The Comments Section With Brett Cooper: "Tipping Is Out Of Control"

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

‘Guilt Tipping’: Pressure to tip everywhere has gotten out of control

...Paying via tablet is now the convenient norm at pizzerias, coffee shops, fast food joints and other quick-service spots across the city, but the gadgets are quick to ask if you want to add a healthy gratuity to your order. Touchscreens typically prompt patrons to leave a tip ranging from 18 to 30% — and sometimes even higher — when they grab and go....Occasionally, the prompts replace the old tip jar — upping the ante on what was customarily a tossed buck or some loose change. But in many instances, patrons are being pressured to pony up at places where they’ve never been expected to tip before — say, for waiting on line for their burgers and fries at Five Guys. And they’re not happy about the sudden ubiquity of gratuity gouging....“I was somewhere spending $23 on just coffee and pastries and the suggested tip was another $8 and I simply said no way. I’ll give a dollar or so as a custom tip amount, but let’s have a reality check here,” said Jared Goodman, a 26-year-old recruiter who lives in Brooklyn. “Recently I got a quick bite with my girlfriend and the suggested tip amounts were 25, 35 and even 40%. That’s just insane....”

....Helen Suskin, a consultant from the Upper East Side, told The Post that even though she tips regularly on everything from coffee to baked goods, her generosity isn’t exactly coming from the heart. When you order from a counter, she said, “there is no added service,” yet she feels compelled to leave a gratuity anyway. “You can call that guilt tipping.”...Others, however, say they won’t be cowed by the machines....“I don’t tip people who just are doing their jobs by doing counter work,” Chelsea resident Stanley Vogel said, adding that he always tips servers at full-service restaurants. But, “like in a bakery if they’re just giving me a loaf of bread, I’m not gonna tip ’em for that … I never tip people who are counter people that just bring me something I can get myself.”

....In New York City, restaurant servers often make below minimum wage, and patrons are expected to reward their hard work with tips that will augment their salaries. Yet “fast food” workers — a legal category that includes baristas and cashiers — are guaranteed the full minimum wage of $15 an hour....The popular electronic payment process system Square lets business owners dole out the electronic tips in a variety of ways: It could go directly to the person who processed the transaction or it might be pooled across staff, either per transaction (i.e., a $5 tip would yield $1 for five eligible employees) or by hours worked.

...But, unlike the old days when you might directly hand a 10-spot to your server, nobody seems to have a handle on where the counter-service tips go exactly....Still, they say technology makes it awkward....“I used to go to this butcher shop all the time and I never tipped in the jar. I was friendly with all the guys — but I never tipped,” Sholder said. “Now it comes up [digitally] and it feels like, ‘Oh, he’s a cheapskate, he didn’t tip.’ It puts pressure on me so I really don’t like it, I feel it should be more voluntary.”....When “you’re just pushing a button,” she said, there’s less appreciation from the staff. “You don’t get a lot of ‘Wow, thanks so much!’ It’s just kind of like there’s an expectation from their side.”

....The Post called four locations of Five Guys to ask how gratuities are divided among staffers. Two managers said they were “not sure exactly how,” while the other two declined to respond....“I’m skeptical of the whole thing,” said former busboy Bryan Reilly, 24, of Massapequa, Long Island. “It feels like it’s becoming my responsibility to make up for their workers being paid so little....

https://nypost.com/2022/04/08/guilt-tipping-pressure-to-tip-has-gotten-out-of-control/

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

 ‘No tip, no trip’: DoorDasher shows piles of orders sitting on restaurant counter, says it’s a result of non-tipping customers

Amongst DoorDash drivers, there is a common saying: “no tip, no trip.” This means exactly what it sounds like. If a customer orders an item and does not tip, many DoorDash drivers will simply ignore the order as waiting for more profitable orders better serves their interests....Many users on TikTok have shared the alleged consequences of this mantra to viral success. One user claimed a pile of orders without tips was sitting for 4 hours owing to the fact that no one wanted to deliver them. Another video showed a pile-up of pick-up McDonald’s orders also allegedly caused by a lack of tips.

“If u don’t wanna tip, get it urself! Simple!” a user exclaimed.....“My daughter works for doordash and she gets paid like $2.00 per hour so her salary is based off of tips,” explained a third. “Also, rate your driver if you can!”...However, other users pointed out issues with the logic of “no tip, no trip.”....“What if they tip good but the person brings cold food? Or even steals food?” asked a commenter. “That’s why people don’t tip BEFORE. I always tip cash afterwards.”....“I don’t tip anymore bc the drivers sucked so bad but when they actually do a good job I give them cash when they come,” claimed a second....Some even shared their belief that the anger of Dashers against non-tippers is misguided....“We need to do away with the tip system and start holding these restaurant corporations responsible for liveable wages,” concluded an additional TikToker. “This is SO crazy!”

https://www.dailydot.com/irl/doordasher-shows-piles-of-non-tipping-orders/



Some Bay Area Restaurants Add ‘Wellness Fee' to Their Menus

Several eateries say the price of getting everything is going up, including good employees and at some point, they need to pass that cost on the customers. A restaurant in San Mateo has only been open for three weeks, and it’s already dealing with new economic realities. "It's the cost of the high wages in the Bay Area," said Marr Levin, co-owner of Refuge Restaurant. He said rising inflation means everything he serves costs more and it also means the wages he pays need to go up just to attract enough employees....

...So now, Refuge adds what it calls a 2% "wellness fee" to its bottom line. Literally, the bottom line on its menu....Pinstripes, a nearby restaurant and bowling alley, is also dealing with rising costs, and has decided on a wellness fee of 3%....And the county says it understands the economic realities, and hopes businesses are honest about what they're charging...."If business owners choose to do it, they need to be extremely transparent up front,” said David Canepa, San Mateo County supervisor. “And they need to say, within their wellness fee, what the wellness fee is for....."

Some Bay Area restaurants said that in addition to offering higher wages, they plan to bring workers back by offering extra benefits, including a healthcare package.

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/peninsula/some-bay-area-restaurants-add-wellness-fee-to-their-menus/2595888/

 

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

Delivery driver takes away customer’s food after discovering he had given an $8 tip

.....A delivery driver who made a 40 minute trip to deliver food for a customer refused to give the customer his order after discovering that he had tipped her just $8 dollars ....for the 12-and-a-half mile trip. In viral footage captured by the homeowner’s doorbell camera, the clearly annoyed driver asks to speak to him before handing the food over....The DoorDash driver tells the man that he “must not realize” how far the food had come. As she explained his house is in Smithtown, Long Island and the restaurant which had ordered from is in Commack, which she claims takes 40 minutes to drive. The man disputed this saying that it was between 15-20 minutes by car....

....The driver then asks the man to adjust his tip to which he responds “What the hell are you looking for? I gave an $8 tip.” At this point the driver explains that she is going to return the food and starts walking back down the path towards her vehicle....The video shared on YouTube has been viewed more than 800,000 times. The comments are mostly critical of the woman saying that she acted inappropriately and that $8 was more than enough ....One user who claims to have worked for DoorDash explained “I deliver with DD as well and sometimes they send me orders for something that's 10-15 miles away for about $10-12 bucks. The mileage they show on the app is the distance to pick up the food and then to the customers home, NOT counting the mileage back! If I don't get at least $1 dollar a mile for there AND back mileage, I decline the order....”

....A spokesperson from DoorDash is quoted by The Mirror as saying: “We take the safety of our community extremely seriously, and such inappropriate behavior is never tolerated on the DoorDash platform...."Any behaviour that violates this zero tolerance policy is grounds for deactivation, and the Dasher involved has been removed from our platform. We have been in touch with the customer to offer support, and sincerely regret that this incident fell short of the experience we strive to provide every day...."

https://www.indy100.com/viral/delivery-driver-takes-away-food-tip-viral

[thegeneral 2,889]

I especially like it when the lowest option is 20%…on the 48 bucks you just dropped for a couple beers and some hot dogs at a baseball game

[wiffleball 4,788]

I don't know the answer. In many instances, you can see some lazy ass front of house server make $300 (tax free cash) and maybe experience a total of an hour's worth of effort per shift. Plus an hourly wage. 

 

Meanwhile, back of house is under constant physical and mental duress and horrible conditions and they might make $80 net per shift.

 

Attempts to level that out a bit is fine with me.

 

What should be flat out illegal though is , managers and owners shouldn't be able to touch that money at all. It should be 100% payout to employees. How that's done? Fine work that out.

 

I've been in places where the owner kept all of the tips.  Literally"that's why I can pay $1 more per hour!" 

 

So much shady going on right now. 

 

Honestly? I'm staying in a hotel one time and ordered McDonald's. McDonald's. It cost me over $30. And they f***** up the order. Doordash or whatever.

 

From what I've seen and heard, if you're dumb enough to use doordash, then you just have money to burn. And more money than brains.  Horrible service, cold, disshelved food - nah. 

[nobody 2,557]

They should just build in the money into the salary.  The concept of tipping is kind of stupid.  It would make more sense if people didn't think they were entitled for putting in the bare minimum.

 

[wiffleball 4,788]

Having worked in all kinds of restaurants, I can tell you both sides are fault. To sit there and listen to servers sit in the back and b**** because they only got a $2 tip on  a $8 ticket...

 

On average, servers spend probably less than 5 minutes with the table in total.

 

Above, if you work only five tables like that that turn over every half hour? That's 20 bucks an hour. That's reasonable for your job. It's more than anybody else is making in the restaurant. 

 Sorry you're not going to walk out with $300 cash + base every night for a 6-hour shift. Then again, if you look at what basic healthcare workers (nurses) make? They're generally not making 50 bucks an hour.  Hell, neither are construction workers or electricians nor a hell of a lot of people who bust ass - and never get cut early bc they're 'bored'.

 

And they do a hell of a lot more than you while you sit in the kitchen and munch french fries and b**** about how hard your job is while surfing your phone.

Servers just don't understand that concept at all.

 

And the next time some rod wants to talk about income inequality? Compare what most servers  (usually girls) make to what say, their dishwasher boyfriends make. Or Laborer Husband makes.

[wiffleball 4,788]

Honestly, I hope door dash, Instacart,  etc, just implodes. 

 

People drive past 19 restaurants and grocery stores on the way home, fire up a bowl at home , then grab their phone. 

 

Not exactly a recession. 

 

 

[easilyscan 857]

Related: Had to pick up some groceries for someone who is housebound yesterday afternoon around 1:15

The store is hy-vee. Had no choice but to use the self check out because there were only 2 full service checkouts available with long lines in both. Who knew that grocery stores are pretty busy on Saturday afternoons.

Then they have the nerve to ask me if I want to donate. How about you fockers take the money you saved by forcing me to do the scanning and bagging for you, & donate it to the charity of your choice. FOCK YOU

 

 

[seafoam1 2,798]

5 hours ago, wiffleball said:

Having worked in all kinds of restaurants, I can tell you both sides are fault. To sit there and listen to servers sit in the back and b**** because they only got a $2 tip on  a $8 ticket...

 

On average, servers spend probably less than 5 minutes with the table in total.

 

Above, if you work only five tables like that that turn over every half hour? That's 20 bucks an hour. That's reasonable for your job. It's more than anybody else is making in the restaurant. 

 Sorry you're not going to walk out with $300 cash + base every night for a 6-hour shift. Then again, if you look at what basic healthcare workers (nurses) make? They're generally not making 50 bucks an hour.  Hell, neither are construction workers or electricians nor a hell of a lot of people who bust ass - and never get cut early bc they're 'bored'.

 

And they do a hell of a lot more than you while you sit in the kitchen and munch french fries and b**** about how hard your job is while surfing your phone.

Servers just don't understand that concept at all.

 

And the next time some rod wants to talk about income inequality? Compare what most servers  (usually girls) make to what say, their dishwasher boyfriends make. Or Laborer Husband makes.

Dear Lord. You work in some shlit hole restaurants. And the girls who waited tables at the places I worked, never dated the dishwashers. Just sayin...

Who the fock goes into a restaurant, sits down, orders, eats for $8 and is on their way in 30 minutes? That's called fast food and no one tips them. They don't even have waiters dumb ass. WTF?? 

[Ultra Max Power 214]

I will never be guilted into a tip.  I'll drop a custom tip of $1 from time to time if I pickup from a restaurant.  

[Ultra Max Power 214]

9 hours ago, wiffleball said:

Honestly, I hope door dash, Instacart,  etc, just implodes. 

 

People drive past 19 restaurants and grocery stores on the way home, fire up a bowl at home , then grab their phone. 

 

Not exactly a recession. 

 

 

I agree.  Door dash is an absolute waste of money.  Sure it may make sense once in a while, but people who use it regularly are just lazy.  

The idea of instacart is also kind of weird to my wife and I.  I don't want someone else picking my meats and fresh produce. But I will say that they did come through nicely with some alcohol delivery over the holidays when everyone was already drinking and we ran low.  That's a service worth paying for and I'll drunkenly tip you well the faster it gets there.  

[TBayXXXVII 2,481]

My simple rule of thumb... 

• If the person makes a regular working wage, my answer to "TIP", is always "NO".
• If the person makes "server wages", my answer is always yes and it at least 18%, unless the service really sucks.

[EternalShinyAndChrome 3,828]

9 minutes ago, TBayXXXVII said:

My simple rule of thumb... 

• If the person makes a regular working wage, my answer to "TIP", is always "NO".
• If the person makes "server wages", my answer is always yes and it at least 18%, unless the service really sucks.

This is my standard as well, although I do 20% unless the service is bad.

[nobody 2,557]

6 hours ago, easilyscan said:

Related: Had to pick up some groceries for someone who is housebound yesterday afternoon around 1:15

The store is hy-vee. Had no choice but to use the self check out because there were only 2 full service checkouts available with long lines in both. Who knew that grocery stores are pretty busy on Saturday afternoons.

Then they have the nerve to ask me if I want to donate. How about you fockers take the money you saved by forcing me to do the scanning and bagging for you, take the savings you realized & donate it to the charity of your choice. FOCK YOU

 

 

I always hate the "do you want to round up for charity?" 

No.  How about you round down for charity if you're so concerned about it.

[Cloaca du jour 2,147]

What did the Leper say to the Hooker?  Keep the tip

[Cloaca du jour 2,147]

Just now, nobody said:

I always hate the "do you want to round up for charity?" 

No.  How about you round down for charity if you're so concerned about it.

I only do that for Ronald Mcdonald house.  Solid Charity!!

[TBayXXXVII 2,481]

24 minutes ago, EternalShinyAndChrome said:

This is my standard as well, although I do 20% unless the service is bad.

For the most part, yeah, I'm at 20% as well.  The only times where I do 18% is where I don't have any real complaints about the service, but the person did just enough to not be bad.  Those are the ones I give 18% to.

[wiffleball 4,788]

6 hours ago, seafoam1 said:

Dear Lord. You work in some shlit hole restaurants. And the girls who waited tables at the places I worked, never dated the dishwashers. Just sayin...

Who the fock goes into a restaurant, sits down, orders, eats for $8 and is on their way in 30 minutes? That's called fast food and no one tips them. They don't even have waiters dumb ass. WTF?? 

Well, specifically in that case?  A hot tea & a danish whilst they surf/use their phone. Pretty common. 

 

And I can almost guarantee  that while they may  not be dating THE dishwasher, they're most likely dating A dishwasher or a line cook from another restaurant.

 

...whilst flocking the BT. 

[edjr 6,578]

12 hours ago, thegeneral said:

I especially like it when the lowest option is 20%…on the 48 bucks you just dropped for a couple beers and some hot dogs at a baseball game

progress!

[edjr 6,578]

48 minutes ago, Cloaca du jour said:

What did the Leper say to the Hooker? 

How do I taste

[DonS 3,292]

1 hour ago, nobody said:

I always hate the "do you want to round up for charity?" 

No.  How about you round down for charity if you're so concerned about it.

I'm currently in Oregon for work.  There is no sales tax here so when I went through Burger King drive thru my total for the advertised $5 deal was actually $5.00 even. 

The gal at the window asked me if I wanted to round up for some local charity.  Round up on $5???  Would that be $6???   WTF?

[easilyscan 857]

5 hours ago, DonS said:

I'm currently in Oregon for work.  There is no sales tax here so when I went through Burger King drive thru my total for the advertised $5 deal was actually $5.00 even. 

The gal at the window asked me if I wanted to round up for some local charity.  Round up on $5???  Would that be $6???   WTF?

Just say no.

[easilyscan 857]

7 hours ago, TBayXXXVII said:

My simple rule of thumb... 

• If the person makes a regular working wage, my answer to "TIP", is always "NO".
• If the person makes "server wages", my answer is always yes and it at least 18%, unless the service really sucks.

What about carry out ?

Order online and pick up the pizza yourself. 

 

 

[easilyscan 857]

7 hours ago, Cloaca du jour said:

What did the Leper say to the Hooker?  Keep the tip

Oldie but goodie.

What did Jeffrey Dahmer say to Lorena Bobbitt ?

You gonna eat that ?

[Mookz 1,337]

Here, I have a tip for you:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$2.50, do you have Venmo? 

[Twinsdad 53]

18 hours ago, thegeneral said:

I especially like it when the lowest option is 20%…on the 48 bucks you just dropped for a couple beers and some hot dogs at a baseball game

Was at lunch today and the three tip options were 22%, 25% and 30%.  Lunch prices are already jacked up 75%-100% more than pre-covid prices.  Honestly, because of the increase in prices,  I've gone from tipping 20% back to 15%, but will go higher for exceptional service.

[seafoam1 2,798]

I waited tables and bartended for years. I'm so sick of the new expectations for tipping that I just cook at home a lot more. 

But still, the good restaurants, not the full of themselves restaurant's wait staff, don't need to push tipping. They just get tipped well because they are good at their job. 

[Mike Honcho 5,087]

19 hours ago, Blue Horseshoe said:

 

Delivery driver takes away customer’s food after discovering he had given an $8 tip

.....A delivery driver who made a 40 minute trip to deliver food for a customer refused to give the customer his order after discovering that he had tipped her just $8 dollars ....for the 12-and-a-half mile trip. In viral footage captured by the homeowner’s doorbell camera, the clearly annoyed driver asks to speak to him before handing the food over....The DoorDash driver tells the man that he “must not realize” how far the food had come. As she explained his house is in Smithtown, Long Island and the restaurant which had ordered from is in Commack, which she claims takes 40 minutes to drive. The man disputed this saying that it was between 15-20 minutes by car....

....The driver then asks the man to adjust his tip to which he responds “What the hell are you looking for? I gave an $8 tip.” At this point the driver explains that she is going to return the food and starts walking back down the path towards her vehicle....The video shared on YouTube has been viewed more than 800,000 times. The comments are mostly critical of the woman saying that she acted inappropriately and that $8 was more than enough ....One user who claims to have worked for DoorDash explained “I deliver with DD as well and sometimes they send me orders for something that's 10-15 miles away for about $10-12 bucks. The mileage they show on the app is the distance to pick up the food and then to the customers home, NOT counting the mileage back! If I don't get at least $1 dollar a mile for there AND back mileage, I decline the order....”

....A spokesperson from DoorDash is quoted by The Mirror as saying: “We take the safety of our community extremely seriously, and such inappropriate behavior is never tolerated on the DoorDash platform...."Any behaviour that violates this zero tolerance policy is grounds for deactivation, and the Dasher involved has been removed from our platform. We have been in touch with the customer to offer support, and sincerely regret that this incident fell short of the experience we strive to provide every day...."

https://www.indy100.com/viral/delivery-driver-takes-away-food-tip-viral

I saw this the other day...what a B!tch...I would have run after and taken the food out her hand.  

[seafoam1 2,798]

3 minutes ago, Mike Honcho said:

I saw this the other day...what a B!tch...I would have run after and taken the food out her hand.  

Absolutely. You paid for it, it's yours. And retract the tip. 

[TBayXXXVII 2,481]

58 minutes ago, easilyscan said:

What about carry out ?

Order online and pick up the pizza yourself. 

I don't tip on those either (in-general), because the person doing the work, largely (i.e. hostess/cook), are full wage earners, not server wages.  There are exceptions however, in those cases I will tip, but it may only be like 10%.

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

Opinion Diners don’t want to be surprised by service fees

.... In May, restaurants and bars will begin to gradually raise the base wage they pay tipped employees, with the “tip credit” set to disappear in about four years....Fortunately, customers have kept restaurant owners, including me, afloat. At first, they purchased to-go cocktails at restaurant prices and navigated a complicated network of delivery services. When restaurants and bars reopened, customers adapted to QR codes, counter service and varying pandemic protocols. And then came the service charges....

....Before the pandemic, to “auto-grat” — preemptively adding a 15 to 20 percent tip to a customer’s bill — was controversial and generally reserved for large groups, usually at the discretion of the server. Three years later, service charges — now ranging from 18 to 24 percent — have become the norm and, though some have heralded this as a step toward a post-tip utopia, the reality is that tips are still encouraged at most establishments and charges have multiplied as supply chain issues and general inflation have further increased costs....

....Why haven’t restaurants simply raised prices? Well, there is evidence that consumers are less sensitive to “shrouded” costs — fees or taxes requiring a bit of mental calculation. In an industry long resistant to raising prices, many owners decided service charges were a better option for the bottom line. But this approach is both an unsustainable way to address background inflation and a crude method of pricing across a menu. More important, it is corrosive to one of the core features of our industry: trust.....

....The restaurant industry is stuck in a “prisoner’s dilemma” that has led to behavior more typical of predatory lenders or airlines. Frankly, many owners would like to simply raise prices, but they know they are competing with others who play the “shrouded cost” game, and, as such, they feel the sticker shock that comes with honesty will put them at a competitive disadvantage. So, fees proliferate, and customers who have stuck with us through the pandemic are increasingly exasperated by charges for service, employee wellness and covid-19 recovery, all with no discernible improvement in service and an increasingly impersonal experience.....

...As restaurant receipts look more and more like used car dealership invoices, can we really expect first-time customers to become regulars? When a bartender forgets to mention a service charge is included in a check that still has a tip line, does that have a deeper, more corrosive impact? Isn’t it a bit hypocritical to ask customers enjoying a night out to read the fine print after we fought to rein in delivery services and their usurious fees? And, when internal conflicts over service-charge sharing spill into public view — often with an insinuation of wage theft — what does that do to our image as trusted members of the community?...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/16/dc-tipped-wage-initiative-service-fees/

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

 

[TimHauck 2,600]

Similar story as OP.

I guess DD drivers expecting tips by the mile as opposed to the cost of the food is actually a thing?  But how many customers actually do that? 

 

 

 

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

 

Redditors fed up with ‘BS’ surcharges call out more than 200 LA restaurants for extra fees

.....Users on Reddit are fed up with surreptitious surcharges at restaurants — and have begun crowdsourcing a list of Los Angeles eateries that tack on additional fees. So many responses poured in that the list was compiled into a public Google spreadsheet that has nearly 250 entries in a subreddit called r/LosAngeles. In Pasadena, Agnes Restaurant & Eatery adds a “4% Healthy LA” fee to all dine-in checks to help pay for workers’ health and wellness benefits. The Redditors’ spreadsheet even includes a photo of a receipt from the restaurant, which notes that the 4% surcharge “is not gratuity” and can be removed upon request. The spreadsheet notes other restaurants’ reasons for their respective surcharges, which range from add-ons to subsidize employees’ healthcare benefits to a “kitchen appreciation fee.....”

......Another photo of a receipt from The Albright, a seafood spot on the Santa Monica pier, shows that an obscure 10% fee was added to the Redditer’s check, though there’s no reasoning behind it......Sunset Boulevard’s All Day Baby added a 3% “kitchen love” tax to its bill, the spreadsheet showed, linking to a review on Yelp that described it as a “shameful money grab by management.” Among the most shocking of surcharges was Speranza’s unexplained 18% to 20% to its checks. “Staff was very vague in what it was for just that it was not tip,” the Redditer said of Speranza. Xuntos, a tapas bar in Santa Monica that opened last month, also reportedly adds a “non-negotiable, non-discretionary, non-removable” 20% service charge....Vino Wine & Tapas Room in Encino, for example, adds on a 3.8% fee for card transactions — and automatically applies a 20% tip for bills over $200 — while the menu at Oceanview Cafe in Manhattan Beach says that its prices reflect a “4% cash discount.....”

.....And two other restaurants included in the spreadsheet — the Ruby Fruit and Perch — charge security fees of 4% and 4.5%, respectively, to ensure the safety of guests and staff. Hodori Koren Cuisine, meanwhile, reportedly adds a $1 surcharge for each item ordered to-go. For in-house diners, French restaurant République, meanwhile, charges a hefty corkage fee of $75, the sheet showed, while Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica will pop bottles for $40. At Yang’s Kitchen in Alhambra, customers should expect a 1% “Zero Footprint Restore the Planet fee,” which the eatery says it uses to build healthy soil and carbon farming......Diners — who are also facing headwinds from inflation — are fed up with the surcharges, especially when it isn’t going directly into waitstaff’s pockets, the r/LosAngeles subreddit showed.....“I’m sick of going to restaurants where there is a service charge that isn’t a gratuity and just goes to the owners. It’s misleading when your bill ends up 3% to 18% more from this bulls–t charge that should be baked into the prices or go to the servers.....”

https://nypost.com/2023/08/14/redditors-compile-list-of-200-la-restaurants-tacking-extra-fees-onto-checks/

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

 

Italian restaurant charges a whopping $22 — just to slice a birthday cake

....A family was shocked to discover they were charged 20 euros — about $22 — to have their cake cut into 20 pieces. The group was celebrating a birthday at an unidentified restaurant in Palermo, Sicily. They ordered about $130 worth of pizza and drinks, not including the “20 X Servizio Torta” fee, which translates to “20 x cake service,” according to a receipt obtained by Newsflash. This isn’t the first time an Italian restaurant has come under fire for questionable charges...

.....A traveler recently took to TripAdvisor to vent after noticing a surprise 2 euro bill surcharge at a restaurant in the upscale Lake Como region — for having her sandwich cut in half. The unidentified woman, visiting from nearby Milan, had ordered a vegetarian sandwich — with french fries stuffed inside — at Bar Pace in Gera Lario, at the lake’s northern end. After munching on the meatless snack with a friend, the disgruntled diner was shocked by the bill. She coughed up without complaining, but later posted the negative review, arguing she had never asked for the sandwich to be cut in half. “Unbelievable but true,” the person captioned a photo of the receipt on TripAdvisor. The restaurant’s co-owner has defended the fee. “We had to use two plates instead of one and the time to wash them doubled, and then two placemats,” owner Cristina Biacchi told La Repubblica, an Italian newspaper. “To cut it in half took us some time, and work must be paid for.....”

https://nypost.com/2023/08/14/italian-restaurant-charges-a-whopping-22-just-to-slice-cake/

[avoiding injuries 1,505]

I’ve noticed that the suggested tip is always on the total bill, not the food and beverage. So with 20% being the lowest they show/offer, you’re also tipping on the tax. 

[League Champion 1,896]

I'm an over tipper for sure when it's good service. If it sucks, you're probably getting little to nothing. 

[GutterBoy 2,898]

59 minutes ago, avoiding injuries said:

I’ve noticed that the suggested tip is always on the total bill, not the food and beverage. So with 20% being the lowest they show/offer, you’re also tipping on the tax. 

I'm usually fine with that, tipping on the total, but recently went out and was hit with a 4% CC fee on a $400 bill, and then the suggested 20% included that CC fee.  This slightly annoyed me so I tipped 20% of the total minus the fee.  Likely wouldn't have done this had we gotten good service but we didn't.

[WatsonRules 46]

I can't believe this hasn't been posted yet. You boys need to step up your game.