Page 4 | Optional service charge added to restaurant bill...cheeky?

wetlastfoor · 2022-04-04T13:17:47+00:00

Went out for a meal with my friend on Saturday night. It was her birthday so it was my treat. Bill came to £70.00 Plus a £7.00 "optional service charge" So altogether £77.00 Now am I wrong in thinking this shouldn't be on the bill? If you want to tip it's your choice..them adding this to the bill makes it awkward to ask for another bill with it removed. They must know most people (me included ) wouldn't ask and have to explain why I want the service charge removed. Aibu to think it's cheeky to put this on?

myusernamewastakenbyme · 05/04/2022 07:08

No i dont do a tax return...and as i said its paid into my account with my salary so hmrc take the appropriate amount of tax.

Twixie2022 · 05/04/2022 07:19

Very very common these days especially in hotel restaurants these days. Service charge on a bill if paid by card tends to be split across all the food and beverage team (including chefs which always get left out). If you want to tip your waitress/waiter best to do this cash.

springtimeishereagain · 05/04/2022 07:21

I've noticed it happens more often now for small groups.

My dd has been a waitress while doing her A levels and I'm always shocked by how mean some people are and how little they tip, so I don't think an automatic service charge is a bad thing. If it goes to the staff and chefs, that is, and not into the owner's pocket! 🙄

autienotnaughty · 05/04/2022 07:27

I was a waitress for years and don't agree with this. A tip use to be given because servers wages were so low they relied on tips. Now with minimum wage wait staff are no worse off than other low wage staff. Often now the tips go to management who distribute it as they see fit so staff often don't get direct benefit. I have been to restaurants where there wasn't an option to remove tip and it was 20%! I personally think tip should be offered if customer can afford it and feel it's deserved.

Noisyprat · 05/04/2022 07:42

Always ask for it to be removed. Only tip if service has been great which unfortunately is very rare these days.

Stabbitystabstab · 05/04/2022 07:45

I tip less and less now.
Often the staff earn more than me now
I'm not there to subsidise
And as someone up thread said, what is it with the reluctance to serve tap water? I want a bottle of wine and a jug of water please? I'm not paying a fiver for something that costs a fraction of a penny!

Roystonv · 05/04/2022 08:02

Regarding the tap water thing our local has a large jug on the bar with ice and lemon and you help yourself. Little cost to them but means a lot to customers. Always feel a cheap skate asking for 'tap' water instead of just water but nowadays know I will be brought some house matured spring water instead at huge cost!

VerbenaGirl · 05/04/2022 08:10

It’s definitely becoming more common and I’ve seen it as high as 18%. But I agree that it doesn’t sit quite right. It’s like saying the menu prices are only for the food and having it served to you is additional. I know that in many restaurants this is used as part of the staffs’ salary, so isn’t even an extra for staff to reward them, or directed specifically to the staff who served you. I have asked before where it goes, removed it if not directly to staff, then tipped cash - although some restaurants don’t allow staff to accept this any more.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 05/04/2022 12:41

at that time the assumption of HMRC was that on top of your wage you’d get tips so we were taxed on that basis whether the customer had tipped or not.

That is disgusting and even abusive - I really hope they don't do that anymore. Outrageous to tax somebody on what you think they might have earned. On that basis, if we're doing away with taxes on actual earnings, that would mean that all PT workers would be automatically taxed as if they'd earned the FT wage that they could have potentially earned.

girlmom21 · 05/04/2022 12:50

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

at that time the assumption of HMRC was that on top of your wage you’d get tips so we were taxed on that basis whether the customer had tipped or not.

That is disgusting and even abusive - I really hope they don't do that anymore. Outrageous to tax somebody on what you think they might have earned. On that basis, if we're doing away with taxes on actual earnings, that would mean that all PT workers would be automatically taxed as if they'd earned the FT wage that they could have potentially earned.

But then surely you'll get a tax rebate based on actual earnings

ExtraCreamy · 05/04/2022 12:54

@dementedpixie where did you go? I'm going for dinner in Glasgow later as part of a group of 7 so if it's the same place I'd like to have some warning!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 05/04/2022 12:59

My dd has been a waitress while doing her A levels and I'm always shocked by how mean some people are and how little they tip, so I don't think an automatic service charge is a bad thing. If it goes to the staff and chefs, that is, and not into the owner's pocket!

But do you not think it might just be the owner who is being mean, by not paying a fair wage to their staff? Or is it that your DD does earn a fair wage for the job, but you'd just like her to be given more?

I really hate the attitude that customers in any industry who pay the bill they are presented with in full, based on the pre-agreed price for the goods or services, are being 'mean'. Do you think that, if a customer is extremely friendly and super-polite to their server, the server should knock some money off their bill?

Tipping in restaurants probably originated from the times when staff were paid next to nothing and the customers were all extremely well-off upper-class sorts; but nowadays, there's much more of a balance - it's often ordinary people buying goods and a service from other ordinary people.

As PP said, some people save up really hard to afford a meal out for a birthday treat and simply aren't in a position to chuck in another £20 or so without even missing it. If I need £50 of carefully-budgeted-for food from the supermarket, should I consider that I must do without it, or get less food than my family needs for the week, if I don't have an extra £5-£10 to bung to the checkout assistant for doing the job they're already paid to do (already built into the cost of the food)?

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 05/04/2022 13:02

But then surely you'll get a tax rebate based on actual earnings

I would hope so - is that how it worked/works? Even if so, it's still abusive on a government level to take tax that isn't actually due upfront and then pay it back later - just on a whim of what they reckon you might be getting.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 05/04/2022 13:04

....unless you take the view that, if restaurant servers deserve a tip for doing the job they're already paid for, so must people who work at HMRC - and then cheerfully hand over extra money that isn't due and consider it a 'tip'....

balalake · 05/04/2022 13:04

Seems to be more commonplace. As with recent legislation on tips not being passed on to restaurant staff, perhaps should be illegal to do so. Most restaurants are licensed so could be a condition of the licence, which would ensure it happens more than not.

girlmom21 · 05/04/2022 13:06

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

But then surely you'll get a tax rebate based on actual earnings

I would hope so - is that how it worked/works? Even if so, it's still abusive on a government level to take tax that isn't actually due upfront and then pay it back later - just on a whim of what they reckon you might be getting.

That's how the tax system works though. You pay tax based on your earnings over a set period being the same for the remainder of the tax year.

I went on maternity leave last year and got my holidays for the rest of the year paid instead of rolling them over, so on my last working month I essentially had two months earning and paid tax - then each month since then I've been refunded £85 in tax.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 05/04/2022 13:52

But was that not based on your previous/regular earnings as declared/evidenced rather than just what they randomly assumed you might earn?

Ghostlyfeet · 05/04/2022 14:02

I was chased out of a restaurant recently for not paying the whole bill. I explained that they'd put an additional optional 12.5% on and that I wasn't prepared to pay that much for the service. It hadn't been good yet I'd left 10%!! I suggested they go back in and check the price for the food. I won't go there again and I've told everyone I know about it...
And I waitressed for years.

TheRealityCheque · 05/04/2022 18:19

@Ghostlyfeet

I was chased out of a restaurant recently for not paying the whole bill. I explained that they'd put an additional optional 12.5% on and that I wasn't prepared to pay that much for the service. It hadn't been good yet I'd left 10%!! I suggested they go back in and check the price for the food. I won't go there again and I've told everyone I know about it... And I waitressed for years.

Why would you even leave 10%?

If service was poor take the whole tip off

Ghostlyfeet · 05/04/2022 18:40

@TheRealityCheque was with my mil. She refuses not to leave anything.

TheHomeEdit · 05/04/2022 18:53

I wonder if it’s added more frequently now as more people don’t have cash on them?

I’ve eaten out a couple of times and paid by card, but they didn’t have the option to add a tip to the card payment so the staff missed out as I only had a few coppers in cash.

Much better if the card machine offers the option is a tip - either as a % or fixed amount, but they don’t all seem to have that facility.

LikeAStar1994 · 05/04/2022 19:01

This is not going to be popular but to be honest, I don't care what anybody thinks of me after reading this:

I never tip in a restaurant or when I get a takeaway. I feel like I already pay enough for the food.

DockOTheBay · 05/04/2022 19:10

@Liverbird77

I hate that the tipping culture has become prevelant in the UK.

People are paid a living wage. Why are we tipping in restaurants, cabs, hairdressers'???

Yes I agree. I know lots of people on minimum wage who don't get a tip - preschool workers, secretaries, shop assistants, office workers at the council, call centre staff. If they do a great job they get their wages. Yet waiting staff get their wages plus tips, just for doing their job. Tips used to be for exceptional service, now its expected for normal service - they're already paid for that!

Bigassbeebuzzbuzz · 05/04/2022 19:25

I think its bloody cheeky and always leave a review saying that's the main reason I wont return to a place.
Its MY choice to tip or not.

TheYearOfSmallThings · 05/04/2022 19:30

It is common and has been for years. The reason I don't like it is that I suspect a lot of people don't notice it has been added on and then tip another 10% or 15%. i think it should always be clearly stated on the menu that "A service charge of X% will be added to your bill".