Tips for restaurant service are a courtesy, not a requirement, so a customer shouldn’t be punished if the tip is not quite what the waitress was hoping for.

Humberto Taveras was arrested in New York City for leaving an inadequate tip at Soprano’s Italian and American Grill.

He faces a misdemeanor charge for theft of services for leaving a tip under 10 percent when the restaurant had a mandatory 18 percent gratuity for parties of six or more.

Let’s look at the situation hypothetically. If the bill was about $45 for three large pizzas, a less than 10 percent tip could be about $4. Now $4 is obviously rude, ungrateful and just plain pathetic – but not worth putting an arrest on Taveras’ record.

Taveras told the Glens Falls Post-Star that he and friends weren’t completely satisfied with the food and therefore left a bad tip.

Everyone knows tips are how servers make their living, but they still must be earned. The average tip a server earns is about 15 percent. Anything greater should be considered a reward for good service.

A restaurant can require good service – it can even refuse service if the situation called for it – but it cannot mandate that customers leave an above-average tip for bad food or bad service.

Of course, Taveras’ complaints may not have been the waitress’s fault and it’s unfortunate that she’s the one to suffer as a result. However, in that line of work, taking the blame comes with the territory.

The restaurant’s owner, Joe Soprano, said he decided to press charges not because of the money involved but because the group was obnoxious.

“It’s unfortunate it has come to this, but this guy was rude and abrasive. They practically threw food at us,” Soprano said.

Regardless of what kind of customers Taveras and his friends were, the law is not meant to be used to settle a personal vendetta.

If Soprano wants to change Taveras’ behavior, he should pay for etiquette classes, not waste law enforcement officials’ time.