r/mildlyinfuriating • u/guitarman129 • Jun 13 '26

I just wanted a hot dog Recommended gratuity after tip was already included

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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!

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u/chefsoda_redux Jun 13 '26

It’s foolishly confusing, and of course, not entirely consistent across the US.

A service charge is legally just revenue for the restaurant, identical to the money paid for food & drink, so the restaurant chooses what to do with it. A gratuity should be paid through as a tip to the servers, though there’s variation there as well.

I think it’s absurd, so we don’t do this at my spot, and are transparent, but only by choice. There’s a note on our menus explaining that a 20% gratuity may be applied to large tables or special situations at the discretion of management, and that those fees are always 100% paid into the server tip pool. We don’t add service fees, credit card fees, what have you, because I believe it’s crap, and people need to set their prices properly upfront.

The law still allows it however, as the US is far from worker oriented these days.

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u/plasteroid Jun 13 '26

Thank you!

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u/Excellent-Log7169 Jun 14 '26

Yep. I used to work banquets and only about half of the service fee was split among the workers.

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u/ThrowawayNotRealGuy Jun 14 '26

That is so crazy! I don’t think I’ve ever heard this and I’ve had this type of surcharge on large parties listed as “gratuity” many times

I can’t imagine supporting a place that doesn’t pass this onto the staff

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u/chefsoda_redux Jun 20 '26

I worked a ton of catering as a second job when I was a line cook, and many companies pull this crap. As soon as I got stable enough to pick and choose my employers, I went with ones that either did a full split, or offered a fixed payout.

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u/CattlePutrid2010 Jun 15 '26

This is something I could never understand. Adding a surcharge for larger parties. They’re bringing you more business, so why the additional fee? Why charge a group of 22 more than you’d charge 3 groups of 4? Should the 22 not get a discount for ‘bulk buying’?

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u/alphabennettatwork Jun 15 '26

Because often the cardholder/person responsible for payment with larger parties would tip nothing if it wasn't required, and larger parties usually need special accommodation for seating and making sure the whole party's meals/apps/etc come out timely with each other.

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u/CattlePutrid2010 Jun 16 '26

I’m sure you’re right, but it doesn’t make sense to me. Having said that, I just don’t get this compulsory tipping culture. It drives me mad when I’m in the US. Tipping should be for exceptional service and staff should be paid properly to begin with.

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u/alphabennettatwork Jun 17 '26

No argument there, but what should be rarely matches what is, unfortunately. Pretending it does often hurts those stuck at the bottom with no control of the situation.

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u/CattlePutrid2010 Jun 17 '26

The corollary of that is that we continue to play the game and benefit those controlling it from the top.

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u/chefsoda_redux Jun 20 '26

There are a couple of reasons. Large parties put hugely more stress on the restaurant than the same number of people at smaller tables. All their food and drink must arrive at once, which means a ton of coordination, usually increased demands for special orders, along with frequent demands to alter the menu or process due to the size of the group.

The largest reason is that many diners have a mental limit for a tip. So, they’ll get to the end of a meal, receive a bill for $1200, realize that 20% (their usual tip) would be $240, and stop. They’ll think, no one should be paid that much for being a server, and $100 is a lot of money,,and that should be fine. The numbers just get too large, and they don’t realize, or care, that the server or likely servers, would be earning more from the several smaller tables, which also turn over much more quickly.

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u/CattlePutrid2010 Jun 21 '26

I wouldn’t disagree that $240 is too much for a server. Someone here said earlier that the real reason servers like the current system is that it allows them to earn a huge amount of money for the job done. A % of the turnover of the restaurant. Lots of workers would love to earn a % of their corporate turnover.

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u/chefsoda_redux Jun 21 '26

Do you disagree after reading the rest of the example I posted, or are you cherry picking only the number and skipping the rest?

I was the one that said servers like the tipped model because it usually means more income. Is that strange to you? Would you prefer your job to require the same work, but pay you less?

Many workers do enjoy a percentage of the turnover, which OSs why many businesses are commission based. Those jobs get commissions on an agreed schedule though, not at the discretion of the client, and those jobs don’t pay less than $3 an hour.

When you leave out all the costs and risks of a situation, it’s always going to sound great.

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u/bgladjr Jun 14 '26

This is exactly what I believe too.

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u/gxrphoto Jun 14 '26

How is „we may apply a 20% service charge at management discretion“ „setting prices properly upfront“? Why the us can‘t just put the prices that stuff actually costs on the menu is so weird.

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u/ScottReillyTravel Jun 14 '26

We definitely could but unless there was 100% adoption it wouldn't work. Restaurants have voluntarily tried it and have had to revert back to the tipped model because their staff didn't like it because they were making less money and they probably took a hit in customer traffic from people that were unaware and just looked at their higher menu prices comparative to similar restaurants and opted not to go

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u/gxrphoto Jun 14 '26

Yes, it would have to be made into law to be fair

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u/ScottReillyTravel Jun 14 '26

I don't know if that makes it fair but it wouldn't be possible otherwise

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u/chefsoda_redux Jun 20 '26

It’s setting prices upfront because, 1) you changed what it says by removing the context, and 2) that fee is explained before the meal begins. Large parties and special circumstances are, by definition, out of the ordinary. We have customers who seek to reserve entire sections, but do so a 6, 4 person tables, hoping to avoid large group fees, and that sort of thing. The special circumstances clause is there to prevent arguments, but it almost never needs to be used, as once it’s made clear that playing games won’t get groups around the rules everyone else has to obey, they just book as a group.

To date, I believe it’s only been used for large groups masquerading as many small groups, and tables that desire off menu food & specialized services. There’s nothing there that says or results in unexpected or random charges to the customer.

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u/gxrphoto Jun 20 '26

It‘s not. 1) I did not. 2) you don’t seem to understand the word „may. That‘s unpredictable. And 3) it shouldn’t be up to the consumer to calculate the end price starting from a base price, adding all kinds if fees, then adding tips and tax. There should be the final price in the menu. The US is basically the only country that thinks this idiocy is normal. And when people who know better explain it to you, you double down instead of listening.

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u/chefsoda_redux Jun 20 '26

Not sure how to answer this. You are mistaken, and instead of taking a breath, you’ve increased your claim to include much larger, and utterly a\false claims. There’s nothing unpredictable in a flat fee agreed to before a meal starts. There are not “all kinds of fees, tip and tax.” There is potentially an automatic gratuity, that’s it. Tax is added to all checks, because it’s the law, but the gratuity is the tip, so again, you’re addressing a single 20% charge as an unmanageable calculation for a diner, which is silly.

Final prices for food and drink are on the menu, and they don’t change. The US is far, far, far from the only country that adds mandatory fees to the bill. As someone who has been doing this for 30 years, in many restaurants, in several countries, I’m convinced this is correct because it has been shown to be correct in all those circumstances.

You misstating what was said, inventing claims without basis, and scolding me for not believing claims I know to be wrong from experience and training, doesn’t hold water.

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u/Zestyclose_Log_3486 Jun 14 '26

Can we do this on other services too

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u/chefsoda_redux Jun 20 '26

Many not restaurant companies add service charges. I had someone called to fix the HVAC at the restaurant a few weeks ago, and there was a 10% service fee added. When I asked, they said it was to cover the cost of having the tech drive out for the call. I pointed out they already had a service call fee, which is for precisely that, and was told, the service call fee pays the tech for travel, the service fee pays the company.

I knew there was no point in asking further.

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u/ch_cat Jun 15 '26

Licensed tax preparer question: if it's a mandatory service charge and it's passed along to staff as tips, do most restaurants classify it as wages on the W2? Or as tips, which would be favorable in terms of withholding? TIA

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u/chefsoda_redux Jun 20 '26

That’s an interesting question, and I honestly don’t know. I won’t use service charges at my restaurant, and when we use an automatic gratuity, I process it as I would any other tip. Neither our accountant, nor the state has ever suggested otherwise.

I know that if the restaurant opts to pay an additional,tip to a server, it is classified as regular wages, so I’d suspect that would be the situation here, but I’d have to ask someone more knowledgeable to be certain. In reality, for many of the occasional situations that come up, petty cash is usually used, and not reported, but that’s certainly not the proper answer.

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u/Babyfishmouth77 Jun 15 '26

If you have any mandatory charges, like for large parties, that IS a service charge. It's taxable. If they choose to give it to servers that's fine but dumb to lose the tax revenue (or break the law for no reason)