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.

Fairly standard. Happy to pay if the service was good, particularly for a party of ten which are very demanding for serving staff.

I used to find the more demanding and twatty they were the less likely to give a tip. I used to be running around all night for a table and they've leave 20p.

Most restaurants add this now - and 125% seems more standard. I usually tip 15% if service is good. Makes it easier if they add it.

Very standard and it does say it on the menu.

TBH if you spent £230 on a meal you are a tight git to not pay service.

This. You were tight af to leave nothing. I would have been embarrassed to do that

Just ask for it removed and leave what your happy with.

I don’t understand the whole “they are paid minimum wage” narrative. So are plenty of other workers and we don’t tip them for doing way more demanding jobs. This is not America with their bullshit wage structure. If restaurants want to pay their staff a decent wage they should price their menu accordingly.

Absolutely mortified for you, you left nothing? Tighter than a crab's ass.

I don't think you should have gone to that restaurant if you weren't willing to pay the service charge, given it was clearly stated upfront.

If you can afford £57.50 each on a meal out you can afford another fiver as a tip. If the meal had just come to £253 in total in the first place then you presumably wouldn't have begrudged paying it if you have that kind of money to spend on a meal out, so why do you begrudge it so when it's made clear that a chunk of it is going to the waiting staff?

Don’t forget, the waitresses also earn a wage, they don’t just get the tips from customers!

Why should they get extra money, whether the service is good, bad or abysmal? Those working in supermarkets, factories, shops etc. will earn roughly the same per hour, but they don’t get tips from their customers!

I agree with the op, it should be up to the customers whether they leave a tip or not and they shouldn’t be made to feel bad because the charge is automatically added to the bill and it can be embarrassing asking for it to be removed.

By the way I do normally leave tips, depending on the level of service received. However, if the charge is already added to the bill, I too get it removed and more often than not leave nothing!

You mean she did her job?

One of the things I liked in Denmark- never added, never expected- they just charged more to start with !

I would always leave at least a 10% tip - especially if it was 'good service'! And often more.

Very stingy of you to leave £10 and absolutely embarrassing to not leave any tip at all. I hope for their sake you never go back there.

And I hope you are blushing reading these comments.

I don't mind leaving a tip HOWEVER I object to being told how much they would like. It is such a horribly outdated habit. Just tell them to remove it and then pay a tip (if you want) in cash.

Just pay your staff properly.

Don't be ridiculous. The staff do get paid you know. Sounds like you are one of those "be kind" brigade without really thinking it through.

It's because so many diners are mean that they do it. I would only remove it if the service was not good, and often add more if the was service exceptional.

If you are in UK you don’t have to tip. Wait staff should be getting at least minimum and paid for all hours worked. Not in USA where tips top up wages. We shouldn’t be forced to tip. If I see gratuity added I ask for it to be removed. I want to pay for what I receive. I don’t get top ups on my wage for giving good customer service. When I went though we went as a family so 2 adults and a child and we spent enough as it was without a tip being added. These restaurants need to just pay their staff properly. Don’t be embarrassed by having it removed from the bill. If you don’t want to tip you don’t have to.

Maybe I was unreasonable to not leave the £10 but I was just annoyed. Ridiculous to make us ask for it to be removed.

She was a good waitress, quite attentive and did look after us but we weren't a demanding table and for £23 I would have expected a bit more. She only presented the wine but didn't pour it, cocktails were a bit slow to arrive, I had to ask twice for more ice as she was too busy chatting to another table. A few issues like that.

If they want a tip like that they need to work harder. Like others have said, nobody else gets extra money like that.

I doubt the waiting staff get these tips that are added automatically to the final bill. Best thing is to leave cash on the table. A couple of people upthread have confirmed that waiting staff on minimum wage don't see these tips. They prefer cash.

I think people are being a bit harsh on the OP. And anyway, why should we be leaving tips for just doing your job? We don't people at the pizza counter in Asda, do we? It's about time we stopped subsidising wealthy restaurateurs.

I don't like UK tipping culture and wish it was different but...

A 10-15% service charge is a standard part of the cost of going to a restaurant, to most people. With the service/food industry under pressure to be competitive, it can be the difference between a restaurant being able to cover basic costs or not.

You're very stingy not to pay it, and, to be honest, this kind of indignation about it comes over as very tacky.

I used to work in the service industry. Now I work in an office, and you're right, I don't "get extra money" in the form of tips at this job. However, I do get paid disproportionately more per hour compared to the effort I put in. When I think about the kind of labour I was expected to perform in shops and restaurants for minimum wage compared to how I work now for around £20 an hour, it blows my mind. I pay service charge gladly, even if the staff don't kiss my proverbial ass all evening.

I have no qualms in asking a default service charge to be removed unless service is exceptional. I usually will leave a tip, but it is of my own choosing. I don't mind tipping but I do mind being told exactly how much.

Husband squirms in his seat whenever I dothos but I Don't give a fuck, it's discretionary.

Especially in London where 12.5% has become the norm.

I think a lot of people who have relied on tips to boost their wages are seeing the impact of people not carrying cash with them so much.
Whether people should be relying on tips is the topic for a different thread.

It's not at all uncommon to see the gratuity added automatically, and I irks me as well as sometimes I like to make sure a tip is going to someone who I think really deserves it i.e. it's not automatically added to the Tip Box, and (I think) if I learn that some 3rd party operator of the card machine gets a % of the bill then I'd rather give cash.

I hate being reminded that the tip isn't included in the bill or whatever.

All that said, as long as it's clear on the bill then you are free to do as you wish.

So you left the poor waitress nothing when she probably gets zero say in restaurant policies about billing practices. You're a right cow.

@InPraiseOfBacchus

Did you get the tips from your tables?

Food was good, service was good and I would have left £10
£10 is extremely stingy on a 230 bill. For 4 people that is a lot of money!
Did you actually tell her to remove the £23 and only leave a tenner?? 😲