Thoughts on tipping in restaurants

No you were definitely not being unreasonable and on principle
I disagree with the established system of an automatic service charge. We ate out recently and I put my card in the machine and was ' asked ' if I would like to add on a service charge -I could have tapped ' no ' and people are perfectly in order to do that. However I was happy to oblige, I just don't agree with it being a foregone conclusion!!.
You had paid the service charge ( which IMO should be optional ) and then they wanted your £4 change - how dare they !?

In the US you are expected to leave a tip not 10% much more, paying by card you get the options 15, 20 or 25%. Once I did forget and the waitress made a massive scene.

It particularly irks me because prices on the menu are plus tax and plus tip so add 50% is about what it will cost. That aside it’s very hard to find a decent meal at all.

I’m sorry but I flatly refuse to tip and I ask for the service charge to be removed. I expect to pay for what I receive and the price on the menu and no more. This practice encourages restaurant owners to continue to pay low wages.
I work in a high end outdoor clothing shop at the age of 70. I can spend at least an hour exclusively with a customer getting them kitted out for an expensive trip to SE Asia etc and they may leave having spent hundreds of pounds or nothing at all. Do I get a tip for my time and service? Is there a service charge added? Of course not and I don’t expect to. It’s what I’m paid a minimum wage to do. Why the heck should we be expected to pay a waitress for doing exactly the same? This whole concept is ridiculous and should stop.

Magenta8

Tipping has always puzzled me. You tip a hairdresser or a barber but you wouldn't dream of tipping a doctor or a nurse. A box of Cadbury's Heroes to be shared is usually the extent of people's largesse towards hospital staff, often not even that.

There are many other illogical examples

In the nhs we’re not allowed to accept tips. Which is why we get chocolates or biscuits.
I dislike the service charge already added to the bill . I do tip normally 10% unless the service of food is not good .
My son worked in a restaurant during uni and so did I during college . Although I do think the staff should get a decent wage rather than relying on tips .

If the service had been particularly below par I’d have asked for it to be removed
Ordinarily we leave a cash tip on the table, or often locally there is a pot of some sort available to leave tips which are shared.

I would have given the the serving staff £60 and said keep the change.
I honestly don't mind tipping for good service.

We went for a meal out last week; very busy restaurant on a wet day so our waiter was under pressure but managed to keep up. When she brought the bill she said "I have to tell you this includes 12.5 % service charge ". I replied " I never tip that way, please take it off. the card charge" I tipped her 10 % in cash (discreetly) and said "That's for your self".

I’m currently in New York with DD2.
As said above, the added tax plus tip is like having an invisible third person with us!

We always tip. I even tip the builder, goodness knows why, I must be mad.

When my son worked in a cocktail bar in Chester his tax code from HMRC was set to assume he was receiving a certain amount in tips on top of his salary.

If he didn't receive that amount the onus was on him to inform them and have it reduced or waived.

If he didn't do that he would be paying tax on tips he hadn't received.

Here in BC Canada the tip option when paying by card is 10%, 20% and 25% or 15% 20% and 25%.
15-20% is a common guideline. Meals are usually cheaper than in the UK. The same formula applies to my hairdresser and dog groomer.
The employer shares the tips out to servers. The employer cannot benefit from tips unless they themselves are serving meals. Some employers share the tips out amongst a wider range of staff to include servers, cooks and kitchen workers for example. Tips are taxable. Lots of servers are students and paid the minimum wage.

I don’t really understand what ‘service’ we are expected to be paying for.

The waiter or waitress comes to the table, takes our order, then, hopefully before too long the food arrives.

There’s not really much in the way of service there, is there ?

I agree with others who say it’s an outdated custom which should be abolished.

The cost of eating out has gone up so much recently, and if you then add the 10% service charge, plus the expected tip, it’s hardly surprising that some people just find it unaffordable.

Some 50 years ago, my first husband worked as a waiter in Fulham serving the likes of Cubbi Broccoli and so on. His wages were hardly anything so he relied on the tips.

Grannynannywanny

I dislike the 10% service charge being added to a bill. I do wonder if it ever reaches the staff. I’d much rather decide to tip based on the service received.

Ha! You can bet your life the staff probably won't see a damn penny.

We generally ask the staff and they always say yes it’s shared out, but how much is shared out is perhaps another question.

So your meal without the service charge was roughly £51 ( just working this out in my head) so if you hadn’t been forced to ask for change you would have paid a tip of £9 on a £51 bill. That is excessive at circa 17%.

I dislike the idea of tipping but while it is the accepted way of things I do.
However it is getting out of hand when meals out are getting more and more expensive.
It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago and my GD , her BF and I went to an Italian restaurant.
We each had an overpriced cocktail, they shared bruschetta and I had calamari, then I had a pork steak while they both had a simple pasta dish.
I had a glass of Pinot Grigio, they had a soft drink.
The bill with a 12:5 %service charge was £180 .
I find that excessive, we won’t be going back although we have been going for about 10 years.

If you can afford to eat out, then you probably have considerably more money than waiting staff on a minimum wage. It seems mean & petty not to leave a tip.

Outofstepwithhumanity

If you can afford to eat out, then you probably have considerably more money than waiting staff on a minimum wage. It seems mean & petty not to leave a tip.

There are lots of people on minimum wage that never get tips. If they are not earning enough for the job they are doing then this should be taken up with their employer not expect the customer to make up the difference. If we buy something we pay the price on the menu and yes it is accepted that if the staff are paid more the price on the menu will go up.

No I'm on minimum wage too, no one tips me.

We were out for a meal ten of us from work. The service charge was added and we all paid around £3 each as a tip. We earns£13 an hr as nursery nurses and they made£30 out of our table.

I always tip if the service has been good. I also ask for their service charge to be removed and pay it in cash. If restaurants don’t service charge most people won’t tip and so all good waiters will find somewhere else as the only fo the job for tips. This will result in you being served by eejits that know nothin about food or wine.

When you go to the hairdressers and the salon owner does your hair, should they be tipped?

Even without the 10% service charge I would expect my çhange.. I do not tip except in exceptional situations

I wouldn't have bothered for the sake of 4 quid