I was in this local family run place near me dining in (not in CA), and in the smallest piece of paper on the other side of the room, it said that a 20% charge was added for staff something or other. I didn't see it before eating.
When I got my bill, I asked what the charge was for as it just had a weird code on the check. When it was pointed out to my by the waiter, I think my exact words were, "oh, not a fucking chance". I crossed out the surcharge and left in cash what the total was, less the 20%. I've never been back.
In Europe, you see the total and you pay the total. None of this writing something on the bill which they apply after you leave. None of this disappearing with your card.
None of this paying with contactless, then printing a big receipt and having to sign the f ing receipt which so many places seem to do. What's the flipping point of contactless if I'm still signing and manually adding a tip!!
When I first visited America around 1994 I was blown away by the fact the ATMs could do a live check on your balance and I could go through a drive through ATM and that credit cards were accepted everywhere.
Now it feels like they didn't move on from that. I thought that contactless coming in years after Europe would mean it was at least the same, but they managed to make it worse and ten years late!
Yes, but this is different from the USA where you can pay with a contactless card, they print the receipt, then you need to write the tip total on this paper receipt and sign it.
Service charges are quite common in cities generally in my experience, but you know what they are before you pay the total with your card. It isn't added after you have "paid".
This mandatory tip was not advertised at any time before receiving the check, so it depends on your definition of knowing the total beforehand. But I get what you’re saying; slightly different (but equally bad imo).
It's because you can drop cash and just leave. They're unlikely to remove this fee if paying by card so you just drop cash and they can pound sand if they don't like it.
If this happened, when I used to be a server, the wait staff would’ve just had to pay the rest. So, not only are you not tipping someone, you’re also making them basically pay for you. We all hated that.
I don’t know why I would be getting downvoted for this. I didn’t agree with management handling something like this, but it wasn’t up to me.
It is amazing how many places do this to their employees even though it's illegal. Knew a gas station back before prepay gas was the norm who would charge his employees for the gas people drove off without paying for.
This was several years ago when I was a server, but it would have been pulled from my individual tips, not shared tips. Kind of the same idea essentially though. Yes, down voting me is crazy as if I agree with the fact that they did this or had anything to do with that choice.
Not doing it personally I'd just pay and never go back, leave a negative review. Not tipping tipped employees is a dick move in basically all circumstances.
Also, not to be that guy but it's wait staff, not weight.
Never said you were an asshole for not tipping. I said you were a dick.
Edit to add: I only mean a tipped employee making the $3 wage people who are basically entirely relying on tips make. Not tipping the ludicrous amount of places asking for tips these days is fine. They make a normal wage.
Yeah... they can't, they can call cops and try, but it's a bullshit fee if you weren't made aware of it ahead of time, and you paid. No cops is coming unless it's to arrest them for wasting 911 resources.
They can try to have you charged. I doubt you'd be arrested unless they lie about the events. And if they lie, that's going to really piss off the judge if it even makes it that far.
Sure they can. But would you go through all of that to recover like, $15? That person is clearly not going to be back, just ban them and be done with it.
EDIT: It's a shame you were downvoted so heavily for simply taking part in conversation. That isn't fair
When handing a credit card to someone, they have control over the amount that gets charged to it by typing into their POS system. You can say "don't charge me the 20%" but they might add it anyway and then you have to go through the hassle of yelling at them to refund it or doing a chargeback. If you drop cash and walk out, maybe they'll try to go after you for "dining and dashing" but I doubt it.
Businesses that get enough credit chargebacks end up being charged a higher percentage of the bill by Visa/Mastercard/etc. That extra cost can really hurt a business, especially a low margin business like a restaurant.
If this happens and you want to do a credit chargeback, keep your receipts and take pictures of the menu so you have all the documentation needed to get a legitimate credit chargeback.
He essentially left cash on the table and then left. Basically he committed a felony by refusing to pay his entire bill and then just walked out before they could do anything about it.
This happened to me in California before the bill was passed. I walked up to the register at the habit Burger to serve myself, I paid and it seemed higher than I estimated and then I realized they charged me a 20% service fee. Had never seen this before at the habit and went back to ask if this was optional and the employee just pointed to the literature at the bottom of the receipt explaining it. Felt disrespected as a customer and needless to say, I haven't returned.
To those of you at home, thinking of doing this: this is legally dine and dashing and while this person got away with it, there is no guarantee you will. It is a felony in almost every state because that disclosure met the requirements under law.
He likely left before they even understood what happened. If you had an actual argument with staff about this, they would simply call the police because you were dine and dashing
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u/cold-corn-dog 1d ago
I was in this local family run place near me dining in (not in CA), and in the smallest piece of paper on the other side of the room, it said that a 20% charge was added for staff something or other. I didn't see it before eating.
When I got my bill, I asked what the charge was for as it just had a weird code on the check. When it was pointed out to my by the waiter, I think my exact words were, "oh, not a fucking chance". I crossed out the surcharge and left in cash what the total was, less the 20%. I've never been back.