It is the current practice of automatically adding a voluntary charge that annoys me the most. I ask for a peppermint tea £3.20. The bill adds a 12.5% service charge and is £3.60. Even an expensive teabag is about 20p so I have already paid £3 to voer the cost of the staff, the premises, the hot water, the washing up.
What has the server done? Got a teabag out of a box, stuck it in a pot, pulled a handle to pour in hot water. Job done. What extra service am I paying 12.5% for? They didn't advise me on the provenance of the peppermint, nor share expert knowledge of how the leaves were grown and harvested. They did not bless the tea in a sacred ritual, or blow magic dust over the cup, or brew it in the tears of a mythical golden rabbit.
Instead, I have to embarrass myself by being so mean as to ask for the 40p additional charge to be removed.
If they're on minimum wage they may be paid the same as me. They add boiling water to a tea bag, I deal with severely demented patients. I love my job, I feel rewarded by it. But nobody pays me 12.5% every time I wipe drool from someone's mouth, or manage confusion, aggression, distress.