Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothwithstanding the fact that this topic is beat down - my question to all the complaints is simply "Which is it?".

Do you care about people making a livable wage, safe working conditions, having healthcare and some paid time off for illness/kids or do you not? Because as caring as a lot of ppl say they are - it becomes increasingly clear that a lot of ppl care as long as they are not adversely affected in any way.

If you are of the mindset that service workers should get paid fairly, get minimum benefits then yes - your burger will cost more. These are the prices that WE pay collectively - for the collective. We are no better than how we treat our poorest.

No, I do not care about what their compensation is whatsoever. I am the customer. It’s never my responsibility to worry about what an employee is making. How absurd. This is why the US is also such a messed up, backwards country.

Yes - of course - it's the caring for others well-being that have us so divided.

Anonymous wrote:Nothwithstanding the fact that this topic is beat down - my question to all the complaints is simply "Which is it?".

Do you care about people making a livable wage, safe working conditions, having healthcare and some paid time off for illness/kids or do you not? Because as caring as a lot of ppl say they are - it becomes increasingly clear that a lot of ppl care as long as they are not adversely affected in any way.

If you are of the mindset that service workers should get paid fairly, get minimum benefits then yes - your burger will cost more. These are the prices that WE pay collectively - for the collective. We are no better than how we treat our poorest.

No, I do not care about what their compensation is whatsoever. I am the customer. It’s never my responsibility to worry about what an employee is making. How absurd. This is why the US is also such a messed up, backwards country.

Yes, tipping in DC is out of control to the point we no longer give the city our money. It is just entirely loathsome and an absolute joykiller how much restaurants try to bleed their customers dry these days , as if they’re cash cows with unlimited funds.


There are now restaurants in DC charging upwards of 22% per for service charges and state that the purpose is to ensure equity, benefits, viability and a whole bunch of other social justice mumbo jumbo. Then when you get the bill the server also loves to remind you that the 22% is not tipped compensation they receive……which is just a backhanded way of trying to strong arm you into paying another 20% on top of that. They’re trying to normalize 40% or more on top of bills now.


It’s absolutely insane in DC. F them all and I hope they go out of business. Can’t stand dining out in DC anymore. When you don’t want to pay more than 22% the bills after the service charge, they try to make you feel like an a hole about it too.

Anonymous wrote:"I ONLY NOTICED AFTERWARDS."
Pay attention to what you are tapping.

If it's an automatic service charge and not a tipping prompt your options are limited. In OP's case I guess they could have withdrawn their order and left but you've already taken the time to go in and order. If it's on a bill you get after eating then you have to assume you see the warning that it's coming and restaurants don't always post that info very well (though if you are paying after you eat you also likely received actual table service and not just someone punching an order into a kiosk for you at a counter or having to punch it in yourself).

"I ONLY NOTICED AFTERWARDS."
Pay attention to what you are tapping.

Anonymous wrote:Nothwithstanding the fact that this topic is beat down - my question to all the complaints is simply "Which is it?".

Do you care about people making a livable wage, safe working conditions, having healthcare and some paid time off for illness/kids or do you not? Because as caring as a lot of ppl say they are - it becomes increasingly clear that a lot of ppl care as long as they are not adversely affected in any way.

If you are of the mindset that service workers should get paid fairly, get minimum benefits then yes - your burger will cost more. These are the prices that WE pay collectively - for the collective. We are no better than how we treat our poorest.

If it costs $x to run your business, charge $x for your product. Don't charge me 80% of x and then add a 20% service charge.

This just happened to me at a stand up, grab your food, pay and leave shwarma restaurant (hole in the wall) in DC. I grabbed my bottled waters and colas (no food) out of a frig and went to the cash register. The credit card receipt handed to me by the owner had a 22% tip suggested for thr already overpriced waters. I declined and then wrote a Yelp to warn those who don't check their receipts

Anonymous wrote:Who gets the service charge?

Unless the restaurant is explicit that it is collected as a tip and divided among the service staff it goes to the business. It *might* go towards increased salaries for staff or providing benefits but if the restaurant doesn't say this is what it's for then there is no guarantee that this is what it is for.

Which is why I oppose service charges as a practice. In fact as a general matter I oppose a business charging a specified price for goods and services and then tacking on additional fees and claiming these are going to costs that are somehow not baked into the price. The only time I think this is appropriate is if it is done for a temporary cost that the business expects to go away at which point the service charge will also go away. Like the "Covid charges" that some businesses imposed to cover special costs related to operating during the pandemic (though there is also a transparency issue there as many businesses charged Covid fees and also obtained loans to help with the same costs and then those loans were forgiven -- these businesses in some cases pocketed the difference at the cost to both taxpayers and customers).

I am very tired of being told how hard it is to run a profitable business and that businesses have no choice but to tack on a bunch of fees just to stay in the black. At this point in time this is an indication you should just go out of business. Which maybe you will as customers catch onto this ruse and stop frequenting businesses that treat the bill like some kind of charity fundraising event. You're a for-profit business. I'm giving you money in exchange for goods and services. I'm not donating to a good cause.

Who gets the service charge?

I think one problem with the specific service environment OP is talking about is that these places are often cutting back on and eliminating service positions at the same time they are imposing these automatic service charges. OP interacted very briefly with two service professionals (maybe a minute with the person taking their order and then likely less than that with the person who delivered the order). This is extremely different than a restaurant where you are being seated by a hostess and served by one or more waiters who are taking drink and food orders and visiting your table multiple times including processing your payment plus bussers clearing dirty dishes.

I went to a burger place yesterday where we ordered via a QR code at the table and got our own drinks and then paid via the app. Our only interaction with service in the restaurant was when someone wordlessly delivered our order -- this took them perhaps 2 minutes total and we interacted with them for less than a minute. No one checked on us after that and we bussed our own table.

The owner of that restaurant does not have to employ nearly as many service staff as a restaurant offering full service. If we give them 20% on service for ever meal there isn't the business just pocketing this. It's can't all be going to service staff because you're talking about a service staff of 2-3 people servicing an entire restaurant with 10-20 tables for a shift. Are those servers all making $30 an hour? I really doubt it.

We are seeing rapid increase in service charges at the same time we are seeing a rapid decline in actual service combined with increase automation and pushing customers to self-serve more. It doesn't add up.

OP here - I worked in the service industry for more than a decade. I get it.
But put my vote into the raise the overall price - I'm much more likely to tip excellent service, even on top. The "service" charge only hurts the industry staff.

Anonymous wrote:That’s fine but then it should be incorporated into the listed price. No surprises. A $15 burger should cost $15. Tax and service should be included in price.

So you're mad that they are being transparent? I mean - this was advertised and yelled about on every news channel. You'd be the same one arguing about your $25 burger being $29 burger and whine about "inflation" as if we all don't know that prices go up - for everyone - including restaurants, large and small businesses along with anyone who buys food.

It's pretty gauche to complain about 15% when you're in a position to choose a $25 burger place tbh so my empathy bean is dehydrated right now.

But to try and form a polite response - restaurant owners wanted customers to know - hey my prices are not only going up because food costs more, but because recent legislation and changes also require that my overhead is also more costly. Complain at the ballot box.

That’s fine but then it should be incorporated into the listed price. No surprises. A $15 burger should cost $15. Tax and service should be included in price.

Nothwithstanding the fact that this topic is beat down - my question to all the complaints is simply "Which is it?".

Do you care about people making a livable wage, safe working conditions, having healthcare and some paid time off for illness/kids or do you not? Because as caring as a lot of ppl say they are - it becomes increasingly clear that a lot of ppl care as long as they are not adversely affected in any way.

If you are of the mindset that service workers should get paid fairly, get minimum benefits then yes - your burger will cost more. These are the prices that WE pay collectively - for the collective. We are no better than how we treat our poorest.

I know I'm late to this, but I bought a burger and fries yesterday at an establishment near the Convention Center. I ordered and paid at a counter, and someone brought my order to my table. I only noticed after, but they charged me 15% for service? I'm sorry, but when a burger/fries runs $25, that seems pretty insane to pass on a 15% charge for nothing more than delivering my order to my table. (I threw my own trash away at the end). If this is the norm, I have to imagine restaurants are going to take a hit. I, for one, will limit the amount of time I eat at restaurants in the District going forward.