Went to a restaurant in LA today and when I got the check I noticed that it was a bit higher than it should be. Then I noticed this 18% service charge. So… We, as customers, need to help pay for their servers instead of the owners paying their servers a living wage. And on top of that they have suggested tip. I called bs on this. I will bet you that the servers do not see a dime of this 18% service charge. [deleted a word so it wasn’t a grammatical horror to read]
Because the price on the menu then appears lower than what the customer actually pays. It’s completely misleading.
Ohhh, that’s a really good point. I didn’t think about that. This hasn’t happened where I live. Thanks for helping me understand. That IS really misleading.
It also guilt trips the customer into accepting the unexpected added price.
And even if it’s on their printed menu, you might look at the menu on Google Maps and see one place has a dish for $20 and another place had the same dish for $24. You go to the cheaper place and sit down and see the 18% fee. Are you necessarily going to leave and go to the other one?
I would probably leave and just go home. I wouldn’t be in the mood to eat anymore.
It’s usually on the menu but it’s in fine print under an asterisk.
It’s alarmingly common (though not usually as high as 18%), and ought to be fucking illegal.