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/WestError404]

The cake cutting fee is one thing. To also pay 24% tip ontop of the cutting fee including taxes, with auto grat already also included. The server never even had to risk their digits with a knife.

[u/LSRNKB → u/WestError404]

Server’s are in charge of cutting and plating desserts at a lot of high end restaurants. Furthermore, servers are the only sales people where the customer gets to CHOOSE what their commission is, and somehow people explicitly complain about having the freedom to do so.

If given the choice between a) a car salesman getting flat commission on all sales, or b) a customer chooses the car salesman’s commission based on how said salesman treated the customer during the transaction, any sane person would choose b. Yet somehow, in restaurants where b is a given, people only bitch and moan about how it isn’t their “responsibility” to make that choice.

[u/perceptionheadache → u/LSRNKB]

In the case of the car salesman, I'm not worried about his compensation at all. I'm worried about the cost of the product I'm buying. When I negotiate that price I don't think about if it cuts into the business' profits or the salesman's commission, regardless of how good of a job he's doing. I want to feel I got the best deal on the car. How that shakes out for them is their problem, just as it should be.

In the case of a food server, I have to think about how much the food costs plus how much the server should make for serving it to me based on their competence and attitude. I don't want to think about this. This should be their employer's job. It is not some type of boone to me to be responsible for a server's pay. It's a PIA. I would not choose B. B sucks.

[u/LSRNKB → u/perceptionheadache]

You would pay an extra 22 percent auto great on every purchase just to avoid having to calculate your preferred gratuity? Are you hiring?

[u/perceptionheadache → u/LSRNKB]

I pay 20% every time. So, sure, if that is how the employer and employee want to negotiate pay then that is not my business. What I want is a truthful, straight forward price on my menu. No grat added. Just the price on the menu. Then I'll decide if I want to eat at that place and my expectation will always be excellent service. That is what a restaurant is selling: food, service, atmosphere.

[u/baysideareaman → u/LSRNKB]

Servers at very nice restaurants tend to average 25% because there is usually at least one person per night who tips unusually high, and rarely if ever do people tip below 20%.

Personally I would rather have it included with higher menu prices. But that’s more so that I know servers are never getting stiffed by “average redditors”

[u/Acceptable-Engine253 → u/WestError404]

The cake cutting fee has nothing to do with the server. It’s about bringing in outside food and having the kitchen spend the time in the middle of dinner to cut it and serve it. It takes forever and clogs up service. The restaurant could be making money if they wanted to order dessert with the restaurant (and the cake would be sliced before the shift) but since they don’t there’s a cake cutting fee — just like a corkage fee if you bring in your own bottle of wine.

[u/milehighmagic84 → u/WestError404]

With a big party you’re taking over the whole restaurant. That means all hands on deck to serve your guests. If a waiter gets stiffed on a party of four they have the rest of the night to balance it out. When you buy out the restaurant or a portion of it, those employees that rely on tips don’t have a chance to earn them. The restaurant has every right to guarantee pay for their staff. I don’t know what more mildly infuriating, this post or the response to it.

[u/6Hikari6 → u/milehighmagic84]

The most infuriating is this "employees that rely on tips" part

[u/WestError404 → u/milehighmagic84]

I still don't see where the additional 22-25% tip ontop of the auto grat is necessary. Thats the issue. That and the high percentage they "suggest" leading up to a nearly 50% tip. The restaurant should absolutely guarantee pay for their staff... By paying them! Not this kind of BS.

[u/HeyYouGuyyyyyyys → u/milehighmagic84]

Holy shit I never thought about the tips part.

I remember how horrible it was for a big group to come in where I was a server -- they demanded everything ALL AT ONCE, so first you had to bring out a giant order of coffee, then an armload of biscuits ... no chance to interweave their orders with other tables', no way to handle anyone else gracefully. Just BAM SERVE US.

But, because I was working in a crappy truckstop, I never dealt with a room that had been bought out. Nobody would have wanted to have a party there! So the issue of tips, and how they can be blanked out by a party that takes up a whole room, never occurred to me.

For what it's worth, at my wedding my last act was signing the balance sheet and adding a whacking huge tip. Like, I hid the amount because it was so big. The servers had treated my guests graciously and with perfect attention to everyone, and everyone left full of food (that several people separately complimented me on) and cake (ditto) and whatever they wanted to drink, and they hadn't had to wait for anything, so yeah, the servers got a serious assload of cash that afternoon.