Tipping waiting staff..

We had this at a UK chain restaurant where they added a suggested tip to the final bill. The waitress pointed it out and said we could remove it, but the tips help her out as she uses them to buy her food shopping with being on a low wage. I left it on as it felt too awkward to say no I want it taken off.

I'm on minimum wage but I don't get tips in my job and nobody helps me out with my grocery shopping. It left a sour taste at the end of the meal to be honest.

I always have it taken off, it's nonsense. I worked as a waitress in the 90s and earned a LOT less than friends working in shops - which is WHY I got tips. Why do I tip a waiter and not a supermarket attendant or my childs TA. Its nonsense.

Agree, I don’t understand why people tip a hairdresser. I pay 250+ at a time and that’s where it ends. It’s up to the owner to pay the hair washers a proper wage. I don’t tip my nail tech either. Why? You’re doing the service that I paid for.

To be honest I only go to shops with ‘good’ service and avoid busy hectic shops. I 100% make my decision re where to shop based on service quality, eg small local shops with personal service or as you say, high end. Even somewhere like Reiss do very good service though.

Obviously I wouldn’t expect this at M&S and that’s why I shop online with them.

Since we are here, your team certainly do a fabulous job and deserve to get paid well, I’m sure they have excellent expertise and brighten up people’s days. I hope they know that 😊 That’s why I’d rather spend money in a retail shop than in a restaurant, where interaction with waiting staff is often minimal as they’re so overstretched and stressed.

I agree, it really annoys me when they add it automatically. It should always be an option decided by the customer, we don't have a tipping culture in the UK. People tip only when they feel they've been really looked after or at special occasions like Christmas. Adding tips automatically is the businesses' sneaky way of getting more money out of you than you expected to spend and they rely on British people's reluctance to seem awkward by asking for it to be removed from the bill. Sometimes these tips when given by card aren't even properly shared between staff, as the employer manages the pool of money it brings in.

Never come across anyone that doesn’t tip. It would be absolutely mortifying to be with someone that asked for the service e charge to removed. I would think less of them and would certainly never eat out with them again. Cringe.

I spent 27 years in the hospitality industry, 20 of them in a managerial role. I don’t agree with the system of tipping.
Firstly it is inherently unfair, because two tables getting identical food and service pay different amounts when one tips generously and the other doesn’t.
The introduction of the automatic service charge has improved this slightly, but of course some miserly customers will still ask for it to be removed just because they can. It has also meant that on occasion I get the bill and am unsure if service is included of not, and I have to ask and this can feel awkward. I also always try to tip in cash because I am skeptical of how much the staff actually receive in some cases.
Ultimately I am of the firm belief that decent staff wages should be factored in to the menu prices that all customers pay. It would be fairer to all involved. We can expect a decent service in so many other industries without the need to “bribe” the frontline staff, why should hospitality be any different.

Just put your big girl pants on, and when the bill comes, politely give it back to the waitress/waiter and ask for the service charge to be taken off.
It gets easier the more times you do it!

I generally tip anyways so I don't mind if service charge is on the bill especially when out with a big group (I used to work in hospitality). The tips in many cases are also divided up to the bar, waiting staff, the host, chefs, bus boys etc so often people behind the scenes are getting a share. My DH and I did go to an expensive hotel bar recently where the cocktails are £17.50 and they charged 10% service charge on the drinks. I wasn't impressed when a £17.50 cocktail which is ridiculously expensive turned out to be £19.25 😳

The kitchen staff are getting a wage, just like a barista, care worker, retail assistant etc.

Ask for the service charge to be removed. They’re not compulsory and you don’t have to pay, unless it is made clear in advance and the service was acceptable.

Yes, otherwise the kitchen staff would never get anything and they’re the actual reason you’re there in the first place

I have stopped tipping anyone from waiting staff to hairdressers because everything is ridiculously expensive already and all these places should pay their staff correctly.

I don’t think anyone should be expected to tip, and really don’t agree with “service charges”, but I’ll usually tip 10% as long as the service was good. I’ve worked in hospitality and know the difference that tips can make.

In most hospitality settings tips have to be pooled as part of your contract and you can be sacked for not doing it. So your tip to the individual doesn't end up all in their pocket.

No. You just have to be hungry and away from home. Eating out isn’t a mega treat unless your version of eating out is up-market restaurants.

But I have to say I think you’re the one that’s a cheapskate: it should be 15%.

I understand the emotion and I’m with you on hating the tipping culture, but it’s illogical not to tip someone because someone else in a different job isn’t paid enough.

I worked as a waitress once in a busy upmarket bistro and swore I’d always tip waitresses and waiters from then on. When done well, it is a demanding job that requires hidden skills to make everything run smoothly. I appreciate that not every waiting job is like the one I was doing (badly) but if you imagine having charge of six or seven tables in a cramped room of maybe upwards of 30 tables, each with six covers and people expecting a meal to run smoothly with several courses, several drinks, random requests, pressure from a busy kitchen, it’s no joke. Add split shifts to that, which in my view are exploitation. People can be such arses and in the part of London I was in many were entitled arses. I think people underestimate what it takes to provide a calm seamless meal for people eating in a busy restaurant.

I tip my hairdresser because, again, I lived in London and it was expected, and I just can’t not do it now I’ve moved out. My hairdresser doesn’t expect it, but it’s only a very small amount: just around things up.

i also tip taxi drivers. It’s a hard job and I know that they depend on tips to make the job profitable: one told me that the fare itself is referred to as “dead money“, because just the fare itself won’t pay the way.

It definitely shouldn’t be respected as routine and I support the living wage rather than the minimum wage, though even that isn’t much.

Hats off to people who don’t tip, though.

Agree with this. My DS has a part time waiting job in a busy city centre restaurant with a 12.5% service charge on top of minimum wage. Last month with the service charge added we worked out his hourly rate was over £17 per hour which is just ridiculous.

When I go to a shop, I usually get 30 mins uninterrupted time with someone and they’re very knowledgeable.

@ElleintheWoods you get 30 minutes of uninterrupted time with every single retail worker? Or one specific shop? I work for a high end retailer and my team can spend that amount of time with a customer. They are also way above minimum wage.

Grooming, I had to do a course on it when I worked for a district council at one time. It is bribery and with a regular customer in a restaurant, a server will want them in their section, look after them better than the other customers and then get paid extra for doing this for them

my cleaner is £22, waiting staff earn £13 on average I just think tip if you want, round the bill up.

Often what happens though is I eat out with friends and when they bring the card machine we all pay what we owe - so no tip gets added and we leave cash if they've been good.

I am surprised to read that so many here don’t tip. Everyone I know tips, unless there is poor service. Apart from the people we know who have a reputation for being stingy; you can see the physical pain that tipping causes them.

I hate the whole tipping culture and the expectation that professional waiting staff should be begging for tips like dogs. I used to tip routinely and if there’s a service charge I’ll probably pay it out of embarrassment but I don’t carry cash anymore so I don’t bother. My DD worked in a very good gastropub last summer. She reckons about 50% of tables tip and 50% don’t.

It’s also worth noting that in most places all tips are divided amongst all the staff including the chef, manager, etc., so that £10 note you discreetly slip your waiter for excellent personalised service goes straight in the communal tip jar.

I tend to follow the cultural norms of any country I’m in. The culture here is to tip waiting staff and presumably they take the job on that presumption. So I do tip but I take it off if I have had bad service. I do get irritated at a tip being automatically added though.