Asking to take the service charge off

[BridgertonToBe]

I have a friend who has a real bug bear about restaurants/eateries automatically adding the service charge on to the bill. She will always ask them to take it off.

While I can see her point, I would feel too awkward and embarrassed to ask this myself. I went out with her a few weeks ago and she asked them to remove it and they brought the manager out to ask her why she didn’t want to pay it and what the problem is.

I now want to avoid going anywhere with her that adds this charge as I find it embarrassing. She can’t see what the problem is. Is she right?

The only time I've asked for it to be removed was when the waiter smashed a glass albeit by accident but DH cut his hand on it and the waiter left bits of glass on the table and didn't clean it up properly hence DH cut his hand.

I agree with your friend op so long as she isn't rude about it which l would find embarrassing

I pretty much always tip at restaurants.

But support the freedom to choose, and am very wary of mandatory tipping culture creeping in. Where I come from (not UK) tipping is expected in ALL hospitality /service contexts. In bars/restaurants, for example, the amount expected is now 20-30% (up from 15% when I lived there 20 years ago). It’s discretionary but if you decline to tip you will likely be questioned/challenged by staff. It’s an annoying and unjustified practice. Hope it doesn’t take hold here

I and two other work colleagues were the last people left in a restaurant after a Christmas meal with about 25 people who had all paid. We had too. Then the restaurant gave us another bill for a service charge.

Obviously, we were not going to pay that, everyone had left cash tips anyway. So we refused it, had a battle, left, none of us went back again.

Do you tip because you're genuinely thrilled with the service, though, or because you feel you're expected to?

Even in spite of that, It's a shameless grift to increase expected tips when they're based on a percentage of the meal cost - whoever came up with that must think that all diners are stupid.

I agree with her.

Unless before the meal they give you the option of collecting your food from the kitchen the service charge can fuck off.

I think its quite cheeky. And usually in places where the price is dear enough without a service charge. But I agree its embarrassing for you when your friend challenges it. I'd just avoid these places in future

I would also be very embarrassed.

I rarely tip, so I'm with your friend on this one.

I'm in Germany at the moment and they don't add a service charge or expect a tip yet still manage to provide good service.

I work in hospitality. I always remove the service charge before giving a guest the bill. I hate it. It’s rude and grabby. 9/10 they will leave me something anyway but I really hate “demanding” it. When I go out for meals I’d sooner it not be added and I’ll leave what i! Want; usually more than they add anyway.

I'm a bit over generous in that I usually tip cash to the server on top of the service charge. I do think it's a little cheeky that places add it automatically now, but it'd have to be a really bad experience for me to ask to remove it.

Was a big part of this the fact that less and less people are carry cash now so tips were drying up?

I hate the automatic service charge addition so I’m impressed at her confidence in asking for it to be removed as most of the time I moan but go along with it. We recently had it removed as we felt the food and drinks were overpriced and on top of that the service was rubbish a so what exactly were we paying for? They got the manager out as only they could remove it in the system apparently - it added an extra 15minutes to our already drawn out meal which with a frustrated toddler was ridiculous. They try and make it as difficult as possible I think so people go”oh just leave it” - but it back fires as we will never step foot in there again.

I once emailed a Michelin star restaurant we ate at to complain about the practice because as far as I’m concerned the high quality of service is part and parcel of a Michelin meal. They wouldn’t get a star without the excellent service, therefore they should pay their staff appropriately for the level of service they’re providing. I’ve already paid for it in the high price meal, I shouldn’t be picking up the tab twice.

I loathe the addition of service charges, I find it presumptuous and will remove it 95% of the time. Based on my experience i might leave a cash tip

Many of the restaurants around here employ under 18’s as waiting staff, they are paid £7.55 per hour on zero hour contracts with unreliable hours (if the restaurant is quiet or they are sent home), service charges are divided between the staff and appear as a bonus on payslips, therefore I would never remove unless I have had very poor service. Cash tips are often never seen again by the young adults working hard for peanuts.
Your friend is within her rights to remove the service charges, but I think it’s a rotten thing to do

This thread is making me think. I think your friend has a point.

I always paid 10% tip usually in cash. I always ask if the staff get it all. Now that staff costs are so high I don't even know if restaurants are actually giving the service charge to the staff as extra.

I really hate automatic 12.5% .

It's embarrassing asking them to remove. It affects whether I go back.

I used to take my team and clients to gusto as its near my office and nice. I also used to go there recommending it to take groups of friends before or after trips to the nearby theatre. I also used to do the same in another city i meet clients and my team in. Now I avoid it. I still like the food but specifically find the 12.5% leaves a bad taste. I can't make a show of taking off 2.5% in front of work people. My firm pay the bill but I resent it so I voted with my feet. I was a good customer to them.

Do you people REALLY think the service charge gets split among the staff??🙄

Service charge seems to be only added for groups of six or more. I did ask for it to be removed once in a restaurant at Heathrow Airport. The figure was excessive for poor food and service. The manager tried to tell us that it could not be removed as no member of staff could do it!

Do you not think it's a rotten thing for the business to do - or is it all on the customer?

Would you think the same about the low-paid Saturday girl at your local garden centre, who gets told not to come in (and so no earnings) if it's raining that morning and nobody's coming out, or if there's a major sporting event and everybody is staying in to watch it instead of going shopping? Would you tip her as well every time you go in?

Presumably people open a business and choose their opening hours because they've done the maths and believe they can turn a profit. They can't just have staff who are run off their feet (for no extra pay) and enjoy all of the lively income when it's really busy, but then complain and make excuses when they have quieter periods and they're still having to pay their staff and other bills regardless.

And if they have more quieter periods than busy ones and can't make a viable business overall, they need to stop the belief that they do have a business and end it. It's just like anybody and anything else: if somebody on NMW and with no savings goes to the Ferrari dealership in the hope of buying one, they're just wasting everybody's time; just the same as a 'business' owner who can't make a viable business.

I don’t mind a service charge if the service was good but it is annoying that it’s added automatically.

I don’t like people that refuse to tip though.

Your friend is to be applauded for her view and consistency. Providing she is not being a hypocrite by buying from business with a load of extra charges for very little, such as all the add-ons Ryanair charge or some concert ticket sellers.

Assuming she is being polite about it and saying her reasons in such a way as not criticising the staff who bring her the bill.

It just underlines even more, though, how arrogant they are in seeing those tips as rightfully theirs, and not as a bonus to be grateful for, in one of the few industries where they are often a thing.

It's a red herring, really, even if absolutely nobody ever carries cash anymore and every penny paid is by card/electronically: it's the deceitful, sneaky nesting of the charges rather than the payment method. If they want/need an extra 12.5% income for each item sold, they could so very easily add it on to the price as shown in the menu. The only reason they don't do this is because they have no honour or integrity, and they reckon that hoodwinking customers will be more profitable for them than if they ran their business honestly and transparently.

It works the other way as well. Most businesses never enjoyed the rare privilege of tips as such in the first place, but when payment by card became the norm - with the additional banking transaction charges that came with it - the shops virtually all slightly increased their prices to allow for it. Only a small minority wanted to have their cake and eat it - to be able to advertise lower prices but still accept cards and have the customers pay the increased bank charges - so many added on an extra fee for paying by card... and this was soon deemed unacceptable and unfair to customers, so it was made illegal.

I'd like to see added service charges go the same way. Do the same as all other businesses do: YOU run YOUR business, YOU work out the figures, and give the customer an all-inclusive cost for if they want to buy what you are selling.

I really dislike the sneaky 12.5 or 15% add on to my bill. I always carry cash to tip staff but object to it being decided for me.
I have never asked for it to be tsken off but it does annoy me. I really should do it but I don't want to get the staff into trouble.

I worked in hospitality as a student and really appreciated it when people left a tip. It made me feel appreciated and I felt as if I was doing a good job.

I try and avoid places that I know add the 12.5%. I am sad that my favourite local restaurant has started it too. Again it makes me less inclined to go.
Maybe restaurants would get more covers if people didn't feel cheated.

Even when you tip your server it goes into the pot. My DD has worked for a large chain of ‘upmarket’ pubs and even when you ask for the service charge to be taken off and hand them the tip in cash directly it all goes into the same jar to be distributed equally. I don’t ask for the service charge to be taken off but I don’t tip anymore. I just never have the cash on me.

Just you pay a tip then once the service charge is off.