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.

FFS the payment is purely voluntary and is there to encorage the miserly to pay a reasonable amount in tips to staff who rely on them.

Thinking £10 is the going rate for a £230 bill shows your true colours, but nothing shows them more so than you taking this as an "excuse" to pay nothing.

I think it’s very mean to leave a £10 tip for a £230 meal, so to hear you didn’t even do that is tight and petty.

I always bristle a little at having the 10% added into the bill (unless in a big group). It feels presumptuous.

However, I always leave the 10% if asked for, and above 10% if it isn't asked for.

Reading some posts about people leaving 5% or even less helps me understand why restaurants add it to the bill!

Yeah sorry OP, you do sound like you're a bit stingy here. £6 each isn't much on a £230 bill.

I always take it off and pay cash to the staff so I can be sure they get it.

Not tipping is embarrassing and so is tipping badly. I don't care if you agree with it or not. If you don't want to pay it cook at home.

No she left nothing. She would have left 10 pounds if it was not added

You are being tight. If you can afford a £230 bill you can afford to tip the staff earning minimum wage.

Wow YABU

And to the Pos who thought she was stingy because she removed the £23 tip and "only gave £10" she didn't even tip that!!!
She left nothing!
How embarrassing. Did your friends agree with you by the way?
I can't imagine going out for a (somewhat expensive) meal and begrudging less than 6£ each on a tip.

PPs not Pos

I think people who don’t tip should have to work a double split in a restaurant booked full of parties of 8+

tight bastard

Lucky you being able to afford an expensive meal out. Rest assured, your waitress cannot afford such luxuries so why would you be so stingy? And by the way, sometimes I do have the service charge removed and give cash instead. Lucky me being able to afford it.

That is really tightfisted

I'm amazed that you got good service because it's dire in the south east a lot of the time. There doesn't seem much pride being taken in good service in a lot of these places.

I'm impressed she actually brought it up and gave the option of removal. Usually they're just presented to you.

Well she won't do that again will she Precipice?

You really left nothing op? How unattractively mean.

If I was at your table I’d have been mortified. Being a stingy tipper is embarrassing; stiffing the poor waitress entirely makes you look just plain nasty.

10% or 12.5% service charges have been commonplace for over 20 years. If you aren’t prepared to pay it, don’t go there.

Honestly I swear I'll never understand tipping in the uk. The staff are literally doing the job they're paid to do- taking orders, serving food etc. They're on at least minimum wage. As pp have said many many jobs are minimum wage, mine included, and there are no tips for carrying out the role in the job description. Why should waiting be any different? This isn't America where staff are poorly paid.

I always ask the serving staff what happens to the tips and act accordingly. I would always tip if the service was good.

It dies annoy me as I find it rather cheeky. I will decide if I leave a tip. The last one we had added though actually shortchanged themselves. The bill was £42 and we normally stick a fiver on the plate as a tip. They added £4.20 and lost out.

I do pay the service charge, if there is one, but a lot of places I go don't use it and rely on a tip, which I prefer.
I don't think it's fair to use a service charge for the amount that someone has spent on a meal, because that's not actually the 'service'.
A couple could order an expensive bottle of wine and a couple of steaks, which could easily amount to £100+, and the family of 5 on the next table could order starters to share, mains for adults, kids meals, puddings and soft drinks, and spend the same, but create a lot more work for the waitress, but the service charge would be the same.
How is that fair?
And please don't believe that waitress got the £23. Most unlikely.

Exactly.

Why not tip though?

Can't stand the "bekind" nonsense, but if I've had a nice experience in a restaurant, why not brighten someone's day by tipping them? If I can afford to eat out I can afford to tip.

I am kind of floored that someone who can afford to spend over £50 per head on a meal is a) so surprised by the optional gratuity that has been standard in many many many restaurants for a long time and b) is so resentful of a perfectly standard tip, so much so that you didn't even leave £10.

If you don't like the "optional service" charge, fine. But you are frankly extraordinarily cheap and I hope this isn't a restaurant you go into often because you will get a reputation.

If you think 23 quid is to much why not go to cheaper restaurant, where the bill would be smaller over all, it's a bit mean and petty

And you're only paying a quarter of the 23 quid tip