Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

The bloody service charge!

434 replies

Ilovemychocolate · 23/12/2025 08:55

Went out to eat twice yesterday…we are in Bath for a festive visit.
Both times our bill came with service charge added.
Both times I sent it back and requested they remove the service charge.
Now I know it’s Christmas, but adding the service charge, without informing the customer it’s completely their choice to pay it, is a year round practise.
I am not against tipping, but it infuriates me when it’s automatically added to my bill with the expectation I will pay it!
An I unreasonable to ask the restaurant to remove it every time?

OP posts:
CandiedPrincess · 23/12/2025 22:04

blunderbuss12 · 23/12/2025 18:41

Wonder if any of the posters saying waiting staff are paid a decent wage and don't deserve tips could explain the chronic staff shortage in the service industry

Oh give over. If you knew anything you'd know there was a shortage in all industries, and most, don't get tips.

It's not my, or anyone else's responsibility to top up someone's wages.

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle · 23/12/2025 21:30

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 20:32

Don’t drag others on low pay down further.
It’s very unkind

Show quote history

No, it's not 'very unkind'. It's a (bald) statement of fact

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle · 23/12/2025 21:28

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 19:35

this

Show quote history

Yes - it's post Brexit visa rules. There are extensive industry reports on this factor

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 21:22

berlinbaby2025 · 23/12/2025 21:18

They’re not on “very low pay”.

Show quote history

minimum wage is very low pay.
You can’t get lower

berlinbaby2025 · 23/12/2025 21:18

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 20:48

and I am allowed mine which i have given.

I don’t understand people are effectively getting annoyed about staff on very low pay getting a small wage lift through legitimate tips (which are not compulsory to pay).

Show quote history

They’re not on “very low pay”.

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 20:52

Marble10 · 23/12/2025 20:51

They add it most of the time, not just because it’s Christmas.

no ones is forcing you to eat out

Marble10 · 23/12/2025 20:51

They add it most of the time, not just because it’s Christmas.

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 20:51

tokennamechange · 23/12/2025 20:51

nah. shan't.

Maybe waiters should get a better job and stop whining?

(the waiters who feel entitled to tips, which despite your moaning, isn't a universal view. When I worked hospitality I fully accepted that tips were completely optional and to be honest were quite low down on whether I liked/stayed in a job. I also definitely didn't find it harder than retail).

Show quote history

wait staff aren’t whining though you are

tokennamechange · 23/12/2025 20:51

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 19:35

just pay the service and stop whining

Show quote history

nah. shan't.

Maybe waiters should get a better job and stop whining?

(the waiters who feel entitled to tips, which despite your moaning, isn't a universal view. When I worked hospitality I fully accepted that tips were completely optional and to be honest were quite low down on whether I liked/stayed in a job. I also definitely didn't find it harder than retail).

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 20:48

RaraRachael · 23/12/2025 20:47

@Newdaysameday I was not "being very unkind" - just stating facts and giving MY opinion.

Also which bit of "You have your view, I have mine" didn't you understand? This is a discussion forum. People are allowed to have different views.

and I am allowed mine which i have given.

I don’t understand people are effectively getting annoyed about staff on very low pay getting a small wage lift through legitimate tips (which are not compulsory to pay).

RaraRachael · 23/12/2025 20:47

@Newdaysameday I was not "being very unkind" - just stating facts and giving MY opinion.

Also which bit of "You have your view, I have mine" didn't you understand? This is a discussion forum. People are allowed to have different views.

Umbilicat · 23/12/2025 20:43

There are lots of mean and nasty people in this world – always lovely to be reminded just before Christmas.

And by the way tipping has been around in this country forever, I remember people tipping in restaurants when I was a kid in the 80s– what is new is adding the service charge, which people like me prefer because we don’t have to do the maths, if you pay that then don’t tip on top of it!

Also, whatever they may say about people in Europe not expecting a tip – increasingly they do and increasingly they hate you if you don’t leave one…

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 20:41

What I don’t understand about these sort of posts is that people are effectively getting annoyed about staff on very low pay getting a small wage lift through legitimate tips (which are not compulsory to pay).

Just don’t pay the tip if you can’t afford it but don’t get annoyed about it.

It might just mean that a single mum or someone on the bread line gets their rent paid that week. Why the venom?

Save your anger for something else.

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 20:32

RaraRachael · 23/12/2025 20:23

My OH and many others are on minimum wage. They don't get tipped for doing their job so I don't see how waiting staff are any different.

Oh, and @Newdaysameday I don't need correcting by anyone.
You have your view, I have mine.

Don’t drag others on low pay down further.
It’s very unkind

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 20:26

tokennamechange · 23/12/2025 19:17

This makes absolutely no sense.

How do all the thousands of pubs and restaurants where you order at the bar or via an app on your phone and then all the server does is deliver the meal to you manage to exist/profit without adding an extra service charge, then?

And why do staff working there rather than those working in pubs and restaurants where you get a bill at the end not deserve extra compensation when the only thing they do differently is detail what you want to eat via the till at the start rather than coming to your table?

"the service is the labour element for the server" doesn't make sense either as a sentence or an idea. It's insane to say that walking a meal over from the kitchen to a table is the sole element that isn't included in the price of a meal, but everything else you've quoted as being part of a business's running costs, from the chef, barstaff and cleaner's wages, to toilet paper, dishwashing, insurance, music license etc. somehow is.

The server's set wage is their "labour element". The restaurant pays them for working each shift (i.e. their "labour") regardless of whether it is busy, quiet or empty. Anything else would be illegal.

Edited
Show quote history

Actually most of the time wait staff are on zero hours contracts so they don’t pay the wait staff if it’s not busy they send them home and they get no pay. This happens regardless of whether they have paid their bus fare into work or not.

RaraRachael · 23/12/2025 20:23

My OH and many others are on minimum wage. They don't get tipped for doing their job so I don't see how waiting staff are any different.

Oh, and @Newdaysameday I don't need correcting by anyone.
You have your view, I have mine.

PloddingAlong21 · 23/12/2025 20:08

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 19:36

don’t go out then

Show quote history

Because I don’t enjoy tipping for middle of the road service? What a daft comment.

Starsea · 23/12/2025 20:04

I just hate tipping in general and would rather it be added as service charge to be honest. I don't understand why the bill at a resteraunt has to be overcomplicated by paying the bill, then deciding how much to pay in tip.

I also think employers should just pay their workers properly, it's not my responsibility to top up their wages.

I've also done bar work where people have handed me cash as a tip and I just find the whole thing weird. If they personally give you the money, you're then obliged to smile, be thankful etc and I'd just rather go to work, do my job and get paid. I wouldn't be so arrogant to put myself in the place of judge over the value of someone's work unless I was their boss and I don't like someone doing it me.

But I'm well aware that I'm probably unusual, and most people would just take the £20 note and feel happy about it.

Crushed23 · 23/12/2025 19:54

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 19:37

tokennamechange · 23/12/2025 19:20

Brexit?
We didn't have a 'chronic staff shortage' pre 2019 despite the minimum wage being a third less than it is now.

Show quote history

we have always had a chronic shortage of waiting and kitchen staff.

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 19:36

PloddingAlong21 · 23/12/2025 19:10

The US can keep their tipping culture!

I do it in a fancy restaurant if the service is amazing. However most often the service here is pretty average, at best. In the US they are actually good at service more often than not. Here you’re an inconvenience, one of which then has to pay 10% when they’re probably on same wage as many of the patrons? No we should not encourage tipping here.

don’t go out then

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 19:35

blunderbuss12 · 23/12/2025 18:41

Wonder if any of the posters saying waiting staff are paid a decent wage and don't deserve tips could explain the chronic staff shortage in the service industry

this

Newdaysameday · 23/12/2025 19:35

tokennamechange · 23/12/2025 19:17

This makes absolutely no sense.

How do all the thousands of pubs and restaurants where you order at the bar or via an app on your phone and then all the server does is deliver the meal to you manage to exist/profit without adding an extra service charge, then?

And why do staff working there rather than those working in pubs and restaurants where you get a bill at the end not deserve extra compensation when the only thing they do differently is detail what you want to eat via the till at the start rather than coming to your table?

"the service is the labour element for the server" doesn't make sense either as a sentence or an idea. It's insane to say that walking a meal over from the kitchen to a table is the sole element that isn't included in the price of a meal, but everything else you've quoted as being part of a business's running costs, from the chef, barstaff and cleaner's wages, to toilet paper, dishwashing, insurance, music license etc. somehow is.

The server's set wage is their "labour element". The restaurant pays them for working each shift (i.e. their "labour") regardless of whether it is busy, quiet or empty. Anything else would be illegal.

Edited
Show quote history

just pay the service and stop whining

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle · 23/12/2025 19:28

tokennamechange · 23/12/2025 19:20

Brexit?
We didn't have a 'chronic staff shortage' pre 2019 despite the minimum wage being a third less than it is now.

Show quote history

Yep, this.

tokennamechange · 23/12/2025 19:20

blunderbuss12 · 23/12/2025 18:41

Wonder if any of the posters saying waiting staff are paid a decent wage and don't deserve tips could explain the chronic staff shortage in the service industry

Brexit?
We didn't have a 'chronic staff shortage' pre 2019 despite the minimum wage being a third less than it is now.