2026, you have the means right there in your hand. To treat your customers in this day and age like this, to make us sort it out when you are standing right here with that handy little computer right there in your hand - NFW".

I felt very uncomfortable. I do think he was right, in that a tip is meant for exceptional service, and should not be a "given". But... Seemed a bit much. Could have just skipped the tip, which would have said the same thing, with no need to say it out loud in front of our whole table and the rest of the returaunt's patrons.

Whaddaya think?