The bloody service charge!

Yabu and tight op

They didn't seem to understand what the word 'discretionary' meant- despite it being written on their menu. English wasn't their first language and the manager kept saying 'You no pay, you no go!'

After trying to explain several times about the very poor service and raw food, we all got up, left the correct money for the bill and walked to the door. The manager then threatened to call the police whilst blocking the door. I said YES, please call the police and see what they say! The woman stepped to the side to get the phone, DH managed to open the door and we just left. I emailed the restaurant afterwards and got no reply. I then left a truthful review on tripadvisor.

The last time I asked for the service charge to be removed (because of bad service), I was banned from the restaurant for doing it.

I don't mind the service charge being added as long as it's clearly stated by staff or on the menu. I don't tip extra on top and as I never have cash, ever, it means the job is done for me.

It really grinds my gears when there is no service charge and no option to add a tip.

I much prefer service charge rather than tipping.

I always tip 10% as a minimum, but if the service/food is very good will tip 15% going up to 20% for really excellent. I always check that staff get the tips, and if a service charge is already on the bill I just make up the difference to what I would have paid were it not there. I find that tips are always really appreciated, and I’m happy to pay a bit extra to show my appreciation.

Civil servants have to do mandatory bribery training - they cannot accept any gifts/benefits or they risk losing their job.

10% used to be the standard but lots of people on this thread are now expecting 12.5%. Soon that’s going to creep up to 15%. The thing is, prices in restaurants have gone up significantly. The service charge % shouldn’t need to increase too.

Tipping is not an American import

historically wait staff were paid a very low hourly rate and worked for tips to give themselves a living wage. As labour laws and minimum wage have improved the need for tips has fallen off

Genuinely, why do they add it? They're paid to do their job, I will tip good service but it shouldn't be a given.

Service charge is ridiculous and it really annoys me. Wait staff in the UK get paid to provide a service - if they do a really good job or they are working a holiday then they might get a tip.

Tipping culture is American and does not need to be brought here. The reason tipping is essential in America is because they have different labour laws.

Tipping is optional. Service charge should not be a thing. The price of service should be included in the cost of the meal.

Good service only gets 2.5% from you! (£5 on £200) wow tight.

You're making a couple of basic incorrect assumptions here. The person serving rarely gets the entire tip as a cash top-up and it is not tax-free.

In the recent past, in a well-run restaurant the tips usually went into a pool - a "Tronc" - to be shared between all of the staff, including the kitchen staff. The senior staff member would be entrusted with sharing the Tronc money out.

As cash payments were replaced by credit cards and electronic payments, the tips got added to the bill and the money went into the business bank account rather than into the staff Tronc. There are countless reports of this tip money never being shared out or passed on to the staff. Recent UK legislation (2024) made this illegal - employers are now supposed to share service charges with the staff, who are taxed on this extra income.

Some restaurants are now trying different ways to pocket some, or all, of the tips. Some places are allegedly taking an "admin fee" out of the tips pool. Some places are charging guests what they term a "cover charge" instead of a "service charge" and pocketing the entire amount.

I was put off tips when I realised my nephew who was a young trainee chef at the time, was working hard like the serving staff but it was only the customer facing team got tips. Some nights they went home with over £100 each, he got nothing. His girlfriend worked at a different place and staff had to pool all the tips and were made to hand them over. The restaurant boss used to sit at a vantage point in the restaurant and would watch what was happening. If anyone said they didnt have tips or pretended to have less than they were given were fired immediately!

YANBU! We were at a pub Christmas lunch. Absolutely inedible food. They admitted it was shipped in and microwaved. Disgusting.

Anyway we said no please can we remove service. Because it was poor service also imo. No one asked how the food was when everyone had not eaten. Drinks late. No condiments offered.

Apparently the 12.5% discretionary service charge was compulsory so instead they had to take some of the food off.

Outrageous. We should have just walked out immediately tbh on receipt of the starters. Don’t know what we were thinking!

I hate and loathe automatic service charges in restaurants and often find that the service is much poorer when there's an automatic charge. As a result we tend to go to restaurants who don't impose the automatic charge, as a special treat, though they are increasingly few these days. Can't really afford to pay an extra £20 - £25 on top of an already expensive meal.
Nobody yet has mentioned Wetherspoons. Staff work hard, always seem to be very efficient, but nobody ever tips them. But then I expect that all the people on this thread who are in favour of high service charges would never darken the door of a Wetherspoons. Meals out are so expensive, why on earth should you automatically pay a sizeable amount of money on top of the bill for average service. It's a big scam and most people seem to accept it

Ive always paid the service charge or tipped but I dont understand why there is a service charge in the first place.

I dont go to the cinema and pay extra to sit down, its all included in the price. If I go to a restaurant I expect to sit down and have someone serve me and it always used to priced accordingly.
I know im sounding out of touch here!

I agree with this. I normally choose to tip in cash and a set amount, not a percentage.

Because of bribery? Public service needs to be equal for all, ypu can't have rich parents tipping teachers for better treatment etc. Or jumping a queue in A&E. Nothing to do with how hard people work, but that's the reason it isn't allowed.

I can’t believe people whinge about tipping.

I would never, ever go to a restaurant or similar with precisely the right amount for the food/drink.

What if your child wants a different thing than you planned, or sees someone else’s ice cream and decides they want that, and you’re scuppered?

You can't eat in a restaurant without being served so it's all part of the deal

At Gatwick, we went to a yosushi type place. I had to download their app to order the food and when ready, the chef handed it to be me directly. On the app, there was an option to add a service charge- no thanks. We sat ourselves, got our own cutlery/napkins and ordered our own food.

I agree. It really annoys me.

You are mistaken, employees working in hospitality jobs have all the same rights as any other employee.

Although some people might be classed as "workers" rather than employees every employee has the same rights as any other employee and every worker has the same rights as any other worker regardless of which industry they are involved in.

Tipping has been the norm in the UK for decades. Don't know why people insist on pretending it's a "recent American import".

Good. You are a tight-fisted Scrooge