Many restaurants have the audacity to add a 20% (or whatever percentage) "service fee" that isn't considered tip. It even says something like "we use this to pay our staff competitive wages and health insurance." You can't opt out. It's just part of the bill. Then they have the gall to ask for a tip on top of that.

I've taken to a) leaving a negative Google or yelp review for such establishments and b) never coming back. This is a practice that needs to die.

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rectang 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Do you leave a negative review if they add the service charge but don't ask for a tip?

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abustamam 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I've never had the pleasure of encountering that situation.

But at what point do we call a spade a spade and say it's just them secretly inflating their prices? "everything is a penny but we charge a 1000000% service charge"

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rectang 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I used to wait tables once upon a time and it was standard practice to add a fixed service charge for any large party in lieu of a tip. Have you really never encountered that?

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abustamam 3 hours ago | parent [-]

I've encountered large party service charges and that makes sense because it usually requires staff to do stuff they wouldn't normally do for smaller parties.

I'm talking about restaurants that just add service charge to everyone.

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rectang 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I think the lesson from the airline industry is that while consumers will get angry about surcharges, pricing transparency is what really gets punished in the marketplace. There are enough consumers who will always buy the deceptively priced item that it's suicidal to tell the truth (absent government regulation forcing the issue for all purveyors).

There are a fair number of well-meaning restaurateurs who have tried no-tip policies for ethical reasons. But the mass marketplace has not changed.

	▲	abustamam 8 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Kinda reminds me of when Burger King had a 1/3 lb burger and a 1/4 lb burger and more people bought the 1/4 lb because they thought it was more burger than the (rightfully) more expensive 1/3 lb burger. The average consumer can't do math.

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chrinic6391 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[dead]

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3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]

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wtetzner 43 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

I would. If it's mandatory just include it in the advertised food prices.