Outrage at bizarre reason two students were jailed for refusing to pay $16.35 tip at restaurant

It's often a topic of debate whether you should have to pay a service charge or not.

From the amount you should be tipping to whether it should be mandatory or not, I don't think tipping will ever not a cause of discussion.

One waitress who caused quite a stir online last year was one in New York who hit out at European tourists only tipping 10 percent.

The server in question took to Twitter to express her grievances about only being tipped $70 from a $700 bill, adding that she 'f**king hates Europeans sometimes'.

Her tweet left people divided at the time, but many argued that a $70 tip was actually pretty good.

Madison was not best pleased (Twitter/@madison_tayt)

While leaving a tip at a restaurant isn't thought to have been mandatory, one couple who refused to pay for such a service landed themselves in handcuffs.

In 2009, college students John Wagner and Leslie Pope visited Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and refused to pay a $16 gratuity because they felt like the service they received wasn't up to scratch.

They still paid for their food, however - even though it reportedly took an hour to arrive.

Elsewhere, Pope claimed she had to go to the bar to get her drink refilled and pick up her own silverware, NBC 10 Philadelphia reported at the time.

Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (Yelp.com)

Speaking about the moment their order arrived, she told the news outlet: "At this point I became very annoyed because I had already gone up to the bar myself to have my soda refilled because the waitress never came back."

Pope and Wagner were part of a party of six, and when the bill came they paid for food, drinks, and tax but refused to pay the tip with the poor service they received in mind.

They only paid $73.87 of the $90.22 bill.

Ultimately, the police were called and they were charged with theft since the gratuity was part of their actual bill.

Within a few days, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli encouraged Bethlehem police to drop the charges Wagner and Pope were facing.

The police were forced to intervene after the pub and diners couldn't come to an agreement (Getty Stock Image)

"It would not be the kind of case that should be processed criminally, Morganelli told The Express Times.

"It was one of those matters that should be processed civilly."

Fast forward to today and it appears as if the Lehigh Pub is no longer in business.

As per Yelp, the establishment is permanently closed.

It had an overall rating of one out of five stars, based on 55 reviews on the site.