Restaurants that practice double tipping

bj-sailaway

Now someone must have given you a tip if your not a teacher anymore - it was 'get out of this job!!!' I think teachers deserve a medal, I couldn't do that job for anything.

Poppy9

I don't tip the hairdresser anymore as salon prices are so expensive.

I also don't give xmas boxes to Postman or window cleaner.

I only give taxi drivers the change if fare something like £4.20 or £9.20 and I give him a fiver or tenner.

MORPH3US

When myself and the gf were in the states, we ate at an all you can eat buffet in florida.

Now according to everything I read (guide books, magazines etc) you shouldn't tip for buffets where you serve yourself. So the waitresses try to serve you when they aren't supposed to by showing you to your table, popping back every 60 seconds to check if things are ok etc.

Well at the end of the meal, a american bloke on the table next to us calls the manager over to complain that the waitress has added a tip to his bill. He complains that because it is a buffet then he shouldn't be expected to tip. The manager says "sorry sir, that wasn't intended for you, its for the tourists!!! !!!!!!!!!!

If locals aren't expected to tip, why should they think that tourists should. Needless to say, as bad as I felt for the waitress, we left no tip because we were disgusted with their attitude towards tipping.

I should add, we had been away for 10 months out of 11 at this point, we were living off a very tight budget that had taken us around the world. If we had tipped everyone that we were supposed to then we wouldn't have lasted 2 months!

bargaindoctor

side question - my GF who just moved here works in a restaurant as a waitress. It's a temporary job until she finds other work for now. However, none of them actually get tips! Now here's the thing. People actually leave tips. But the owner doesn't share the tips with any of his staff.

I suspect he gets away with it because most of his staff are foreign. What I'm wondering is if this is legal. It just pisses me off (and according to her it has !!!!!! off some customers) that people tip the waitress/waiter due to good service and this greedy owner is benefiting from all this

Any plan of actions suggested?

Stonk

She could quietly mention to all her customers when dropping off the bill that "you might as well ask for the tip to be removed, the staff don't receive a penny of it". I've had waiting staff say this to me. I would then give the person a cash tip, say 5% - which works out better for everyone.

bargaindoctor

the problem is that the owner has video cameras covering EVERY angle of the restaurant. The usual way people tip IS via cash except that none of the staff actually get any of it!!

CIS

He could count the serivce charge each person takes and pay it towards their wages if he wanted to be tight, if thats not what he's already doing.

Tips paid through the payroll
75 Only tips, gratuities or service charges which are paid by the
employer to the worker through the payroll count towards
the minimum wage. Tips and gratuities that are paid directly
to the worker by the customer and kept by the worker do
not count. If tips are gathered and then passed to an
independent troncmaster for payment, that money will not
count towards the minimum wage.

CIS

Cash tips legally belong to the person they are paid to, thats why they are responsible for paying Tax on them. Cheque/card paymenst belong to the employer.

Cash tips paid directly to you by the customer

If you get cash tips direct from the customer without involving the employer, you’ll have to pay tax on them - but not NICs. You’re responsible for telling your Tax Office about these tips and you’ll have to show them on your tax return (if you fill one in). You’ll need to keep a record of the tips you get so you can do this.

Most people don’t have to fill in a tax return. If you don’t, the Tax Office will estimate the tips you’re likely to get and give you a tax code that will collect the tax through PAYE. Get in touch with your Tax Office if you think the estimate’s wrong.

maxiscot

A few years ago I was entertaining a client, a business dinner - Chez Gerard, Bishopsgate in the City. It took staff 30mins to get us a drink, a further 30mins for the menus, ages for the food to arrive. The bill arrived with the service charge included - I deducted it and paid the amount on my corporate card. The manager came up and asked me why I had done that - I explained. I think he was quite shocked!!

Scully's_Girl

What a great idea for a thread. I must admit my husband & I have had this happen to us, but this has just reenforced in us the fact that we need to be more diligent.
We eat very often in both the UK (where we live) & the US (where I'm from, & we go back twice a year). While I agree with an earlier post that having tax added at the end in the US is very confusing (even for me, I find it worse now that I live here) other than that there really isnt much of a difference. I have had exceptional service in both countries, down to bad, down to so appallingly insulting that I have had to write a letter. I've always been known to tip very well for excellent service (when I go to my regular places in both countries we regularly tip 20%, especially if I know the serving staff & they know me). If service is too bad I will complain & ensure compensation (I know, I'm very American) & might even boycott the place.
How does an American diner justify $3.50 for a small glass of orange juice!
Chinese restaurants, which we frequent, tend to do the sneaky double tipping often. For mothers day we went to a noodle house near us which we love, & I paid the bill at the till. Only later did my husband question the amount. Hence, we returned the next day, had them pull the previous days receipts, & it turned out they charged us £10 for drinks we didnt have, they were from the previous diners at that table! They refunded it promptly, but our waitress Lisa looked petrified. I had to tell the owner that Lisa was not the one who processed the bill, because apparently they get severely punished somehow if anything goes wrong (from the look on her face). I dont know how & I dont think I wanna know, but we just love Lisa, & I made sure the owner knew that.
Also, the 10% charge for buffet's are something I cant quite appreciate. We tend to tip 5%-10% for excellent buffet service (cleaning the dirty dishes & bringing us water promptly deserves recognition) but certainly not as much as a full served meal. A regular restaurant a tad more if service is good. There is one restaurant (Everybodys Cafe in Shroudsburg Pennsylvania) which regularly gets a 50% tip from me, as they are THAT GOOD.
I agree, no tip if service is bad. How dare they supplement the bill like that? How do we ensure that the chef can get part of that? I think thats an excellent point & Im not sure how I can tip them as well.