Next also include sales tax in label prices.
With tip your bill can easily end up 40% higher.
Then, if you wish, tip the staff whatever amount you prefer. (Though at this point, any restaurant that tries sneakily adding an additional charge to my bill probably isn't getting anything).
No, that's too unpleasant and would put a dour note on the evening. Particularly if I'm there with a date. I'm OK with simply not returning.
Granted, we all vary in our outlook :-)
But, date or not, it's not something I'm OK with doing. It's just not worth it when I can resolve the issue completely with much less bother.
Restaurant A's pasta is $14.95, printed clearly on the menu.
Restaurant B's pasta is $13, with a 15% service fee written in tiny letters on the menu somewhere.
Restaurant C's pasta is $2.99, with a 500% service fee written in tiny letters on the menu somewhere.
You're paying the same thing at each restaurant. If you think C is sneaky and unethical (which I hope everyone would), then why is B ok?
Touristy places in central London maybe. They wouldn't dare try sneaking an undeclared service charge onto a locals bill in Northern England or Scotland :-)
> In the UK, they are legally but not practically or socially discretionary.
Speak for yourself. When entertaining clients at touristy places in London, one routinely asks for this underhand charge to be removed from the bill. (Whether or not we then choose to leave a cash tip is a matter of discretion, but the chances are rather low after such shenanigans).
Adding an undeclared "service charge" to the bill only when it is presented to you is what we are talking about here. It is an increasingly common underhand tactic in and around London and an charge which one should ALWAYS ask to be removed ("that wasn't on the menu mate").
At this point I'm waiting for supermarket self-checkout to add a default tip amount.
Esso petrol stations routinely ask for this, and the staff member ALWAYS clicks the 'no' button before you can offer your card.
Source: Somebody who drives around the UK a lot for work.
The old ones (never seen the tip option on those... for now): https://www.simple-shop.si/en/pos-terminal-tcpip-en and eg https://www.unicreditbank.si/si/podjetja/upravljanje-z-denar...
The new ones: https://www.sumup.com/sl-si/karticni-citalec-terminal/ and https://besteron.com/si/pos-terminali/ (both support tips) + many other in similar designs (full front touchscreen)
I don't think square supports slovenia for now, but POS vedors add the tip option, and our restaurant owners enable it, because it doesn't cost them anything, any many (especially foreign) guests "feel bad" for choosing the zero on the screen.
But obviously, a government service should give fair and proper service to everyone.
It's also more money to the company providing the payment system so they are incentivized to tell every restaurant to turn on tips.
I hate it. I don't know how to fight it except to try to start a movement big enough that everyone who goes to such a restaurant gives it 1 star and not not return, until it becomes unacceptable for business to do it. Like many things that is unlikely to happen without some major awareness campaign.
It doesn't matter what kind of bottle it is, or which company made it, all returns are accepted at every point.
Children, unemployed, and elderly people are often seen hunting for stray cans/bottles, by bins, in parks, and similar places, to return them for the cash.
Edinburgh Fringe special variant: charging extra for plastic cups and then not accepting returns.