10% gratuity added to bill

[Byz]

AIBU to be annoyed by a 10% gratuity charge being automatically added to my bill at a restaurant?

Seafood restaurant in the North East, a little town, not a city.

For four of us our bill came to about £230 and a £23 tip was automatically added to the bill. It did state at the bottom of the menu an optional charge would be added but they didn't ask me before actually adding it.
When the waitress brought the bill over she reminded us about the gratuity and said she would remove it if we prefer but I think I should have been asked if I wanted it adding in the first place. It was quite embarrassing to ask for it to be removed. She was polite about it but did seem a bit surprised.

Food was good, service was good and I would have left £10 but it soured the evening a bit so I left nothing. I don't think tips should be expected in this country.

You invented tipping!
Yet another sport invented on this island where original players don't do well in

This thread is so typical of how people are towards hospitality in general.
No issues with the service at the time, then they manage to talk themselves around into the service being awful and the waiting staff being anything from inattentive to rude because they aren't happy with the price, or the gratuity added, or the weather, or the decor or the alignment of the stars...... And then rage all over SM about it because they feel aggrieved about something they know damned well the waiting staff have no control over but someone's gotta take the blame right?
And people wonder why there's a shortage of hospitality staff.

Tip if you want, don't if you don't agree with it, ask for the gratuity to be taken off if you don't agree with it, but don't start making shit up to justify you doing it. Own it, it's your decision.

I prefer to leave a cash tip and always have, so I have always asked for the gratuity to be removed from the bill. It's no big deal. I generally leave more than the official gratuity anyway.

Several people in the US have explained to me that waiting staff there are not in the same position as they are here. They are not directly employed to wait on customers but they are paid a small amount to be available to provide their waiting services to the customers who then pay them directly. As so often, a subtle difference in approach between the US and the UK. (And, really, most of the world.)

If you saw on menu that it would be added, but was optional you should have placed order and asked for it to be removed at time you placed order. Then when bill came you could have left the £10. Instead you left nothing. That was mean, especially if you could afford all that sea food.

If that's what I thought, that's what I would have said.

Tip if you want, don't if you don't agree with it, ask for the gratuity to be taken off if you don't agree with it, but don't start making shit up to justify you doing it. Own it, it's your decision.

Yes, I completely agree on that point. Bad enough that waiting staff are put into this awkward position in the first place without them and their work then having to be grossly unfairly criticised personally because people object to the system.

I don't personally tip a cleaner as I'm not posh enough to have one (I hope that doesn't mean I start dismissal from MN).
But I would always tip a cab driver, and at Christmas I give a small tip to my postie and the bin men too. Not loads but it's just a small gesture.
I guess those of us who do are old fashioned perhaps?

Good service deserves a recognition. Especially those doing jobs many of us would rather never to do.

When we last moved I tipped the movers

Please don’t eat out again.

OP if you ever travel to New York City: don’t go to a restaurant there!

OP if you ever travel to New York City: don’t go to a restaurant there!

We've already covered that one, though - we've acknowledged that restaurant staff in the US are effectively paid by the customers instead of getting a wage from their employers (or maybe a very tiny one); we're talking about the UK, though, where waiting staff are at least NMW employees, like many others in all different sectors.

We could just as well tell those who are arguing in favour of socially-enforced tipping not to ever go in a restaurant if they go to Japan.

Haven't read the full thread but all the comments on the first page seem to be assuming that the waitress who serves you actually gets any tip you give her.

That assumption is quite likely to be incorrect especially if added to the bill as a service charge. It will be siphoned off by the manager or owner and possibly shared, but possibly not - quite often they keep the lot.

I also don't agree with it going into a general pot and being shared with other staff. Kitchen staff are paid more and don't have to deal with the public; if we are going to keep a culture of tipping in hospitality, then it should go to the people who served you.

All that said, 10% is reasonable and £10 would be measly if you've spent £230 on a meal. But better a £10 note in the waitress's pocket than £23 in the owner's.

Exactly! why would I tip for good service? that's what their job is about. Over and beyond, I will tip.

If the pay is so bad that they have to make it up with tips then it's the employers that needs to answer to that.

I wasn't being patronising - just pointing out that someone who is doing their job gets paid for doing just that and therefore shouldn't get a tip as well.

If the pay is so bad that they have to make it up with tips then it's the employers that needs to answer to that

The only answers to that really impacts the customer, increased prices to cover wage rises for enough staff to provide a decent service or fewer staff on a higher wage but then that offers less service (because no, it doesn't matter how much you pay someone, they can't defy the laws of physics and be in two places at once).

A lot of the issue at the moment is that people are expecting higher levels of service because prices are rising - those price rises though are because supplier costs for the food and gas/electricity have risen, not because they're paying their staff more or trying to provide a better service, so there's no basis really to be expecting more than you were always getting service wise as the increased price is covering the costs of the food, fuel etc, which has risen for everyone.

To increase wages for waiting staff, or increase numbers of waiting staff will increase the price of the meal - and people don't like that either.

Does the op tip anyone anywhere ever? Tipping is random, i must admit I'm not a big fan of tipping black cab drivers and hairdressers, both are so expensive, but I still do, cos I can't help myself

I hate tipping. Isn’t that the benefit of NMW. Opinion is divided in tipping. Do what you want.

The op is that tight I bet she squeaks when she walks.

This.

A 10% tip being added to the bill has been standard in most of the UK for around forty years, OP, so dunno why it’s a shock to you.

You were just looking for an excuse not to tip. You obviously know on some level that you’re in the wrong, otherwise this wouldn’t be bothering you enough to post.

Go give £23 to a food bank to make yourself feel better. Or don’t, and carry on being someone who spends £230 on food and drink but doesn’t tip good food and good service. The world is lucky to have you 🙄

Why so many people are keen to push and encourage a tipping culture I have no idea.

id be baffled too OP

I can't remember the last time I went to a restaurant where this didn't happen, I've never been asked if I wanted it taken off either. Where do you live that this is so unusual?
Tipping has got ridiculous - £23 for how much work? Plus basic pay on top and the tips from all the other tables.

Why do you think an employer paying someone a wage would make them exempt from receiving a tip from a customer?

Exactly! why would I tip for good service? that's what their job is about. Over and beyond, I will tip.

What is over and beyond?

Why do you think an employer paying someone a wage would make them exempt from receiving a tip from a customer?

I'd have no issue if somebody actively wanted to give them a tip, but it's the expectation that I think is all wrong. It's kind of socially enforced that you must pay extra - as seen on this thread by all of the accusations of meanness hurled at people who disagree with tipping as a custom - by people who without a shadow of a doubt regularly enjoy many services provided by people on NMW and wouldn't even think of tipping the vast majority of them.

You sound rude, mean and pedantic.

I'd have no issue if somebody actively wanted to give them a tip, but it's the expectation that I think is all wrong. It's kind of socially enforced that you must pay extra

It's on the menu. It says a tip will be added to your final bill. Don't want to pay that? Fine, eat elsewhere.