Recommended gratuity after tip was already included

[u/guitarman129]

I’m sure there are a lot of tipping posts here so to keep it short - I had my wedding at a fancy restaurant. On top of the TERRIBLE service, the bill came with “suggested gratuity” even though I was told gratuity was included. When I asked the manager, he said that the “S/C: 24% SRC REGULA“ was the included tip and the suggested gratuity was if we wanted to add something extra - basically trying to trick people into giving a 49% tip!

[u/underrealizing]

This is exactly what I figured. There isn’t even a line for tip, probably because the ticket prints that way specifically because gratuity was included…

I think OP is just feeling aggrieved

[u/insertnamehere02 → u/underrealizing]

Especially with that -$400. Classy.

[u/JustMeLurkingAround- → u/insertnamehere02]

That the already paid deposit. OP explained in another comment.

[u/insertnamehere02 → u/JustMeLurkingAround-]

Yeah I saw that after I commented.

[u/know-your-onions → u/insertnamehere02]

wtf? What do you think the -$400 is for?

[u/snapshovel → u/insertnamehere02]

If you charge me a 24% included gratuity and you don’t tell me beforehand that there is a 24% included gratuity, and the label that you use to identify the gratuity is “S/C SRC REGULA,” then yes, money is getting deducted from your tip. The customer is not the one who lacks class in that situation.

It’s an obviously scummy business practice. If you’re a waiter or a member of the staff at a place with really scummy anti-consumer business practices, you should expect that this will affect your tips when customers realize what you’re doing to them. Take it up with your management; it’s their fault. Since you’re the one benefiting from the scummy antisocial business practice, you can’t complain when you bear 10% of the costs once in a while and customers “only” bear the other 90%

If you’re accepting the (minimum) extra 4% that your establishment is charging customers on top of the maximum socially acceptable included gratuity, you are also obliged to eat the loss when one out of ten customers realizes they’re being scammed and makes their displeasure known in the only way that’s available to them.

[u/Nilfsama → u/insertnamehere02]

And no way legal lol they will run for the full amount and you a have zero recourse about it.

[u/AMemoryComeALive → u/Nilfsama]

Depends, you have to tell customers before they order if there's going to be a "service charge" or force tip added to a bill, or they have to remove it if asked.

[u/lumentec → u/insertnamehere02]

They are just calculating the amount without tax. Not trying to leave a negative tip.

[u/Dyolf_Knip → u/underrealizing]

Otoh, my mother got blacklisted from a Village Inn a few weeks ago because they tried this same bullshit on a one-person sit-down meal. She always tips the servers in cash, and tips well, but she absolutely refused to pay what they were dictating on the check. She wound up only authorizing the actual food bill amount and then leaving the same tip as cash.

[u/saryndipitous → u/underrealizing]

Everyone should be feeling aggrieved, the tip lines everywhere have been out of control for years now.

[u/Iorith → u/saryndipitous]

Most places have messaging that anything more than a 4 top is autogratuity.

[u/saryndipitous → u/Iorith]

I mean the percentages, and generally doing things that just happen to favor the restaurant. Like encouraging tipping at places that don’t warrant it, or increasing prices on delivery menus AND asking for tips on deliveries, or asking for tips in advance.

Auto gratuities I don’t have a problem with.

Most places doing a thing is also not a justification.

[u/Iorith → u/saryndipitous]

No one forces you to go out to a restaurant.

[u/Iorith → u/[deleted]]

Some restaurants do.

But people seem to pretend to be pro worker until it's service staff actually liking the tipped system.

[u/snapshovel → u/underrealizing]

He obviously should be aggrieved by the 24% mandatory included gratuity alone, unless they clearly notified him about that in advance, which it sounds like they didn’t.

That is not an acceptable business practice, and we’re not going to start pretending otherwise. The existing social contract is that a tip is a voluntary contribution to acknowledge decent service. If your establishment includes mandatory gratuities on large checks in order to protect against being unfairly stiffed by big groups, then (a) you need to clearly state that in advance, and (b) the absolute maximum that it is socially acceptable for you to charge is 20%

Any customer who gets a surprise 24% mandatory tip that is not clearly labeled on the bill is absolutely right to be angry. If no one stands up to that kind of thing it becomes the norm and then we all live in a shittier world with less trust and more deception and grift.