Service charge on bill

[Hollychristmasjoy]

I thought of this from the back of a thread I read on here recently and it really is a first world problem! So sorry in advance.

When splitting the bill do you also split the service charge equally or go to the faff of working out your own %.

I recently went out for a meal with friends for one of their birthdays. My friend is a chef at this restaurant and gets 40% off the total bill. It’s not a cheap place to eat but not the ritz either. For example, my main was £30.

I had a starter, main, pudding and 2 cocktails.

Birthday girl had the same as me.

Friend 1 had a main and 2 cocktails.

Friend 2 had just her main and drank tap water.

On top of the above we also got given a extra 2 cocktails each for free because it was my friends birthday.

The bill came to approx £230. The service charge was 12.5% and the amount stated was pre discount, not after (I’m not complaining about this) so approx £28 ish.

Everyone paid for what they ate and drank after the 40% was removed but we split the service charge equally.

Friend 2 only owed £10 for her meal (after discount) as that’s all she had and she had a cheaper item on the menu.

But When collecting the cash I said It was £10 + £7 for the service charge… Now I think for a split second she was about to say something but I’m unsure if I imagined it although it’s got me wondering if she thought it was unfair.

I’m wondering if what I did was right… as technically the service charge was only higher as the rest of us had more but at the same time it seems extreme to start splitting the service charge by %. It also never crossed my mind that it would be seen as unfair until my friend hesitated.

So WIBU to split it equally? And before anyone mentions it ..no I wouldn’t ever ask them to remove a service charge unless the service was terrible! and I certainly wouldn’t do it in my friends place of work.

I had 4 cocktails down and 1 glass of wine by this point (drank in the bar before) and to be honest if she thought it was unfair then she could of worked it all out herself but it was left to me.

Of course you weren’t unreasonable. A service charge is a fixed thing.

Although I do think restaurants which charge it, rather than assume that diners will tip, are unreasonable.

I suppose had it been a tip rather than a fixed, per head charge, she’d have paid less. But really, what a faff…

I think yabu. The service charge would be calculated as a percentage of the overall bill. So if it was 10% and her meal cost £10 then if she had gone buy herself she would have paid £1. Paying a larger service charge because of the choices of others doesn’t feel fair.

Your mate who spent a tenner should only have paid £1.25 at 12.5% so she's effectively subsidised the rest of you. I wish restaurants would do what I've seen done in the US and give individual bills.

Your logic that she should.subsidise you because she is getting the same discount as you all are is astounding.

The waiter still had to bring her a menu, collect a menu, bring her tap water,

Fine.^

bring her an additional bottle of tap water
(they were fairly small),

Fine^

bring her 2 cocktails (yes they were free but she still drank them),

^^ you all had 2 free cocktails, not just her. You also had 2 more on top, as did birthday girl, as did friend one. So that's way more effort than her extra tap water.

collect both glasses,

^ how many cocktail glasses? Did any of you drink the table tap water?

bring her main,

^you all had a main. Two of you also had starters and puddings.

collect her empty plate.

^you all had a main. how many extra plates and cutlery from your starter?

If you really want to break it down to seem less grubby then at least do it properly. Dont forget the pot washers out the back having extra labour.

It's not though. You just work out your share and then add 12.5% on top of that.

I don't think free items should make a difference, not everyone is a cocktail person. I would accept free cocktails to join in and not be awkward but they are really not my thing, I'd usually have a half of cider or a soft drink then tap water. I wouldn't want to 'pay' for them in service charges.

If at a meal where we pay for ourselves, the service charge is calculated on the items we each had.

Astounding? Subsidise me, grubby🙄 MN truly is a wonderful batty place.

Calm down lovely. It’s a few quid. We are actually friends and most things swings in roundabouts. I just wondered about this instance.

I think it should be split evenly. It’s sounds like an expensive restaurant if mains were £30. Restaurants have to pay their staff, rent, utilities, business rates etc etc. Each person sitting in a chair at a table has to contribute towards this. It’s not just the number of times a server brought you a dish, it’s everything.
I would not go to an expensive restaurant, spend a tenner , then expect not to pay equally towards service. That’s part of the experience too, unless I was sharing a chair or had to sit by the loos or something, in which case I wouldn’t go.

You can ask for an individual bill when seated. No one stopped anyone doing that.

I wish they'd just include service in the menu prices, so much simpler!

OP, you’re now reaching with the “if she thought it was unfair then she could of worked it all out herself but it was left to me”.
The hesitation you describe came after you had announced the individual contributions. Your poor friend probably would have asked for the service charge to be 12.5% of individual bills if you had raised it.
I still would send her a text. She’s possibly thinking about it now, maybe chatting about it with the other friend… I think you need to own this one and say you’ll make up up somehow with a coffee. I promise you’ll feel better as the fact you started this thread suggests you’re a nice person who knows they might have messed up a teeny bit.

When I go out with friends we all just add a percentage on to our own payments to cover a tip. I’d never have thought to separate the tip out like that and split it equally.

OP, just text her a nice text and offer her coffee with the “Been thinking about that insane service charge…” starter.
You will come out looking really understanding, and you’ll feel a shed load better.

This.

I would be pretty pissed off if I was your mate…

Your responses have been really catty and condescending when you've not been given the answer you wanted. Maybe she didn't feel able to challenge you. You've come to mumsnet to complain over a perceived pause in giving you her money. Can't imagine how you'd speak to her if she'd said anything.

The service charge was calculated as a service charge on the bill. I agree with those who think it should have reflected each person's relative share of the bill.

If I go out with friends I usually think it's easier to divide the bill equally, but when one person has clearly had far less (or more) as in this case, that isn't appropriate so we do a sort of general rounding.

As others have said, Friend 2 paid a service charge of 70%. That hardly seems fair. It's not difficult to add 12.5% to a bill (assuming you had a phone with a calculator), though perhaps a bit too difficult for someone who has drunk 4 cocktails and a glass of wine!

It would obviously have been more sensible for Friend 2 to calculate it as presumably she was the most sober, but once you had suggested splitting the tip she presumably didn't want to appear a cheapskate and I imagine may have decided it wasn't worth making a fuss as she had a good deal because of the discount (just not as good as the other three - especially OP and Birthday Girl who ate the most).

In this scenario, I'd definitely have split the service charge equally. It would be pretty pedantic to start working out who got more 'service' and ultimately, we're talking the difference of a couple of quid.

But in general, unless it's a big group and the service charge is mandatory, I always ask for it to be removed from the bill. I prefer to pay a tip of my choosing.

Normally we split it equally but then I can't think of an incidence where there was much difference in what people ordered - we usually split the bill to get honest or take turns paying

Anyone else think 12.5% service charge for a table of 4 people is taking the piss? (Misses point of thread completely!)

I imagine she most likely thinks you less of a friend now. You've used her. She probably didn't want to ruin the night by saying anything. But if you're thinking it over thinking you might have been unfair imagine how she is feeling knowing you've made her subsidise your bigger bills.

No its standard and you can ask for it to be removed.

No it's not it's variable as a %

No I don't - it's normal although some places charge 10% many charge 12.5% these days