Service charges in Resteraunts

DaithiSurfer

My fave resteraunt recently introduced a service charge, which is one of my major peeves.
I believe in tipping if the waiter/ess has impressed me and helped me enjoy my meal.
If they are smelly(nothing worse than a sweaty smelly waiter when you are trying to eat) or ignorant or generally contribute to me not enjoying my meal i will not tip them.
Most of the time i am happy an will tip.

My problem here is that it should be up to ME whether or not i tip and for how much, not the resteraunt. Also i want to tip the person who made it enjoyable, not the management.
I refuse to go into one if i see that there is a service charge. I believe this is an ignorant practice and that people should stand up and avoid these places.
There are rip-offs enough around the place
Can someone please start a boycott the places with service charges movement.
anyway Rant over

What do others thinks of this practice

Sleepy

I agree with you entirely. But I'd go a step further, Irish restaurants are grossly over-priced in the first place. A service charge (which isn't the same as a tip because we all know who the cash is going to and it ain't the waiting staff), is just another way to screw you with a baseball bat where the sun don't shine...

This country's just one wallet-raping after another...

dudara

AFAIK you don't have to pay service charges. It's just that people do, rather than the hassle of dealing with it. Food and Wine Ireland magazine had an article in the last issue dealing with not paying restaurant bills if you feel the meal wasn't up to scratch.

I despise the practise myself, and I also despise those credit/laser card slips you get after the meal where is a nice handy convenient space for the tip. I always leave cash on the table so that there is some chance that the waiter will actually get it.

Dave

I suppose it depends on the situation. I know that in America waiting staff live off tips.

Sleepy

That's America, this is Ireland. We have a decent minimum wage in this country. The meal is already over-priced so why would anyone feel inclined to leave a tip.

Sleepy

Originally posted by dudara
AFAIK you don't have to pay service charges.

Really? Is there any back-up to this?

Mighty_Mouse

I suppose it depends on the situation. I know that in America waiting staff live off tips.

Think he's referring fairly specifically to the situation in Ireland. I agree with the above although I almost always tip.

usually 10%. Do other people operate on percentages or just a couple of euro?

Sleepy

10% is the expected tip in most restaurants. An ex of mine had waitressed during college and used to give me awful grief if I didn't tip. Did my feckin' head in. I'll tip if the waitress/waiter are exceptional but otherwise, I couldn't be arsed. Most waiting staff are earning close to what I'm on, I don't get extra money from my clients if I do a great job, why should they?

DaithiSurfer

I like to leave a tip to say thankyou to the waiter/ess if they made it a pleasant experiene.
I don't like being told to leave one.
Now that you mentioned it Sleepy, i was in a cafe having breakfast a few weeks ago and the waiting staff were very nice, but when it came to bill time the old bitch behind the counter would come over and give the smiles and say 'how was your meal' etc and give you the bill, then come back to take the money from you.
The waitresses gave her some dagger looks. I ccan only surmise from what i saw her doing that she was doing this to collect the tips herself.

I called my waitress over and handed her the tip after biddy left.

Sleepy

If, and when I tip, I do the exact same Daithi, either that or leave it on the table after paying the bill, making sure the waitress that served my table sees me do so...

dudara

Check out the article in Food and Wine. It described things in more detail. I only glanced over it, so I don't remember the full story

DaithiSurfer

I don't like complaining or arguing in a resteraunt.
If i do, then i dont EVER go back to it or eat anything i get after i complain.
In my previous life as a kitchen porter for a week i saw every single night what happens when you complain in one.
I won't repeat it and it was a really fancy one in Dublin city center.

Third_Echelon

I lived in NY for a while and considered doing waiter type jobs for a summer until i heard what the money was like... they get about $3 p/h if they are lucky... thats why they live of tips..

I tip in Ireland if I genuinely find that the service was good and the waiter/waitress was nice and helpful and prompt with things like drink orders etc...

I know how the person feels as I worked as a barman through school and college etc... when you get a tip you dont mind giving that person good service... in the bar trade anyway if you want prompt service its good to leave a tip...

A thing i liked about bars in NY was the tipping system... you basically weren't tipping at the end of the day... you'd leave the barman a dollar for every drink... say there was three beers in the round.. on the 4th round after each of the 3 people bought a round, the barman would buy you the round.. nice system i thought and you got to actually know the staff etc.. made the place more enjoyable and friendly to go to... i dont know if this would work in ireland though...:D

Sleepy

Not with the price of pints in Ireland! Though I have to say, I'd definitely like to try out a place like that.

ixoy

Well Ireland's not entirely comparable to NY is it? For a start, we've got a decentish minimum wage. Secondly, it's so damned overpriced (insurance costs me arse), that it's quite natural to feel resentful for paying a service charge. I mean, to be honest, how difficult is it to carry a meal to my table that's a few metres from the kitchen? The service charge should be incorporated into the food cost, not a hidden "extra". Where did this practice originate? As it stands, I'll generally pay it unless I haven't the spare cash handy.

As for tipping in pubs - that's generally insane. Oh he walked one foot to a pump and poured me out an overpriced pint. Wow. That really deserves something extra :rolleyes:

echomadman

What cracks me up is the sign in the local Abrakebabra: 10% service charge after 12 midnight

what fucking service?

Sleepy

Originally posted by ixoy
As for tipping in pubs - that's generally insane. Oh he walked one foot to a pump and poured me out an overpriced pint. Wow. That really deserves something extra :rolleyes:

As a former barman, I'd pretty much agree with that. However, if you're ordering a particularly large round (more than 5/6 drinks) I think it's reasonable to just round up whatever you owe for it. The only other time I'd tend to tip is if I'm getting late drinks somewhere (and I don't mean the more expensive "after 10" late drinks, they make my blood boil)

neoB

That's America, this is Ireland. We have a decent minimum wage in this country. The meal is already over-priced so why would anyone feel inclined to leave a tip.

<--by sleepy there.

Well here(in the states at least) if the waiter lady or dude did such a great job at bringing you the food and always seeing if you needed anything else and made your eating out enjoyable(food place mind you), why not like give a tip? To say thanks I appreciate the fine service you provided for me. Maybe it will encourage others?

*why does the place make service charges then? it doesnt make sense to me anyways. And then do you still give a tip seperate of the service charge?

Sleepy

neoB, can you post that coherantly?

The only bit I fully understood was "why the hell are they going to put these service charges in for?". To which I'll answer: the waiting staff don't get the service charge. The restaurant owner does. Service charges are a horrible tactic used by managers to take money out of the pocket of their staff.

Kali

One thing that people should be aware is that in certain larger franchised restaurants the waitresses/waiters have to pay to serve you, they pay a % of the overall bill, and pay that out of whatever tip is given, the rest they can keep for themselves.. while its usually a small % if they serve a dozen or so people it can take a fair chunk out of their own personal takings.

Basically this is done for the simple reason that the server will have to be as nice as possible to you to get as much a tip as possible to cover that cost.

BKtje

[/quote]
What cracks me up is the sign in the local Abrakebabra: 10% service charge after 12 midnight
[/quote]

I think this is because after 12 staff get paid more or something so they try to recoup that money by implying its a service charge. Just guessing but would make sense. I dont like the way they try to swing it as a service charge tho.

leonotron

Tipped €10 on a €53 bill last night, mainly cause they forgot to charge me for a €18 bottle of wine hee hee hee. I had a friend who worked in an Irish pub/restaurant in NY a few years ago, her and all the other staff got paid nothing and just got to keep their tips. She said it wasn't too bad but when business was slow you got nothing at all, in NY it is custom to tip a dollar for each drink you buy which is quite pricey.

neoB

One thing that people should be aware is that in certain larger franchised restaurants the waitresses/waiters have to pay to serve you, they pay a % of the overall bill, and pay that out of whatever tip is given, the rest they can keep for themselves.. while its usually a small % if they serve a dozen or so people it can take a fair chunk out of their own personal takings.[/qoute]


Are you serious? The waitresses/waiters have to pay to serve you? What brought that on? That is awful. Sorry a bout the sleepy .

whosurpaddy

Originally posted by Kali
One thing that people should be aware is that in certain larger franchised restaurants the waitresses/waiters have to pay to serve you, they pay a % of the overall bill, and pay that out of whatever tip is given, the rest they can keep for themselves.. while its usually a small % if they serve a dozen or so people it can take a fair chunk out of their own personal takings.

Basically this is done for the simple reason that the server will have to be as nice as possible to you to get as much a tip as possible to cover that cost.

are you talking about dublin or new york? I have never heard of that practice. Which large chain are you talking about?

Hobbes

Originally posted by Third_Echelon
I lived in NY for a while and considered doing waiter type jobs for a summer until i heard what the money was like... they get about $3 p/h if they are lucky... thats why they live of tips..

It is not just that. They have to pay taxes on their tips. The IRS assume 15% tips.

on the 4th round after each of the 3 people bought a round,

Depends on the bar. In general I found they just wanted 15% on the total bill, and if the bill went over $100 or there were more then 8 people they would add a service change and you didn't tip.

If you were drinking alone you would give the barman $1 per drink but no more then $3. (this was MA).

IDM

Am from Washington DC but living & studying in Dublin. I find prices in Dublin to be much higher than back at home. Food prices are ridiculous and I find it hard to justify the 10% recommended tip, especially because I have no idea who it goes to.

Am surprised by a few of the earlier comments by people about being a waiter in the states. First of all there is a general minimum wage in DC of $6.15, although it doesnt apply to waiters for the simple fact that they'd make well over that just from tips. It's true that they only get around $3 an hour, but a good waiter working at a decent restaurant will easily make $10 an hour, if not much much more.

It is generally aknowledged that good service from a waiter merits a 15-20% tip. So even if you only wait one table of 4 per hour at a nice restaurant, 20% of maybe $80 --> $16 + your wage ! There's no doubt it's hard work but it can definitely pay off.

In NY it's actually hard to get a waiting job at a niceish restaurant because it can be such a lucrative job. You might argue that a lot of people don't tip when they should, but at the same time, there are rich old guys that'll leave you a $50 tip after a $20 meal. Now that's nice!

Guy:Incognito

If your supposed to give a tip for good service then should they not have to give you the meal a bit cheaper if the service staff were rude and generally bad at their job. At the end of theday it s the job of a waiter/tress to provide good servise, not to be crap unless you bribe them to do their job properly.On the service charge issue, if you ask if you can collect the food at the kitchen door , can you take off the service charge?( i realise its not practical, so dont jump on me for that one, i was just making a point)

catsup

a good friend of mine spent last summer waitressing in a pretty fancy restaurant/bar near times square in new york. she was on a pathetic wage but was dancing all the way to the bank with the tips. she had to work a 14 hour day on one occasion with only a one-hour break but made $200-$250 in tips.


*she said it was a restaurant/bar...doubt it was a strip club, although...

Capt'n Midnight

Heard that research in the states by waiter/watiress unions has shown that tips are on average 3% higher if they mention good weather than if they mention bad weather..

Oriel

In my part time job, I work as a barman in a restaurant (part of a hotel) up here in the North.
When I'm working, I treat people exactly as I would like to be treated myself. In our place, there's a little tip jar beside the till. All the tips are split between the staff at the end of the night. So if somebody leaves a tip I put it in the jar, unless they say something like "here you go, keep that for yourself, don't be sharing it now" (My Gunniess and liquor coffees go down well ).

I also feel that a tip should be an entirely optional thing, but I find myself gauging the service on how much I should tip, rather than if I should tip. In general most pays are ****, and the staff (often) deserve that little bit extra...