I still don't understand what you do when a restaurant tacks on a 20% service fee
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Anonymous
Not my job to ask. |
Anonymous
| You leave 0%, yes. |
Anonymous
I do this. I also tend to start making other choices as to where I spend my money. It's just a discomfort I'm not willing to pay for, especially if I can find a place where this doesn't come up. |
Anonymous
| I would say restaurants add a 20% service fee because some people don't tip appropriately. Therefore, it's the tip. Don't add more tip unless you want to. Many people do tip more than 20% so feel free to do that. If you feel that the service does not warrant a 20% tip/service fee then tell the manager that and don't go back there again. |
Anonymous
| Most places ive been to that do that also state no tips are necessary due to the fee. |
Anonymous
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I actually just asked a manager of a well known DC establishment this very question and he responded:
“Service charges don’t always go to servers. They’re distributed at the discretion of the establishment. Gratuities always go to servers. I hate service charges, they’re opaque and confusing.” |
Anonymous
Too bad. I’m not paying 40% more on top of the bill! |
Anonymous
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Just had dinner at a place with a 22% service fee. If you wanted it adjusted, you were supposed to ask for a manager. :/
When I got the slip, there was indeed a place for an extra tip. I wrote “incl” to make it clear that my understanding was that the tip was part of the service charge, and if that is not the case, they need to explicitly say so. They did highlighted in yellow the service charge on the itemized bill, which I appreciated. I’ve been places where they just flip in and so if you are not paying attention you end up leaving another 20% on top of that…. |
Anonymous
You are wrong on the facts and just making it up with that quote. Was that an interview with that formal declartion? lol. I am a former server. Six years in grad and undergrad. Firstly the base pay of servers has risen 50% just the past few months. From $5.35 to $6.00 and now to $8.00.The service charges are not really "only at discretion of establishment." They are paying them to servers to bring up the pay The establishments were always required to make sure either with base pay alone, or with base pay plus tips, or with base pay plus tips plus supplement from restaurant, that servers made the same total income as normal minimum wage We are now, by the new law, moving to a "no tip" system in DC where, like for example Europe, you leave no tip, or something like a dollar on a $100 dinner if the service was good. Right now, if there is no service charge and you normally left 20% you should now be leaving 11%. And if there is a service charge you should deduct the entire amount from your putative 20% tip. In other words on a $100 before tax tab, if there is a 10% service charge you should be leaving a 10% tip which is a net 20% tip. In a couple of years when this the full minimum wage phases in you should be paying no tips or a small 1% or so gratuity |
Anonymous
It isn't the restaurants that caused this mess, it is voters. 98% of voters never worked as a server, and certainly never managed a restaurant or coffee place or bar. Why they felt they had a right to mess with a perfectly functioning pay scheme of tipped service in the US is a mystery to me. When I worked as a server my base pay, in todays dollars was $5/hour, but in tips, because I was good at my job, I made about $30/hour. No wait staff makes less than minimum wage in the US, but with this system almost all wait staff will be making no more than minimum wage. I had a motive to do my job well and efficiency and at the endo of this proposition 82, no waiter or service staff will have any motive to be polite, attentive and to do their job well. As far as tipping culture in the US, it is WAY better than Europe. You have no idea how many people don't have basic manners and are lazy that take a job as wait staff. They can destroy a restaurant's reputation. They get sorted out in the restaurant business because they don't make as much money. Either they learn to be good at their job or they just make minimum wage or slightly more and quit. As far as Europe, I lived in Europe half my life and Europeans are used to bad service in restaurants. Americans rate service as the number one aspect of eating at a restaurant. The food can be excellent and if service is bad Americans do not come back. Just wait to US restaurants have bad service like restaurants in Italy, France, Spain or Germany. |
Anonymous
Service Charge Tracker: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UrAuD1TcfX546IEJL34I37ACVWljSi4lhIRA0w15-_Y/edit#gid=1486084773 Be aware, per the DC Attorney General, restaurants that charge service fees must: • Disclose the fee at the beginning of an order, either orally or in bold, large print on the menu • Accurately describe the reason for the fee, either through its name (“worker health insurance fee”) or in text describing what the money is used for • Only use the fees collected from diners for those purposes specified "Violators of the law would have to refund customers or pay penalties up to $5,000..." If you have experienced a violation of these requirements, you can file a complaint here: https://oag.dc.gov/consumer-protection Source: https://dcist.com/story/23/03/10/dc-restaurants-service-charges-violations-attorney-general-warning/ Edit: If anyone is looking for this info in the future, I've added it to the FOOD section of the Visitor's Guide. |
Anonymous
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Here's an article that just came out today about the Initiative 82 services fees.
https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2023/07/24/initiative-82-service-fees-dc Also, this guy sounds like a peach. |
Anonymous
| I’ve never seen this. |
Anonymous
This |
Anonymous
DCist is convoluted and wrong on this. they are not taking into account the server staff so far has gotten a 50% raise in minimum wage. In short with the 50% rise in the base pay that has already occurred you should be leaving half the tip, say 10% service charge or not. And in 18 months from now you should be leaving about 1/4 the tip, and by 2027 no tip. |