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GSPilot t1_j9yeaw1 wrote

Is it common in the UK to have the “gratuity” added to your tab?

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qwertymanman OP t1_j9ygaok wrote

12.5% discretionary service charge in most cafes and restaurants added on. Even if service is crap, asking for it to be removed is mortifying

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bebozakunt t1_j9ygyb4 wrote

Mortifying for who? You or the people trying to steal from you..?

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qwertymanman OP t1_j9yhpaz wrote

Both, ironically

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Kohpad t1_j9z36qr wrote

Is it really? I've only done it twice because I'll accept some pretty shite service, but both times it felt pretty painless. I had pretty legitimate gripes and the manager agreed, easy.

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Spiritual-Wind-3898 t1_j9zlfpk wrote

Its really not. Ask them to remove. They remove it.

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SoNic67 t1_j9zwvsi wrote

Then it is attempt at stealing?

PS: In US you can also NOT PAY the tip. They won't call the cops on you but, like in UK. you better not try to eat there next time. Because... spit happens.

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Spiritual-Wind-3898 t1_ja00288 wrote

You know its not complusory in the UK and its not the same as the US. And in fact is often considered rude to even ask for tips.

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SoNic67 t1_ja089l8 wrote

Is not compulsory in US either. Just rude not to. If you can't afford to tip, eat at home - problem solved.

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Spiritual-Wind-3898 t1_ja09ejl wrote

Its not rude in other countries to not tip. When in US i tip. When in UK i dont. And its not considered rude in uk to not tip. Its normal to not tip

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SoNic67 t1_ja09pjp wrote

But it is on the bill. It's either compulsory or they are trying to steal from you.

The fact that they take it off if you ask is irrelevant. They can take off the whole order if they wanted, it's their bill, their business.

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SoNic67 t1_j9zx338 wrote

In US isn't mandatory either. You can walk out without paying the tip, is not even on the bill.

But, like in UK, if you try to eat there another time... gross stuff can land accidentally in your food.

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BillyShears2015 t1_ja01ub8 wrote

Do European’s not understand that gratuity and a tip is the same thing? Is that why they’re always bitching about about US tip culture?

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SunliMin t1_ja0etrq wrote

Technically they are different things though

Tip = Voluntary, and can be any amount. You can tip 1%, 10%, 30%, etc

Gratuity = Automatically added extra amount

When you decide to give you waiter 20%, that's a tip. When the restaurant enforces a 20% mandatory addition to pay their staff, that's gratuity

The culture differences is that in America (and Canada), tips are expected, and not tipping is very disrespectful. In the EU, tipping is not expected. It doesn't mean some places won't try to swindle you and charge gratuity, but it isn't the norm, and it upsets customers since they likely wouldn't have tipped on their own

England is also very different from the rest of the EU. Their culture is the hybrid of EU and North America. Similar to how Canadians use both metric and imperial, UK does as well for example

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BillyShears2015 t1_ja0fms5 wrote

Right….so if American restaurants just started adding gratuity printed to the ticket all of y’all’s asinine complaints would stop huh? Give me a break.

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RockRevolutionary182 t1_ja1nol2 wrote

Ok that was interesting. I've always hated the metric system but now I wish we were using it only in the US It makes things so much simpler. When they made up the imperial system Dad a meeting with all the smartest dudes and they were like dude how could we look superior to all the people? So the one dude said why don't we make measurements super hard and confusing. They did things like to abbreviate inch let's make it two lines up top and for foot one it'll confuse them because logically you would think 2 lines would be feet and 1 inches because 2 is larger. Then another dude was like dudddddde let's break it down so you can say different numbers in different ways and they all mean the same thing. Example 1/2 " is the same as 32/64 it's the same as 4/8 and 16/32. My dudes that is how the imperial system was born. When they got done with that they named themselves the Democrats.

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lawfulkitten1 t1_ja0zx46 wrote

even in the US it's different. places that charge gratuity for large parties generally won't let you remove it, but if you go to that same restaurant as a party of 1-2 they might default to 0% tip and you can choose what amount you want to tip (including nothing)

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