Dublin Restaurants - Tipping

bobabob

I've noticed a number of restaurants in Dublin adding a discretionary gratuity to the bill, which is a bit cheeky if you ask me. Has anyone ever taken it off the bill at the end?

BaZmO*

bobabob wrote: »

I've noticed a number of restaurants in Dublin adding a discretionary gratuity to the bill, which is a bit cheeky if you ask me. Has anyone ever taken it off the bill at the end?

I just don't give a tip if they add it on to the bill. I always tip (and a decent one too, if I'm impressed with service) but I want to be the one that decides to give it.

bobabob

So in those cases (where the tip has already been added on for a group of 6+) would you ask them to remove it?

Tipping culture is so weird over here. Staff on the floor are most likely paid €8.65 p/h but still, that's minimum wage. Why tip when the staff have basically done what you expected them to do? It's not like they're receiving €2.00 p/h which would make things a little different.

The Hill Billy

Split from Restaurant Guide thread in F&D.

tHB

josh79

I would usually give a tip. 10% usually, 15% for excellent service but if it was particularly bad I would give nothing. If its included I usually find that the service is rarely excellent as there is not much incentive for the waiting staff to go the extra inch. But if its included and the service is great I'd still give a bit more as your never sure if the staff get the tips in the first place.

irishgirl19

I never tip if the service charge included.I think its cheeky too.
was in tgi Fridays a while ago and service charge was included on the bill but when I was paying by card the waitress asked me did I wanna leave a tip! eh no

Chinasea

Unfortunately, quite often the 'Service Charges' is not passed onto the staff and is kept by proprietor and staff are told that it goes towards paying their wages.


Therefore I ALWAYS ask waiting staff discretely if serving staff actually get the service charge.

stevenmu

bobabob wrote: »

So in those cases (where the tip has already been added on for a group of 6+) would you ask them to remove it?

Many places have a mandatory service charge for larger groups, it's not a tip and you could always ask, but I don't think they'll remove it from the bill.

reprazant

Who does this?

I have only every seen this in large groups but then the menu will state that that is the case.

Bummer1234

You would love america OP

stevenmu

reprazant wrote: »

Who does this?

I have only every seen this in large groups but then the menu will state that that is the case.

I assumed bobabob was talking about places where it is listed on the menu. If somewhere tried to automatically add a service charge or tip for a large group and it wasn't on the menu or mentioned at booking time, I would be pretty pi**ed off.

[Jackass]

One of my favourite topics, and one of my favourite exchanges on it...

Warning - NSFW - Naughty Language

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn9nnOkASDg

Personally I always tip, even with a service charge (so the server actually gets it!) if the service was good, but I tip through gritted teeth every time over here.

I don't mind doing it in the US as generally a cup of coffee in a diner costs about $1.50 or less (even in NYC) and you get refills, their service is generally excellent compared to here (they work on the premise of tips, so are actually nice and helpful!), but over here, the staffs higher wage is factored into the higher price of goods, as servers are paid more so the establishment generally charges more (EUR3.00+ for cup of coffee, close to $5), So the establishment is being compensated for the higher wages by higher prices, the server is being compensated for the lack of tips by higher wages, and now they're lumping on a tip charge, which I can assure you the server doesn't see a dime of, so if you tip, you're basically getting tripple charged for the same thing - paying the higher price to compensate the coffee shop or wherever, and paying that higher price for the server as tips aren't the norm due to the higher wage, and then you're getting charged a tip automatically, despite all of this, and then you leave a couple euro or whatever as a tip.

Also, despite paying up to 3 times for the same thing, you don't even get the main benefit of a tipping culture, which is staff who are extremely nice and helpful and friendly, because they are living off tips...

Screw it. Now that I think about it, I'm never tipping over here again.

Wishbone Ash

Chinasea wrote: »

I ALWAYS ask waiting staff discretely if serving staff actually get the service charge.

Wouldn't it be in their interest to discreetly answer no (even if it was shared)?

bobabob wrote: »

for a group of 6+

stevenmu wrote: »

mandatory service charge for larger groups

reprazant wrote: »

I have only every seen this in large groups

stevenmu wrote: »

add a service charge or tip for a large group

Normally in business buying/selling in bulk usually works out cheaper pro-rata. Why is it the opposite in the restaurant business? Surely it's easier to serve 1 table of 10 than 5 tables of 2?

stevenmu

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Normally in business buying/selling in bulk usually works out cheaper pro-rata. Why is it the opposite in the restaurant business? Surely it's easier to serve 1 table of 10 than 5 tables of 2?

A large group is a bit of a pain in the ass for restaurants. If you have say 8 people, then you usually have to take all their orders together. Prepare their food together and bring it out together. This takes up a lot of the kitchen and serving capacity, making it harder to manage other customers. If 4 groups of 2 people came in, even if they all come in at the same time, you can stagger them a little bit, leaving capacity to deal with other customers easier.

Also, I suspect that a group of 8 is more likely to spend longer at the table before ordering and after eating, meaning you can turn it around less times per night. But I'm only guessing on that one.

Edit: oh, and with large groups you're very likely to have a cancellation or two.

carlmango11

[Jackass] wrote: »

I don't mind doing it in the US as generally a cup of coffee in a diner costs about $1.50 or less (even in NYC) and you get refills

In fairness you have to take into account that coffee in the US is generally filter coffee which is quite cheap to brew. Coffee in European restaurants is almost always made with an expensive machine so it works out more expensive to make.

John_Rambo

[Jackass] wrote: »

you don't even get the main benefit of a tipping culture, which is staff who are extremely nice and helpful and friendly, because they are living off tips...

Where do eat that you get such bad service? I truly believe Dublin serving staff are second to none. I find them attentive and pleasant in comparison to the likes of Paris, Rome, Barcelona and other European cities. I'm not picking a row with you Jackass, but seriously, stop eating where the service is bad, 99% of eateries in the city have really really good staff.

(Avoca amongst other places do free top ups)

[Jackass]

Ah of course, I'm not saying everywhere is bad, in fact the vast majority of places in Dublin do give very good service in fairness. It's just the odd time you get someone nasty, I sometimes wonder if a person working for tips would be as rude. Like many jobs, I suppose tips work as a performance incentive, like other jobs where you work largely off commission etc.

anncoates

Also unfortunately when tips are pooled, it means that if you don't leave a lazy, rude, or incompetent waiter/waitress, other hard-working staff suffer because of it and the culprit will still pocket a share of the tips that you worked hard for....

Used to boil my piss when I was a waiter.

miss no stars

I worked in a restaurant where a service charge was added - it usually meant I got an extra 20c or something pathetic like that per week. Oh and my wages were below minimum wage because "the service charge will bring it up to minimum wage". I did have one table ask me how the service charge was distributed. I told him (truthfully) that it was split between all the staff according to hours worked and used to bring wages up to minimum wage. The only time I actually received a tip was when we had a coach load of German tourists come in. I nattered away in German to one particular table until my shift was over, which was before they left. Came in the next day and found they'd left a tip in an envelope specifically for me. Was really nice.

Then there was a cafe I worked in where there was a cup next to the till for tips. I never, ever, received a cent of it. There were eastern european girls in charge who I was told when I started were left in charge of dividing up the tips between the staff going by how much you worked. Never got a cent of it. B!tches kept it all for themselves. It's a local cafe, so naturally enough I told my friends about the policy of hogging tips and my mother told her friends who go there quite frequently that I never saw any of the tips. Nobody I know leaves tips any more.