Manager, Damon King, works at the Philadelphia I Hop. He has been a manager for the past 2 years. He recently adopted a new management style that he acquired in the U.S. Navy aboard an aircraft carrier deep in the Atlantic Ocean in the mid 90’s. “I run a tight ship”, says Mr. King. “I think servers respond best to forced respect, strict discipline and lots of yelling and I am just the man for the job”. When King took over this Philadelphia store 6 months ago it was in last place for numbers, moral, and overall guest satisfaction, in the entire state. Since Kings Communist regime took over, every stat has improved drastically. I Hop is taking notice and his servers are irate about his “rules and regulations not to mention his strong coffee breath.

86BadTips reporter Philip Morris got an interview with Sara Martin a Waitress under King and she said “He lines us up before a shift and smells us in uncomfortable places to make sure we washed our uniform. He tests our hair for drugs randomly, which we lost 85% of our staff the first time he pulled that brilliant move. Doesn’t he realize almost every server at least smokes weed from time to time. How does he think we handle this job? We are getting very tired of this craziness and I am thinking about jumping ship and swimming to Waffle House up stream. They get very nice uniforms and great head wear. On top of that they get to yell their food orders and flirt with weird old “up all night” type men. That is my dream! However, before I leave this unit, I do want at least an honorable discharge which will look good for my next job”.

Sara said that King makes the servers address him as “Sir yes Sir Sergeant King” as they salute him every time he walks by them regardless of what is in the servers hands. King also requires servers to carry a pepper mill “on their person” AT ALL TIMES that the servers must provide themselves at their own expense and he requires them to refer to it as their “weapon”. He forces them to clean their “weapon” before each shift and even sleep with it at night. He does issue the servers with a holster for their “weapon” which he calls a “perk and a privilege”. He requires the wait staff to sing “I don’t know but I been told…I Hop milk shakes are mighty cold” as they do side work and sweep their section so that guests will here and want to drink one. It’s his weird way of suggestive selling” says Sara.  “Milkshake sales are up by 50%” reports King.

I Hop CEO declined to comment but their press agent did release a statement saying that “I Hop is investigating the complaints by servers while at the same time weighing the improved numbers with a fair balance and will come to a conclusion at the end of next month. We take our numbers and our employee’s sanity very seriously. At this time we are not planning on filing any charges against any particular persons”.

We at 86BadTips can’t tell you what will come of this unusual case, but we will keep an ear out for you. We report, you laugh!