Is 'Kid Tax' At Local Diner Fair? Mom Says No

WAYNE, NJ — A township mother is "incensed" at a local diner that makes her middle school daughter and her friends pay a gratuity on small purchases like milkshakes and french fries.

Melissa Desch said the Wayne Hills Diner regularly charges her daughter, her friends and "every other group of kids" from nearby Schulyer-Colfax Middle School a gratuity on small purchases. The diner is located across the street from the school.

Desch provided Patch with four receipts from three different servers on Friday. The gratuities ranged from $.90 cents to $1.58.

According to Desch, the practice is done because servers are not paid enough.

"They feel they can charge our poor kids because they feel kids don't tip the servers enough," Desch said. "Excuse me??? Time to stop this insanity."

Desch said the diner charges "every group of kids that goes there every Friday or after school." She said a friend of hers went through the same thing last year. She said some parents of Schuyler-Colfax students have stopped patronizing the diner because of the practice.

Desch said the diner enacted the practice because the servers are not paid enough.

It is not clear how the diner decides who gets taxed and when.

A man who answered the phone at the diner Tuesday and refused to give his name did not want to discuss the matter in detail. The diner is a private business and they are well within their right to charge whomever they want to, he said and then hung up the phone.

The owners did not return a call seeking comment Monday.

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Photos: Receipts from the Wayne Hills Diner on Friday showing the business charging a gratuity for small purchases./Courtesy of Melissa Desch