Hacker News Reader

The real fun in the US is "service fees" that (along with sales tax) make the real price more like 50% higher than what you see on the menu

If they have a service fee, I hope they at least count it as a tip.

I've never seen a place that does that, although maybe they exist. The restaurants where I have seen service fees usually even put in the fine print something like "service charges are not a tip"

If a place has a service fee, that's a mandatory tip in my view, so I won't add yet another tip on top. And I won't be coming back to that restaurant.

I am very thankful for tipping in the US. It provides an incentive for better service, allows me to express my gratitude to waitstaff directly, and gives me influence over the pricing that I do not have in any other kind of transaction. It's great!

In Italy restaurants frequently tack on an arbitrary cover charge per-person. They don't go out of their way to advertise this. I think it's more common at touristy spots though.