We have received reports of a brazen theft pattern developing over the last couple of weeks at some local cafes. Tip jars were stolen from the counters of at least two local establishments last week.
Tip jars were stolen from the Green Line Café on Locust Street twice in the last two weeks, according to owner Douglas Witmer. It looks like both times it was done by the same person, he adds.
A tip jar was also stolen from Milk & Honey Market at 45th and Baltimore Avenue, according to owner Annie Baum-Stein, who added that the theft happened at the end of the day, around 7 p.m.
It’s not known how much money was stolen.
June 25th, 2013 at 11:57 am
Doesn’t M&H have cameras?
June 25th, 2013 at 12:08 pm
Yeah, that’s what I thought, too. They got the cams last year after thefts of laptops, etc.
June 27th, 2013 at 11:21 am
Wow. It’s sad that something as minor as someone stealing tips jars makes the message board turn into people attacking each other, attacking the people who work in customer service, and attacking the small local business owners who are trying to keep this neighborhood unique and free of major corporate chains (except subway). No empathy on this board ever. How about “that sucks, next time I go to tip ill give directly to the person that is serving me so this doesn’t happen next time”. If their too slow, let management know and I’m sure they will handle it. Don’t take this out on some college kid who is trying to get by and be a contributing member of society. You don’t like the coffee, don’t buy the coffee. But please don’t spread negativity and assume not tipping in our community is going to change the world wide tipping epidemic. When you spend money in this community, there’s a good chance in goes to another business in this community. Please be positive and help spread positive ideas that will encourage other people to be positive to help find creative ways to deal with these minor issues. Anyone agree with that or am I just some idealistic hippy? Feel free to attack if it makes you feel better about yourself.
June 28th, 2013 at 7:34 pm
There’s a help wanted sign on the door. I’m going to apply. I am well qualified. I work very slowly, don’t smile, and am unable to recognize or appreciate a regular customer. And oh, I have a Macbook pro.
June 25th, 2013 at 12:43 pm
Time to break out the ol’ bottomless tip jar. Thief grabs jar, money flies everywhere, thief is (rightly) embarrassed publicly.
June 25th, 2013 at 12:49 pm
Heh heh that’s a great idea.
June 25th, 2013 at 6:35 pm
that is genius!!!
June 25th, 2013 at 2:23 pm
Having grown up in a neighborhood where the “five finger discount” was popular, I look at those tip jars and know someone is going to be too tempted to resist. This has been happening at A-marts and other convenience stores that often have donation jars for various causes, so I’m not surprised to see tip jars being hit. I think if you leave then out, you should empty them periodically of the large bills, etc… In this case it doesn’t pay to advertize. When drug hits are 5 bucks or less, then these become relatively low-risk thefts for the people involved.
June 25th, 2013 at 2:39 pm
According to a friend, the one who hit the milk and honey was a kid who looked to be about 15.
June 25th, 2013 at 3:32 pm
Perhaps this will finally be the end of the unclassy, thankless, and passive-aggressive coffeehouse tip jar. The world was a better place without them.
“Are tips jars in coffee shops a form of voluntary price increase that reflects our appreciation that workers are not paid adequately? If so why not just raise prices across the board and do away with the tip jar, but more likely the tip jar represents a calculated effort to manipulate the average persons aversion to going against a social norm.”
http://jeffnolan.com/wp/2010/05/03/tip-jars-and-coffee-shops/
June 25th, 2013 at 4:32 pm
I don’t know if you are aware, but tipping is optional.
You truly have no reason to complain about something that doesn’t affect you and in which you aren’t participating.
June 25th, 2013 at 7:15 pm
Of course I can complain – they’re ugly! It’s a sign right in front of the register that more or less begs for money. They don’t ensure promptness, and since they’re placed at the point of sale (and not the point of receipt) they’re not there to express appreciation for good service.
June 26th, 2013 at 10:10 am
You really shouldn’t be telling us this; we can’t change it. You should be saying this to the employees at Green Line, Milk & Honey, etc, since they are the only ones who can accommodate you. Please let us know when you plan do to it! I’d like to watch.
June 29th, 2013 at 1:24 pm
But you can change it! We can change it! A collective grumble of disapproval could overwhelm and upend the tyranny of the tip jar trend and perhaps even topple its hideous cousin, the “bus your own dishes” craze. The world shall become a more joyous place.
June 28th, 2013 at 12:33 pm
“The world was a better place without them.” Oh, if only the rest of us lived in a world where the presence/absence of a tip jar made such a difference! I really have a hard time believing that there are actually people who struggle with being manipulated into coffee-shop tipping.
June 29th, 2013 at 1:21 pm
It’s the little things
June 30th, 2013 at 12:44 am
Funny, I thought you said it was tyranny. lol
June 25th, 2013 at 4:01 pm
I see tip jars in chain stores, like Dunkin Donuts, that appear to have all relatives working in the same shop.
June 25th, 2013 at 4:38 pm
Talk about loww. Stealing from an independent, family owned business is callous enough, but taking tip money is stealing directly from hard working service people makes you worth less than dirt. Wasn’t the Green Line on Locust robbed a couple of times months ago? I wonder why jerks hang out at that corner. Is it the bars? Or the gas station?
Maybe they can get a locked box that is attached to the counter, or a jar that can be drilled out so it can be bolted down. I hope they work it out.
June 25th, 2013 at 4:41 pm
correction: low
June 26th, 2013 at 11:26 pm
Maybe Doug can just rid his shelf of these dumba** jars and just pony up an extra 25 cents an hour?
June 25th, 2013 at 6:26 pm
Perhaps instead of money, customers should offer other types of tips garnered from their life experiences, written on small pieces of paper. For example, “Save string.” Or, “Never fry bacon while naked.” Things like that.
June 26th, 2013 at 4:55 am
As the old Irish expression goes: Fool me once, Shame on you. Fool me twice, Shame on me.
June 26th, 2013 at 11:24 pm
Eff it. Maybe someone else is sick of these jars too. You make me coffee… That’s the job YOU chose. GTFO of here with this tip BS. You want a tip? Speed it up! I’m here for coffee. Green Line, your Broista’s are too slow!
Steal ALL the tip jars. Do it over and over and over again, until we rid our society of these pandering sadsack jars.
Down with the tip jars!!! (LOL)
srsly tho, down with them.
June 27th, 2013 at 1:37 am
If you’re so impatient why don’t you just make your own coffee? or go to dunkin donuts? no one “chooses” a career making coffee for rude, entitled twits like you. not everyone has a trust fund to pay their rent and bills while they go to school.
June 27th, 2013 at 1:48 am
I go to work every day. I pay my mortgage every month on time. I also pay my student loans every month on time. Check you stereotypes, dude. I want a better cup of coffee than I have time to make in the morning. I don’t appreciate your assumptions of who I am either. C’est la vi, my broista is going to be slow, and you’re going to be self-righteous…. When’s that Dunkin Donuts opening up anyway?
June 27th, 2013 at 8:56 am
“C’est la vi”
June 28th, 2013 at 12:37 pm
lol
June 27th, 2013 at 1:41 pm
touchy touchy… I admit my comment was rather flippant, but I was responding more to the sentiment expressed in your comment more than to you as a person.. assumptions are all we have to go on here, we’re just words on a page to each other after all and self righteous comments inspire self-righteous replies.
I’m really just playing the devil’s advocate here anyway, I’ve never worked at a coffee shop or any service job that involves a jar-based gratuity system. I don’t really agree with it either, since the tip jar is there because more often than not a business is justified in paying their staff less than minimum wage* with the expectation that they make up the difference in tips. And it follows that small businesses can’t usually afford to pay their staff all that much because they have to keep their prices down to compete with national chains.
What I’m really responding to here is the attitude of contempt towards service workers that has welled up in this thread (and just so happened to be so concisely exemplified in your comment in particular).
Corporate dominated consumer culture has conditioned people to feel entitled to the fastest, top-notch personalized service at the lowest price and some people have internalized this to the extent that they feel like they can treat service personnel like dogs just because they have a couple of dollars in their pocket.
Your “broista” isn’t a robot, and I bet he would have “chosen” another job if he had more options, as I’d imagine that standing behind a counter for 8 hours a day being expected to cheerfully accomodate the throngs of rude and impatient customers is probably kinda demoralizing after a while when you’re making $5 an hour*. After all, he probably recognizes you as the impatient guy who never tips, so why would he move any faster than he had to?
* I don’t know how much GreenLine pays, i’m just being general here.
I’m not even trying to be snarky, the thread just got me thinking and I think this is a valid discussion to be had seeing how the service industry is becoming the fastest growing sector of the economy and more and more people are stuck living off money from tip jars.
June 27th, 2013 at 1:42 pm
woah, didn’t mean to write a novel there…too much coffee!
June 29th, 2013 at 11:24 pm
You do realize that tipping is optional. So instead of complaining just don’t give a tip and shutup.
June 30th, 2013 at 8:34 am
One main issue complainers (including myself!) have, has to do with the bucket of money sitting on the counter, and not exactly with the question of tipping.
In most tipping situations (with a waiter at a restaurant, in a taxi, for a bellhop, etc), the tip is somewhat discreet: from hand to hand, or left on the table with the check.
Here, though, we are talking about a bucket of money, either left empty (which to some extent says “please give me money, no one else has!”) or left full (implying “everyone else has given me money – so should you!”). It rings a little of the Salvation Army buckets. So that implicit begging for money is one annoying thing.
But there’s also the practical concern, which is what this blog post is about. In a bar, where there sometimes are these buckets, they are kept wisely away from the hands of customers. Maybe the same could be done in coffee shops? Those who wish to tip can leave their change on the counter. Then the person who is tipped can take it and put it in a jar out of reach of thieves. (Perhaps they can even say thank you while doing so!)
June 30th, 2013 at 8:46 am
Also, “shutup” is not a very nice thing to write!
June 27th, 2013 at 3:47 pm
TMCC – too much caffeinated commentary
June 27th, 2013 at 3:55 pm
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that JP (post above) has never had a job working in service…I can only applaud the “broista” that has to deal with your impatient, unable to make coffee, stingy self..oh JP
June 27th, 2013 at 4:10 pm
Tip jars make me uncomfortable too. Really, what they do is make me avoid patronizing the establishment. Tips are for table service. Tips are for hired help. If you own the business, don’t ask for a tip. If you wait in line at a counter, you are doing it yourself. Tips at a counter are for above and beyond service only. I declare that the rule.
June 28th, 2013 at 10:12 am
JP has been on here for a while, he is a known troll. All he does is bitch about anything and everything. From a neighborhood getting a new business, to something as simple as a tip jar. He is just a sad individual wasting his energy on something so unimportant as a tip jar on a desk. It’s all voluntary, nothing to get miffed about.
June 29th, 2013 at 1:24 am
Well known troll? Because I don’t care for tip jars? Because instead of insisting on yet another neighborhood “improvement” like the garden center isn’t my first choice? OK, cool. Good to know that my resistance to YOUR homogeneous wet dream of West Philly earns me the title of well known troll.
My bad for having an opinion that doesn’t fall in line with the great things you are doing for the neighborhood.
June 29th, 2013 at 12:35 pm
Perhaps he was bitten by a tip jar as a child?
June 28th, 2013 at 6:08 am
the guys in M&H dont deserves tips anyway!
June 28th, 2013 at 8:49 am
This is one of the nastiest threads I’ve seen in a while! All inspired by some anonymous jerk who stole some cash, yet apparently all the anger is directed at our local caffeine dealers. (At least the tread hasn’t ventured into Local 44 food territory… way to stay on topic, guys!)
Tip. Or don’t tip. Whatever you want. Problem solved!
Also, if your complaint is that you “have to” tip before you receive service, just hold off until you actually get your coffee. Then you can determine whether your special cafe experience warrants throwing a bit of cash in the tip jar. Second problem solved! (I’m on a roll this morning… and I haven’t even had my coffee yet!)