Sohail Kahn, Cab Driver, Held Woman Hostage Because She Wouldn't Tip

I wonder how many people he bullied "tips" out of this way? Probably quite a few; so many folks would just go along with it to get out of there.

I'm glad the woman stuck to her guns, but it's insane that she was forced to call 911 to get out of the cab. It's not like she wasn't willing to pay the fare! She just didn't want to be forced into a tip, and I don't blame her.

Glad he got his license pulled. What a weirdo bully freak!

what a creep!

$10 was not 10 percent of the fare.
$3.30 would have been the 10% of the cost.

she can charge him for false imprisonment. as well as sue the taxi company as well.

also, you can tell that he did not know basic math at all. considering what he called ten percent of the fare to be.

Sangelia, I believe he wanted more than 3.30 to cover the cost of using the card (card fee). Customers should never have to pay for that. What is this? A chinese restaurant the chrages you 5 bucks to use a cc if you don't buy more than 10 dollars worth of food.

We used to have a zone system in the city I work in. If you didn't know better, many a driver - not all of them but enough - would up the amount and add on supposed fees. Tourists were especially prime targets. I knew the amounts because I took the same cab ride every few days for months. If they tried it, I would say, well, since you've already added in your tip - here you go and would get out. I guess I was lucky I didn't run into a guy with this mentality. They've since moved to meters - what a stink that caused. Hmmm, wonder?

they take credit cards in cabs now? Wow. I haven't been in one in decades. this blows my mind!!!

That's like the haji mart chaging $2.25 for a $0.75 carton of milk if you use a debit card!

Guess i beeter make sure my car is always running. Wont be taking any cabs anytime soon.

It's a violation of the credit card company's terms and conditions to charge customers a fee for using a credit card. (this applies to all major credit card companies, so it doesn't matter whether she was using Visa, Mastercard, Amex, or whatever) If this is a regular practice, the cab company may have their ability to accept credit cards suspended or revoked.

wow, desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm sure he's a hard working cabby just hard times makes people go crazy in todays world.

This guy is just ridiculous. I'll bet her $10 that it wasn't his first time and won't be the last either.

He'll probably be driving a cab right away with someone elses license..

haji mart? Towel head? My, we live in an enlightened age.

Saaaay what? Chris, I'm with you. All I have to say "Saaaay what????

holding someone hostage until they pay a tip is not unheard of in Egypt. At least in America the cops help you, in Egypt they want a tip to help you. I understand why the driver did it I think we should just deport him and save some problems.

"Like so many in the service industry, Sohail Kahn forgot that tipping is supposed to be for exemplary service. It's a show of respect and gratitude, not an automatic tax"

Believe me, the problem in the service industry is not the service worker's expectation to be properly compensated for the work he did for you, but the countless and countless people who thieve services from people without tipping at all, or by tipping ludicrously unacceptable amounts. This guys deal is a little different, as I'm sure he was an independent contractor and so I doubt tips make up the majority of his income, but coming from someone who makes two dollars an hour, there are times I want to hold tables who don't tip me hostage too.

you should ALL know that charging customers a 'credit card use fee' or the VERY common practice of 'minimum amount for credit card' are violations of the company's merchant agreement, and if you call visa or mastercard and complain about the location, they will get their merchant agreement cancelled.

He'll be getting a lot of tips in prison... pink tips.

It appears that those that are of the same country of origin (or region of origin) as the cab driver expect tips for everything. Have you ever been to a Dunkin Donuts? Nasty counter people who yak on there bluetooth while getting your order, and then expect you to put a chunk of change in the tip jar.

@ Descolada: "tipping ludicrously unacceptable amounts"

You fail. A tip is something extra for good service. If the customer doesn't feel that you deserve it, no tip is required at all. There is no "unacceptable amount". If you think a small tip is unacceptable, then you can get no tip.

As a general rule, if a restaurant automatically adds a 15% gratuity, I will pay the exact bill and not a penny more. If they leave the tip up to me, I typically pay 20-30% tip, so long as the service wasn't horrendous.

What he did was totally wrong. In regards to the fee for credit card usage, i blame the credit card companies. what they charge clients is ridiculous.

@ lake: I agree with you completely. A tip is my way of thanking a service person for doing an exceptional job. I don't expect an extra 15% bonus added to every one of my paychecks just for doing my job, why should it be expected of me to provide that bonus just because they did their job? Honestly the attitude that "I'm doing my job, you must tip me" is simply mind boggling.

With that being said, I do generally tip around 10% for "average service" when I have an average order at a restaurant. If the server makes it a point to stop by and check up often (without being annoying) and keeps us happy, I've been known to tip 50% or greater. If my water or soda glass is constantly empty, if I have to beg for attention to get a condiment, the table fills with plates at a buffet, or I get otherwise sub-par service, I'll tip just enough to show I didn't forget to tip, but that the service didn't warrant a "gratuitous" tip.

I've also on several occasions met a friend or group of friends at a restaurant and only ordered a soda, and we set there for a good hour or two chatting. Same rules apply, if my drink was refilled on a regular basis, I've paid with a $20 for a $2 drink and left the remainder for a tip. It should be noted this was not during a busy time when my extended presence kept them from serving other customers, but during slow times when it would have been just another empty table.

@ Descolada: No, the fact that your employer only pays $2 an hour is not my concern as a customer... You knew that when you accepted the job, and are free to find a better paying job at any time, just as I can if I weren't happy with my salary. Yes you will get the occasional cheapskate at a table, but overall if you're enjoying your job and it shows, your regular tips should more than make up for the occasional stiff. If not, then maybe the service industry is not a good fit for you and your customers are trying to tell you this with their lack of tips. The fact that you're considering paying customers as "thieving services" if they don't tip well enough tells me a great deal about your attitude towards your customers.

And a note to restaurant owners: Don't automatically add any "gratuity" to my bill, regardless of whether I'm with a large group or not. If you do, your waitstaff will not receive a penny more that that, and I will not return to your restaurant. As long as your service is good, your servers will make more from my group than your fee would have gotten them anyway. Requiring a tip tells me that you don't expect your waitstaff to provide as good of service to my group as they would "regular" tables and you still want them to get their undeserved tips. Allowing your servers to take a hit on their tips if they don't earn them still gets them some percentage of something, which is better for them (and definitely for you) than 100 percent of nothing.

Here's the problem with tipping: Some people out there just don't do it, doesn't matter how the service was. Doesn't matter how much the waitress ran around for them.Doesn't matter how much money they have in their pocket, they just don't tip. I have a friend who doesn't feel she owes them anything for doing their job, had a huge birthday party for her kid the waitress went way above the call of duty and she was going to stiff her. If you just want to pay for the food then why don't you go to the grocery store and make it yourself? Or to a Wendy's or some other fast food place where all they do is bring your food to you. Waitresses (if they are any good) make your entire dining experience better so yes they are entitled to more than $2 an hour. **sidenote- I'm not a waitress.

I just hope he spends some time in jail for that. Enough of them are coming over here trying to take over and bully women. If they don't like our customs.....go their butts back to the dunes.

"but coming from someone who makes two dollars an hour, there are times I want to hold tables who don't tip me hostage too."

The issue here is not the tipper. ITS MY STINKING CHOICE NOT YOURS. You NEVER deserve a tip. If I really like you AND you do an exceptional job I tip.

the problem is not if I tip (BTW I almost always tip you got to really piss me off not to get a tip)

the ISSUE is the immoral and illegal legal practice of paying you $2 an hour.

TIPS ARE NOT WAGES. THEY ARE NOT ASSURED so should NEVER be counted toward your income.

Until you wadge hits the minimum wage your employer legal STOLE all your income from $2 to minimum wage by literally TAKING your tips from you by force and then giving them back upto minimum wage.

THAT practice needs to stop. Its pure THEFT plain and simple.

If you can not afford to pay a decent wage and still be profitable. Close up shop and find a new line of work.

Chris Taylor, I agree with you, tips shouldn't be taxed. The employer should pay it's employee a decent wage. Wait people depend on their tips. What's sad is that the tips are taxed, it use to be 8%. I'm not sure about now a days, I'm sure it's higher now.

I wish she had a gun.....

If you don't feel like tipping, you shouldn't eat at a restaurant you get served by staff you'd tip. If you like someone AND they give exceptional service? If I saw this on a date, that would be my last date with that person.
You can tell a lot about a man by how he treats the waitstaff, including appropriate tipping.
Here's the deal, you're a big boy, you understand how restaurants work and you understand the waitstaff is working for your tip. Withholding for terrible service I understand, but expecting above and beyond to even get a tip is juvenile and bad behavior. If you're not willing to tip, go to a fast food place or cook for your own damned self.
Like I said, I wouldn't go out with someone a second time if they behave that way. This doesn't just include dates, I wouldn't go to a restaurant with a friend if a friend behaved that way.
Dude in the article's a criminal. yech.

To all those who suggest that if someone doesn't wish to tip restaurant staff - and who say "go to a fast food place" or "cook the food yourself": the inflated prices you pay for any meal at any (non fast food) restaurant already pay for the preparation and serving of your meal. I could pay $5 for a steak from a supermarket or $20 for that same steak from a restaurant - I should not, therefore, be expected to tip any extra just because the food was cooked for me or delivered to me on a plate. I've already paid a (usually hefty) price for that. Tipping is for exceptional service only - "no exceptions!"

But tipping is NOT an extra reward anymore, for the most part. When employers started taking advantage of tipping and started paying their employees WELL below minimum wage, tipping became mandatory. Now we are supposed to tip 15% regardless and MORE for exceptional service.

The EMPLOYER should be responsible for making sure their employees get a fair wage, they shouldn't be passing more than half of that responsibility on to their customers.

i only tip if i dont have to ask for anything, drinks or sides, my role as a customer is to pay for the bill nothing else, the %15 is what u earn as a wait. i dont get a tip on my paycheck for showing up to work, but i get a bounces if i work hard and make the company a profit, (i.e make customer happy) then i get a "tip",

Im sorry the gov says that a work place only has to pay a server so much but its not up to the customer to pay ur rent or bills, that is for the place you are making all the money for to pay you on your paycheck.

all in all i have work in many diff types of jobs, lots in kitchens at restaurants.
i worked harder than any waiter ever would back there, by the really hot stove and washing all the dirty dishes, not once as a cook did i get a tip for making the food really good tasting or anything, i would get money taken away from me for cooking mistakes or the wrong orders that were made by the severs, never did i see a tip from any of them(some making $100+ in tips a night)not one kickback as there called. you servers should realize that the cooks makes your tips as much as you do bring the stuff thats all cooked and done up for you out to the table... wow thats hard! yes i made more money than the server yet they would pull in 2 times as much money as i would in a week, and we all know that as a server yes you have to tax all of your income, but who really said that they made $100+ a night and not $25or less a night.

give them min wage like everyone else and i bet you any paycheck that the tips will go up!.

its easy make worker happy, worker makes customer happy, customer then wants to tip, end result server is happy with paycheck and wont try to force a tip on customer and said customer is more likely to come back and tip again!

and that guy should go to jail for a long time.

man the lady is garbage. put whole bunch of lies together and put an innocent man in trouble. my personal opinion is that the lady just over reacted when the cops got there. try to pretend like she was abused and the cops always take the females side regardless of the facts. i think the lady should be locked up in jail for screwing up his life. before you judge anybody put yourself in their shoes and then judge. i mean everybody is making a big deal like something major happened. people like that lady make me wanna spit on her face. put somebody through trouble over 3 dollars. she should be ashamed of her actions.

khawaja umair, like we can't tell what country your from. And we know how women are treated there. If the SOB didn't try to steal the womens money he wouldn't be going to jail.

@lake

@Jeremy

You are typical idiots who have never worked for tips before but think you know it all based on your own personal behavior.

Go rent "Waiting"-it's all pretty much true.

to sandy as far as where am i from is non of you business. and as far as treating women goes there are more rape in US then any other country in the world. oh im sorry maybe for you respect is when someone think of you as a whore

TO SANDY- READ BELOW AND THEN DECIDE WHERE WOMEN ARE TREATED LIKE ANIMALS ACCORDING TO THE NUMBERS 33% OF AMERICAN WOMEN WILL BE RAPED AND YOU THINK THATS A GOOD TREATMENT. SO BEFORE YOU USE RACIAL COMMENTS UNDERSTAND THE FACTS.

In the United States, 1.3 women are raped every minute. That results in 78 rapes each hour, 1872 rapes each day, 56160 rapes ech month and 683,280 rapes each year.
1 out of every 3 American women will be sexually assulted in her lifetime. The United States has the world's highest rape rate. It's 4 times higher than Germany, 13 times higher than England, and 20 times higher than Japan.
* 1 in 7 women will be raped by her husband.
* 83% of rape cases are ages 24 or under.
* 1 in 4 college women have either been raped or suffered attempted rape.
* 1 in 12 males students surveyed had commited acts that met the legal definition of rape. Furthermore, 84% of the men who had commited such acts said what they had done was definitely not rape.
* 75% of male students and 55% of female students involved in acquintance rape had been drinking or using drugs.
* Only 16% of rapes are ever reported to the police.

WOW I FEEL BEFORE WE PUT PEOPLE IN JAIL FOR 3 DOLLARS. WE NEED TO THINK ABOUT THE REAL CRIME THAT IS MAKING AMERICAN WOMEN FELL HELPLESS.

To sandy, "phew" now that i have slapped you with the facts and prompt you to reconsider where women are actually respected more, lets get back to the relevent topic. As far as the wailing of the lady goes, it is quite obvious that she deliberately acted out in such a manner to get him into trouble because he was a foreigner and maybe she hates foreigners. Give 3 bucks wouldn't have choked her financially as you know that she was a wealthy woman.

@khawaja umair, your stats are suspect. Provide a link to your sources please.

And Sandy made no racist remarks of any kind. If you are a native of an African nation, then likely you come from a country where rape is rampant only it's not counted because women are fooled into thinking that what has happened to them isn't rape, and thus don't report it that way.

Rape around the world is under-reported, no matter what.

Stop yelling.

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~ad361896/anne/cease/rapestatisticspage.html check it out and get some knowledge about whats going on around you.

well what you saying is not supported by any evidence. its like some one just started talking about africa. we are talking about facts. and to me "like we can't tell what country your from" is a racial comment. not necessarily do you have to use the "N" word to be racist.

khawaja umair, Your not only racist your stupid. If you put a capital N do you really think everyone's going to say, "yeah his right she's racist." You're just to dumb to realize that you are the one being racist, calling people niggers and their from Africa. As to facts, I don't debate with individuals that are ignorant,copy and paste some off the wall crap. If you want to copy and paste ALL the FACTS like a MAN, FINE. But until then you are to uneducated to post anything with any worth or substance for me to read. Please stop calling people Niggers......We call that here in the USA Prejudice hatred.

your name says it all. All you did was to get some shit on the USA. Guess what? It back fired. The Middle East is #1 when it comes to treating women and female children like shit. I researched WORLD WIDE. Middle East treat women, female children and young boy camel jockey's like scum. Incest is very common in the middle east.
US has female abuse but nothing like the middle east country.

Scope of the problem
•In a 10-country study on women's health and domestic violence conducted by WHO,
◦Between 15% and 71% of women reported physical or sexual violence by a husband or partner.
◦Many women said that their first sexual experience was not consensual. (24% in rural Peru, 28% in Tanzania, 30% in rural Bangladesh, and 40% in South Africa).
◦Between 4% and 12% of women reported being physically abused during pregnancy. More about the study
•Every year, about 5,000 women are murdered by family members in the name of honour each year worldwide.
•Trafficking of women and girls for forced labour and sex is widespread and often affects the most vulnerable.
•Forced marriages and child marriages violate the human rights of women and girls, yet they are widely practiced in many countries in Asia, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.
•Worldwide, up to one in five women and one in 10 men report experiencing sexual abuse as children. Children subjected to sexual abuse are much more likely to encounter other forms of abuse later in life.

Ethiopian women are most abused.

the violence of "honor killings" of girls and women in the Middle East .

Honor Killings Domestic Violence
Committed mainly by Muslims against Muslim girls/young adult women.
Committed mainly by fathers against their teenage daughters and daughters in their early twenties. Wives and older-age daughters may also be victims, but to a lesser extent.

The planning and execution involve multiple family members and can include mothers, sisters, brothers, male cousins, uncles, grandfathers, etc. If the girl escapes, the extended family will continue to search for her to kill her.

@khawaja umair, first, why do you think this fool went to jail over $3? He went to jail because he unlawfully detained and threatened another. That's the part that gets you sent to jail.

He felt he could so because he's a man, from a country that mistreats women dawn to dusk, because the customer was a woman.

He would never, ever, have done that to a man. And you know it.

Then, you start hurling the raaaaacist card around because you, I suspect, can't think of a worse insult to wound your target, put them off balance and then act like it means you win. That's how limited you are.

You have something in common with the criminal cabbie: you are both bullies and cowards. But only toward women. People smaller than you. With less muscle mass and less will to launch a fist fight.

But, women in America have something extremely valuable available to them that other women in other countries do not: the 2nd Amendment. When we use it, protect it, allow it to protect us, we don't need no stinking fists or chaperones.

May you always "shoot blanks."

@khawaja umair
1. Just because she is a businesswoman does not automatically make her rich. she could have been there on business for her employer. do not assume that all women who work are rich. many are not. that includes alot of businessmen as well.
2. do not assume that she hates foreigners. if she had. she most likely would have picked a different cabbie instead.
2a. in fact she herself could have been a foreiger herself when she was younger. do not assume that she might have been born and bred here.
3. why do you think it was only a $3 tip the cabbie was trying to extort from her. he was trying to get a $10 extra by holding her hostage.
4. the cops could see that she was being held hostage by him. and most likely they were male. most police tend to send out male cops when there is a possible hostage situation. and no, the cops do not always take the female's side. in fact, in my area, one cop was about to put the female victim into jail because the cop was a friend of the victim's husband.
5. do not assume that every gal you speak with are whores. alot of us are honest women. married with a family. plus, some of those rapes are done by males who have the weird notion that a wife is supposed to give out any time he wants it. even if she is dead tired and is unable to do anything. this also goes for seperated on the way to divorce folks.

your comments about women, especially the woman in the case, shows that you definately suffer from misogyny.

Khwaja, you said "she try to pretend like she was abused then try to pretend when the cops get there"

Yeah okay, she pretended she was scared of a man who demanded money she didn't owe and then was locked in his fart mobile. That doesn't sound bad at all, being a hostage sounds fun!! (That was sarcasm, don't get it confused you sexist pile of dung) Cops can spot bullshit a mile away, so if they thought for a second she was calling in a fake report they would have arrested her, so her "pretending" is your slow mind imagining.

And please Khawaja, stop with the lie of America being the rape capital of the world(Alexa, and Sandy already handed you your ass on that one). I would rather walk through the worst town of America with a bikini on than take my chances wearing a burka in Somalia or the Congo.
You suck

to Sandy- why do you think im from the middle east because im not. see thats the only problem. you all went against my opinion because you all thought i am from middle east. thats a shame and funny at the same time.

I wouldn't care if you're from Mars. Your opinion was offensive towards all women. And to top it all off you're Prejudice.

khawaja umair, you're not east Indian? So why don't you in-lighten us an tell us where you are from? It certainly is not the US. With your opinion towards women, no way.

@Sandy dont bother with that one. something tells me that he is some 15 year old punk who thinks that he is a Deity's gift to women. and hates the fact that we will not bow down to his attitude about us. the type that tends to think it is ok to use date rape drugs on a unwilling gal.

a troll overall he is......

Sangelia, I know you're right. Like this butt-heads name doesn't give him away. You know I wouldn't have cared if it had been a man in that taxi. Who in the hell does that taxi cab driver think he is? “An yeah” khawaja umair the taxi driver is from the middle east the same as you are. From all of us women on TCR kiss our A*%..........

Hawk, clearly you cannot afford to eat at a nice restaurant. That is sad, but it doesn't negate your obligation to tip when you do go to one.
You want to change the way the restaurant industry works? Have at it. You want to cheat your waitstaff? You're little more than a cheap thief.
People who act like that should have the honor and graciousness to inform their waitstaff ahead of time that they will be cheated.

ForlornW, that's a good point. Not to mention if it were not true it would be hilarious. If Hawk were to tell the waitstaff in advance he's wasn't going to tip, the waitstaff won't be doing much waiting.....

FOR SANDY- I WAS BORN IN Summit County Ohio and my ancestors were native American. so looking at that i am more American than all of you guys.

khawaja umair, My husband is native American Indian. You may have been born here but your name is not native Indian. Americans, real Americans don't try to make their country look bad, like you did. I researched your name. East Indian. Your full of shit.

My father was part American Indian. This is a really tired taunt. If we were born here, then we are Americans. Just as much as Native American Indians were here before all of us.

We all have vested interest in protecting America as our own.

So khwaja, since you don't sound like you like your own country, you're busted.

To sandra and alexa kim

i never said i didnt like my country. i love my country and served my country for 4 years in the navy. and as far as the name goes,its just a name could be from any culture just like alot of my female friend who are American are named ALI which is a middle eastern name but they are not from middle east. and sandy you researched my name tell me what more did you find because i dont even know what it means.

You're East Indian.

@khawajaumair said:
"...and as far as the name goes,its just a name could be from any culture ... and sandy you researched my name tell me what more did you find because i dont even know what it means."

You don't know what it means? Sorry, totally unbelievable. You picked the name, you tell us what it means. Come on, fess up.

If you were in the US Navy and held these rather bizarre ideas about women while in the Navy, serving along side with females, how did your attitude go over with them, I wonder? Or did you keep your real feelings a big secret?

Well I think you guys are taking this the wrong way. I never said I was against women. I was against women getting rape. But I guess I think it's useless to explain. I did say women have less chance of getting in trouble when the case is between a man and woman. It's does not mean I have something agains women. Well that's my last comment so you all have a blessed day and may God protect you from the evil.

khawaja umair, If I were you I wouldn't post any more either. Read your comment. You hate women. What man, I mean a real man would never spit in a woman's face. The only one that needs protection is society from you. So who are you going to get to protect yourself, the evil is spewing from YOUR lips?

khawaja umair said:
man the lady is garbage. put whole bunch of lies together and put an innocent man in trouble. my personal opinion is that the lady just over reacted when the cops got there. try to pretend like she was abused and the cops always take the females side regardless of the facts. i think the lady should be locked up in jail for screwing up his life.

people like that lady make me wanna spit on her face. put somebody through trouble over 3 dollars