Another moan about tipping.

My bugbear is having a service charge automatically added to a bill. I’m dining out this afternoon with my daughter. Sil and 2 teens. My daughter sent me a link to the menu last night to browse the options. Main courses range £20-28 and desserts £7-9.

My daughter and her husband always leave a generous cash tip as they feel there’s more chance of it going to the servers. But I noticed in small print at the bottom of the menu there will be a 12.5% service charge added to the bill. It will be a considerable bill total for 5 people and I’ll admit it sticks in my craw that some restaurants add a service charge.

They need to pay their employees a decent wage and leave the tipping to the customers to decide after the meal.

I agree with everyone.

The thing that really annoys me is the 'admin charge' by Ticketmaster. The customer does 100% of the admin under pressure of a clock that counts down as you do it. If you want a paper ticket it costs a fortune on top of that (if they still do them, that is) and the admin charge is a high percentage of what are already outrageous prices.

I no longer tip taxi drivers. It is booked in advance, he rings to tell me he is outside then sits and watches me struggle to get in the front seat. I can't physically get in the back.

Sometimes reluctantly he removes items from the front seat. If he will not, I tell him to go and rather than lose a fare he empties the seat.

Paying for self service? No.

I would say that most barista style coffee shops are not great on service, nobody comes to your table to take your order or delivers it to you. But a nice little cafe on a park near us does take your order and bring your coffees etc., to you and they also have a rack with newspapers in it.
So I do tip them.

I completely agree with you but I wouldn’t frequent Costa anyway…..far sooner go to an independent cafe myself but that’s my choice.
I will tip when the service justifies it, otherwise no!