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Funny Stuff On Tipping

WLG1952

WLG1952

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We went out to dinner with another couple last night. Local sports bar of sorts.

The total for the 4 of us $70. 00. Our friends said they would pick up the tab, I told them I would leave the tip, and pulled out a $20 bill.

When the waitress brought the cc receipt back to be signed, there was an extra $14 on it. When asked what it was for she told us it was a mandatory 20% surcharge for groups of 4 or more. When asked where this extra was listed on the menu, the waitress told us it wasn't, nor was there any signage.

My friend wanted the $14 removed off the bill since it was a surprise, unknown extra. The waitress said she couldn't remove it since the charge was already on his card. When asked how he could be charged for something he hadn't approved by not signing for it as yet, he was told this was how the system worked.

At that point, I told her I was holding her tip, which was more than 20%, that she could issue a $14 credit to his card, and make an extra $6.
The waitress wouldn't do it.

So my friend signed his bill, and I gave him the $20, which he tried to refuse.

We had a laugh about an employee turning down an extra $6 in tip money.

This has happened to us before at this same place. Only difference was, it was 6, or more people back then.. The new owners won't last long with this kind of "surprise" service I would think.
 
It wasn’t listed on the bill at all, only after the credit card was run? I’m not sure you’re allowed to do that. All taxes and everything should be listed on the bill received.
 
Bad form not putting that anywhere on the bill or menu saying the surcharge will be included.

Bad math skills not figuring out they are losing money by not being able to go back and cancel the transaction and start again.
 
I dislike mandatory gratuity in the first place, but I get it.

That is just shady.
 
This is becoming more and more common around here as well. I took my daughter to breakfast, just the 2 of us and when I got the bill I had written in the tip amount roughly around 25%....BUT then I noticed on the secondary copy the word gratuity added. I stopped and though hold up what? I looked more closely at the bill and sure enough the tip was already added but not super noticeable as the tip line is still there only it reads add'tl tip or something. I've been taken by this practice more than once without being told about it and now am in the habit of checking the bill. Its ridiculous.
 
WLG1952 said:
We went out to dinner with another couple last night. Local sports bar of sorts.

The total for the 4 of us $70. 00. Our friends said they would pick up the tab, I told them I would leave the tip, and pulled out a $20 bill.

When the waitress brought the cc receipt back to be signed, there was an extra $14 on it. When asked what it was for she told us it was a mandatory 20% surcharge for groups of 4 or more. When asked where this extra was listed on the menu, the waitress told us it wasn't, nor was there any signage.

My friend wanted the $14 removed off the bill since it was a surprise, unknown extra. The waitress said she couldn't remove it since the charge was already on his card. When asked how he could be charged for something he hadn't approved by not signing for it as yet, he was told this was how the system worked.

At that point, I told her I was holding her tip, which was more than 20%, that she could issue a $14 credit to his card, and make an extra $6.
The waitress wouldn't do it.

So my friend signed his bill, and I gave him the $20, which he tried to refuse.

We had a laugh about an employee turning down an extra $6 in tip money.

This has happened to us before at this same place. Only difference was, it was 6, or more people back then.. The new owners won't last long with this kind of "surprise" service I would think.
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I'm confused... was the surcharge a mandatory tip or just a surcharge applied because there were 4+ people and added to the cost?

Either way that is shady AF. I am a huge tipper and don't mind if places do mandatory gratuity... I usually add more on top. I just want to know about it ahead of time.
 
$70 dinner for 4?!? You can't get dinner for 2 for that around here. Mandatory gratuity is BS but I get it. There are MANY people that tip like garbage
 
I wouldn't hold it against the server, even if she understood the math she is almost certainly not in a position to make that deal with you, and it could cost her the job if she did. So i wouldn't go to all in on her

Not to go on a "rant" here and break forum rules, but this became extremely predictable once the government starting taxing tips in various ways. It went from being a polite gesture (stated so eloquently at the beginning of "reservoir dogs" ) that was intended to give people in the service industry, which is typically not a high paying job and done in many cases by people out of school with kids etc, a little extra to help them get by......to now being mandatory.

And now that companies have realized people see it as mandatory, they have started to profiteer themselves by adding ridiculous mandatory tips, "suggested" tips of a minimum of 25% etc ....

Consumers are getting fed up, and there will likely end up being a line drawn in the sand at some point. Because the average consumer now doesn't want to give a vending machine a 25% tip on a Kitkat, but this is what the world is coming to

rant over!
 
jbb2388 said:
$70 dinner for 4?!? You can't get dinner for 2 for that around here. Mandatory gratuity is BS but I get it. There are MANY people that tip like garbage
Click to expand...

A couple of months ago i had lunch in NY alone, a meal that featured a 30$ glass of wine which was one of the lesser expensive options....

Then had dinner in Anderson, South Carolina with 3 of my colleagues

Want to guess which was cheaper? LOL
 
bigbov said:
I'm confused... was the surcharge a mandatory tip or just a surcharge applied because there were 4+ people and added to the cost?

Either way that is shady AF. I am a huge tipper and don't mind if places do mandatory gratuity... I usually add more on top. I just want to know about it ahead of time.
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Totally agree. And now we're getting credit card up charges on the bill too.
There a some restaurants around here that don't take cash anymore and charge the CC fee and 6+ mandatory 20% gratuity.
I saw a server get pissed because she wasn't tipped on a takeout order.
 
I've battled this for quite some time having worked in the service industry back in the day, and seen the difference in service quality as well as tipping quality.

There is no perfect argument.

Bad service should not require tipping.
Bad food should not be reflected in tipping if handled well.
Great service should justify a great tip.

But none of those things will be regulated person to person.
 
Scribble said:
Totally agree. And now we're getting credit card up charges on the bill too.
There a some restaurants around here that don't take cash anymore and charge the CC fee and 6+ mandatory 20% gratuity.
I saw a server get pissed because she wasn't tipped on a takeout order.
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Takeout is a big debate between wife and I. She doesn't tip on it and I do. Full disclosure I pretty much tip anyone I can though and don't expect people to do the same.
 
in this particular example, not stating a fee for parties of 4+ is likely not legal. At least I cannot fathom it would be legal, and if it was, it's going to get McDonalds coffee'd rather quickly. Then again, were some of these service charges during/after covid listed explicitly anywhere?

If that happened to me, my wife would request a manager and get her pound of flesh haha - she's an animal.
 
What a ******* mess that sounds like. I sometimes wonder on a number of things - taxes mostly. Some tip after Tax, others use the tax rate as a basis for tipping (simple math or something). Here in Charleston depending on where and what part of the city, the tax can be around 12-15% I think, state, local, municipality, beverage, food, arts, school etc. I am exaggerating but only slightly. Anyway, we tend to be generous with tipping, and fortunately what the OP described has not happened to me (at a rate of 4 people), yet. I would have been annoyed myself.
 
Canadan said:
in this particular example, not stating a fee for parties of 4+ is likely not legal. At least I cannot fathom it would be legal, and if it was, it's going to get McDonalds coffee'd rather quickly. Then again, were some of these service charges during/after covid listed explicitly anywhere?

If that happened to me, my wife would request a manager and get her pound of flesh haha - she's an animal.
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This is where I was going to go with my post. My wife would lose it if a charge was added after the bill was presented, and said charge was then charged to our card without presentation. Oh NO!
 
Par5zN2 said:
This is where I was going to go with my post. My wife would lose it if a charge was added after the bill was presented, and said charge was then charged to our card without presentation. Oh NO!
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I really struggle going out to dinner based on the rising costs of everything, so it's already somewhat annoying to me haha

She decided a couple years ago that she is now entertained by chaos, and gladly calls/emails/texts bad experiences. And the last two times we went out, we got torched steak bites for my Son, and waited over an hour for our food the other time. Needless to say, she had fun.
 
jdtox said:
This is becoming more and more common around here as well. I took my daughter to breakfast, just the 2 of us and when I got the bill I had written in the tip amount roughly around 25%....BUT then I noticed on the secondary copy the word gratuity added. I stopped and though hold up what? I looked more closely at the bill and sure enough the tip was already added but not super noticeable as the tip line is still there only it reads add'tl tip or something. I've been taken by this practice more than once without being told about it and now am in the habit of checking the bill. Its ridiculous.
Click to expand...
I dont like auto-charged gratuity. Especially when they try to sneak it in. If service is good, or even just ok, I typically am very generous with a tip. If there is gratuity already added for me before the bill is brought, then I leave it at that and that's it.
 
Same. That used to bother me too but now I look at it as them doing me a favor. I know how terrible working in food service is so I've always tipped 20% as a minimum and 25% or higher if I got great service. If a restaurant decides to eff me by adding some mandatory 15-18% tip that's just more cash in my pocket.
 
Mandatory Gratuity is a service charge and the server most likely gets none of it, or a percentage of it

ridiculous to apply it to a 4top though
 
So there was a whole soc.med. story about, I believe constrained to, Broward cty in FL where this has become the norm - it is a mandatory service charge and none of that goes to servers, so the restaurant expects customers to add gratuity on top. Supposedly, which didn't make sense, the restaurants were saying the 20% covers the increase in COGS w/o them having to increase their prices - and yes, that is an absolutely dumb statement. But the whole story was that customers were seeing that 20% and not tipping at all because it said "service charge" and servers were essentially getting stiffed.
 
As a visitor . To US it is a strange way to do business …eg : item / service $10 + tax + tip = $20 ??

Aus : item / service $10 = $10 ( tax included )

Yes I understand the difference, and why , there need to be massive overhaul of your system and that would be more equitable
 
As for the , example by the Op , seems strange way of bau and promoting growth …
 
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