Evil restaurant group docks servers' tips when customers use credit cards

Credit cards
Thrillist
Thrillist

Servers already have to deal with some pretty terrible customers ("ma'am, please don't pee in the plants"), so having an awful boss is just double the misery. But there are awful bosses, and then there are bosses who charge their own employees for every credit card transaction. That's a real thing that's happening right now out in eight Minnesota restaurants, thanks to two bosses who make Bill Lumbergh sound like fun.

The Star Tribune says Blue Plate Co. owners David Burley and Stephanie Shimp announced this tightwad policy in a deviously disguised memo. After congratulating them all on a raise -- which state minimum wage laws mandated -- the pair explained that due to the salary hike and increased costs from the health care law, they'd be charging a fee whenever customers used a credit card. A fee to the servers. Seeing as most Blue Plate patrons use credit cards, this'll cost the staff an estimated 2% of their not-cash tips.

And here's the kicker: Remember how this was justified by health care costs? The servers don't even have health coverage. That will come January 1, once the mandate goes into effect, but right now they're getting docked for a service they don't even get. Oh and also, Blue Plate is one of the most successful restaurant companies in town. Oh and also, Burley apparently drives a Porsche, and probably has a doctor he sees regularly, most likely at a facility that doesn't charge its receptionist when he uses a card for his co-pay.

Kristin Hunt is a food/drink staff writer for Thrillist, and will be screaming "Attica!" outside a Blue Plate location the next time she's in Minnesota. Follow her to riots at @kristin_hunt.