There is a debate raging: should double tipping, children and snogging be off the menu in British restaurants?
The results of a brand new F Word/You Gov survey reveals that nicotine isn’t the only restaurant bugbear. The main gripe among eater-outers are restaurants that add service charge to the menu, but ALSO leave the credit card slip open for you to add another tip.
Restaurants are divided on their stance towards tipping. Some leave it entirely to the discretion of the customer, while others add an automatic 10, 12.5 or even 15% charge to the bill. Many customers probably don't realise that, according to British law, service charges added by the restaurant are entirely optional. If you weren't happy with the service or would prefer to calculate your own tip, you can always ask for it to be removed and for a new bill to be printed.
There’s another good reason for removing this charge from the bill – it has been reported that many restaurants only pass on to the waiting staff the tips which were actually left as coinage in the tip tray. Those added on to the bill or paid for by credit card tend to go straight to management. Four waiters at a top London restaurant recently went to the High Court with this issue – claiming that because most customers added a tip onto their credit card, they’d missed out on almost £20,000 in tips. The court ruled in favour of management.
Double tipping isn't the only gripe of the 2,000 interviewees taking part in the F Word survey. Second on the list of restaurant irritants are restaurants that cram in so many tables that you can practically smell the person at the neighbouring table. Mobile phones came in a close third place. They've already been banned from New York theatres, incurring a $50 fine. Will we see a mobile phone ban in the near future?
Amorous couples and breast-feeding mothers also sit in the top ten of restaurants nuisances. Children should also be off the menu as far as some diners are concerned, while women wearing overpowering perfume put some right off their food.
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