20% service charge which is not the tip?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same happened to us, but it was the waitress who alerted us that the 20% service charge is not the tip. She was really sweet and I don’t think she was scamming us, rather the restaurant is keeping the 20%. Restaurant was Brasserie liberté in Georgetown

Because she is now being paid $10/hour.

[Anonymous]

A lot of NY restaurants have moved to this and it’s considered in lieu of tipping (the more European form.) When I’m on business I still tip some but personal don’t anymore - that’s why the service fee is there. If the restaurant screws its workers they’ll go elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same happened to us, but it was the waitress who alerted us that the 20% service charge is not the tip. She was really sweet and I don’t think she was scamming us, rather the restaurant is keeping the 20%. Restaurant was Brasserie liberté in Georgetown

Then she should quit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same happened to us, but it was the waitress who alerted us that the 20% service charge is not the tip. She was really sweet and I don’t think she was scamming us, rather the restaurant is keeping the 20%. Restaurant was Brasserie liberté in Georgetown

Because she is now being paid $10/hour.

Right so she should find another job. I think it’s more like $15, but then made a lot more when they received tips.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is the service fee does not go to the server so you are stiffing them. I am currently traveling with people from several countries. They all hate the US tipping system.

But that's not my problem. The onus isn't on me to pay the server a living wage if the restaurant is already charging me an extra 20%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is the service fee does not go to the server so you are stiffing them. I am currently traveling with people from several countries. They all hate the US tipping system.

But that's not my problem. The onus isn't on me to pay the server a living wage if the restaurant is already charging me an extra 20%.

An extra 20% to pay the server living wage.

[Anonymous]

Why did you tip $40 on a $148 bill?? Or did you mean to tip on the service fee and tax?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same happened to us, but it was the waitress who alerted us that the 20% service charge is not the tip. She was really sweet and I don’t think she was scamming us, rather the restaurant is keeping the 20%. Restaurant was Brasserie liberté in Georgetown

Because she is now being paid $10/hour.

Then they need to raise prices

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why did you tip $40 on a $148 bill?? Or did you mean to tip on the service fee and tax?

The server was very very sweet and my spouse and I and our kids have all worked in food service so honestly we are big tippers. The idea that the server is getting screwed out of tips by brasserie liberte bummed us both out and we only had 20s, and while I would have planned to tip
30, it wasn’t worth asking for change and an extra 10 dollars would not kill me when we already felt we overspent. It was the first time in a restaurant in over a month and we won’t go back there. Interesting that 3 people in this thread named the same restaurant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:3 of us went to dinner and had a wonderful sweet waitperson. When the bill came it wa a brought by the manager (?) and it had a 20% service fee added on. As my husband was putting his card out he said (to confirm) oh the tip is included already? And the man said no it’s not the tip this is the service fee because we had to raise prices to meet the new DC minimum wage. So then when the bill came there was a line for “additional tip”. We gave our waitperson the real tip in cash but
1. it felt like the restaurant is stealing wages and that a lot of people probably assume the tip is included in the bill and then the waitperson gets unintentionally stiffed,
and 2. Our dinner for 3 (with 2 glasses of wine) cost us almost 240, so we will not ever go back- the bill for the meal was
148 pretax
18 tax
30 (20% service fee)

Is this 20% service fee a real thing?
40 tip

Where have you been?

All over the country, this is happening.
Seattle, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, Mississippi, everyone of these places I have personally sat in a restaurant in the last 6 months where my bill included this.

Thanks Republicans. Not only will you be the cause of the demise of many small businesses the economy as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s crazy. Don’t go out. We stopped going out.

+1 We have stopped going out to eat. I am so freaking irritated by the fees that are not for the server, but are somehow presented in an accusatory/defensive way ("we need to cover insurance" / "you voted for a higher wage, this is the result" / "this goes to back-of-house, the people you never think about, you'd better still tip the waiter!"), with an additional tip on top. It makes the end of every meal a nightmare. Even if you had a good experience, the extra angst and cost at the end leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth.

Not to mention just a complete inability to gauge what a meal will cost while picking your food!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought the higher wage law was to do away with tipping?

It is!

The 20% should be to increase waitstaff salary so they don’t need a tip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The service charge is the tip. I would have not given more and I would not go back there.

This.

DC now requires that all wait staff be paid a real salary. This is different from the previous system where wait staff got minimum wage (sometimes less) and needed separate tips to make up for the below normal salary. It is not wage theft.

[Anonymous]

You aren't supposed to tip 20% now that they raised wages. These servers are no longer making a tipped wage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You aren't supposed to tip 20% now that they raised wages. These servers are no longer making a tipped wage.

Here’s the thing- the manager guy at brasserie said the service fee was not the tip
And said we leave the tip separately. Which seemed like BS. Like at two Amy’s they are super clear that the fee is the tip.
So it just was very uncomfortable and I just felt acutely like it was screwing the staff. So I will not go back there and I now see that specific restaurant seems to be a problem
Since it’s the only place named in the thread by 3 people. Anyway, I felt like I had pretty much sorted out the problems after the measure 82 or whatever was enacted but this really felt snakey and also put us on the spot tbh.