Sad: What Restaurants Will Do For A Few Dollars

I hate the idea of automatically adding a gratuity.

It's defined as: an award (as for meritorious service) given without claim or obligation.

I have no problem tipping and if the service is good, I usually end up tipping more that 15%, but that's when warranted. If my food isn't good, or the service isn't up to par, why should I be asked to pay extra for services I'm not receiving? And to have a mandatory gratuity and not even calculate it properly! There, I'm done my rant!

 

Here's my 2cents' worth (after tax & gratuity): Businesses in most (progressive) European countries charge you the price you see on the menu. No tax, no tip, no extras.

A pizza costs 6 Euro (not in London, of course - you don't even get the paper plate there for that amount, and that's all you pay. Here, a pizza costs $8.99 plus tax, plus tip ---> around 12 bucks by the time you're done.

I have to shake my head and grin every time I see a local car dealer sell a car for 29,999.97 - some people actually still seem to believe that they are getting a car for under $30K and fall for this stupid pricing/deceipt game!

 

That was my biggest beef when travelling around Europe last summer. All the restaurants automatically added 15% gratuity, regardless of how the service was or the food.
I have no problem tipping over 15% if the service is excellent, but at least let me decide.

 

Most countries I visited in my recent 2 1/2 year stay in Europe do not add a 15% gratuity - it's built-in in the price you see on the menu, just as are the taxes.

In Europe, most service personnel are getting a wage that allows them to live a decent life (relative to their education, that is...) and thus do not depend on tips to make a proper living. If service was very good, you leave a small token amount (the change you don't want to mess up your pant pocket with) as a "bonus", if service was so-so, you leave nothing, and if service was bad, you complain to the manager.

The system where you "reward" someone according to the "class" of service received is, in my opinion at least, totally outdated, as quite often the wrong guy gets the shaft: The service may have been good but the food bad and then the waiter gets penalised when you don't leave "his" 15%.

 

This sounds like a blatant rip-off to me...

In North America, tipping and any form of gratuity is left up to the diners. The olny exception that I've seen regularly applied is when there is a reservation for a party of 8/10 or more...or when there is a special occasion dinner reservation (like New Years, etc...) These exceptions are also clearly indicated up front.
The only other place I've seen gratuity added automatically were extra charges on cruise ships.

I've eaten at many fine, average and plain restaraunts in Canada and the U.S
over the last thirty years, and I've never heard of something like this for only two people.

At least you had good food and service...imagine if it had been sub-par?
If that would have been the case, I definately would have spoken to the person in charge of the dining area regarding it. Certainly, the 15%, or is it 16%, or 18% was out of line. Tipping, it is usually agreed, is a 15% gratuity (this, mind you, is for adequate service) based on the PRE-tax cost of the meal.

"Winterlicious" be damned! Sounds more like "Take-advanageicious" to me....

 

I'm down in Rio de Janeiro on holidays right now.

The practice here is that every restaurant bill gets a 10% surcharge.....it's the law actually.....

Problem is.......the food and service is just soooo exceptional everywhere you go that I always slip the "garcons" an extra R$10 or so at my favorite places......

Placing a mandatory tip on a restaurant bill in NA is simply outrageous IMHO....service sucks the big one at most places I have been to.....and I would never frequent one that followed this practice back home.

 

Would you mind PM'ing me the name? Just don't want to make the same mistake. Thanks!

 

So does this mean, in Europe, you don't tip the bellman when he carries your luggage up 4 flights of stairs? It should all be included in the hotel bill no?

 

To begin with, you should stay in hotels that have an elevator.

Secondly, the same applies to all service personnel wages (at least in the "developped" nations of Europe: They are not lower than any other worker's wages and a tip is not considered to be a mandatory supplement as is the case here in N/A (without tips, most waiters in Canada would have to eat what you leave on your plate in order to survive).

I personally always reward good and polite service regardless of where in the world I am, but know that I am not obliged to do so in countries (Germany, Switzerland, Finland and many more) where "tipping" as a mandatory part of the salary has been discontinued a long time (decades) ago...

 

I just looked at your bill again...maybe he rounded off the tip because you got 4 items for $ 0.00 and thought that you're still getting a bargain? ;-)

 

Last year I was on holliday in Miami. We had a dinner in one of the restaurant of the Bal Harbour mall. The servant a added 20% gratuity on the bill. We did'n't pay that because the service was not oké. We payed about 12%! We had a argue with the waiter for half an hour!
I don't mind to pay, but it's up to me how much. Indeed in the Netherlands it is not common to add some ort of gratuity on the bill. ( but highly appreciated to give a tip).

 

In Japanese hotels, they will refuse any tips. Good service is considered part of the job.

The whole tip "custom" is all screwed up anyway. In many restaurants, I understand that tips are pooled nowadays (at least in the US). So those tips aren't rewarding or penalizing a particular waiter or busboy, consequently they remove the incentive for individual excellence. As long as that is the case, eliminate tips and just add a decent wage to the cost of food. Then put a customer service survey in place where wages can be raised or lowered based on individual feedback.

 

What also kills me, is not only the b*lls of some waiters, but the fact that you already spent 52.00 on drinks, that is already taxed. They also charged you 13.00 per glass for the wine. Then you are pleasantly told ( mostly that you will be reminded in black and white) the the tip is calculated on every thing above the subtotal. It can be 15% as a base, but noooo, the waiter is using his discresion and round it off what ever he can get away with. It will never be below 15%.

Where is this place anyway. I will stay away.

 

412 good to see you on.....how are things?

As fo rthe resturant thing, Brian, did you have to pay that to the waiter/waitress? If it came in the little black folder, even if by credit card, I would have tipped less on the total amount and walked out quietly.

In the past I have done that if the service was crap. If the food was crap I would still tip 10%, but the service, I would make sure to the penny of the bill.
Sorry to hear about your experience, next time stay home !!

 

It seems as if they added the gratuity onto the total WITH tax, and than added some extra change.

 

mandatory tipping, yeah right i like to decide whether the product and service were worth more than the listed price. one of the good things about australia, it's not expected but hugely appreciated when you do.

previous discussion... http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=135173761#post135173761

 

Unfortunately, that's what everybody thinks....wars have started because of this!

 

IMO this is theft, pure and simple. We don't have this nonsense here.

If the service is good, you tip at your discretion, as it should be!

 

As I said previously, the difference between North America and the rest of the world (at least the developed one) is that N/A still has wages for service personnel that are lower than wages for other trades. So the gratuity is not a "bonus", but a necessary addition to the salary to make a semi-decent living. In other countries (including yours, I believe), the tip is really just a form of "thank you" or bonus. Imagine that all other folks were paid based on the quality of their service/output. There would be a lot less Ferrari owners hehehe.

P.S. Where down under do you live? I'll be going to Sydney on April 4th, to Brisbane on the 7th and then to NZ for a month from April 15 onwards.