New Jersey Diner Introduces Mandatory 18% 'Teen Tax' For Bad Tipping

A New Jersey diner has been charging an 18 percent gratuity or a so-called “teen-tax” on meals ordered by kids because the diner’s owner reportedly claimed that youngsters don’t tip, reports said Monday. However, this move has been severely criticized by parents whose kids almost regularly visit the diner to have milkshakes and French fries.

Melissa Desch, whose 11-year-old child was a victim of the new scheme, said her daughter and her pals at Schuyler-Colfax Middle School have been the victims of the recent price gouge at the Wayne Hills Diner, a popular after-school hangout in New Jersey.

“My daughter looked down at her bill and realized that there is a charge for a tip, an 18 percent charge per child,” Desch told ABC affiliate WABC in an interview.

Desch, who said she had been going to the diner her entire life and never was automatically tip-charged before believes that the youngsters are being targeted “because they’re kids and they don’t know any better.” Desch told WABC that at the bottom of her daughter’s receipts it asked diners to leave a gratuity even though the tip was already added to the total bill.

“Even adults don’t always tip and it’s not anything against the servers, but you can’t assume that these kids don’t know what they’re doing,” said Desch, who claimed that she had personally spoken to the diner’s owner about the issue.

Wayne Hills Diner co-owner Peter Logos said his waiters were tired of local youngsters hanging out all Friday night “in packs of 20 or 30” and not providing a tip. Logos said that they had to add gratuity to the bills of younger customers due to this reason, according to MSN.

Desch told WABC she spoke to the owner and the owner reportedly told her that the added tip is "policy because the kids run out and he feels that they don’t tip well, and they don’t know how to tip was the explanation."

A manager who works at the diner confirmed to the New York Post that an 18 percent tip is being added to the pre-teen’s bills — because they simply don’t tip.

"We have kids coming in here every Friday, 20 to 25 at a time," the manager said. "The kids don’t leave no tip." He said the diner adds the gratuity "because my employees need to get paid. They don’t work for free."

The manager also reportedly noted that most of the kids don’t tip at all, or sometimes leave as little as 10 cents.

"We love the kids. They’ve been coming for years. We’re a family-owned business," the manager said.

Menus at the diner also read in fine print at the bottom: "The management reserves the right to add 18 percent gratuity to check," according to CBS New York. However, Desch does not agree with the policy and said that tipping should be optional adding that she and other parents won't patronize the joint anymore.

"There are enough parents that are willing to not let their kids go back there," Desch told New York Post adding that the policy should be consistent for everyone if it has to be applied.

"Make it for everybody," she said. "Adults, children, everything," according to CBS New York.