A gratuity is a tip that’s given by a customer in exchange for services. You might leave a gratuity of several dollars when you eat lunch in a restaurant or when you get your hair cut.
A gratuity is usually a relatively small amount of money, a percentage of the total cost of a purchase or service. It doesn’t pay for the goods purchased — it’s a separate reward to the person who did the work. For example, in the United States, waiters and waitresses typically expect a gratuity of between 18 and 20 percent of the total cost of a meal.
However, it’s not an obligation to give gratuity nor is it an obligation to pay exactly 18 - 20 percent should you not want to for whatever reason. I’ve come across a couple of places that sneakily added the gratuity with the bill and the customers are force into paying it because they’ll feel guilt and fear how they’ll appear if they don’t. Sometimes customers do not see that it’s already added which sometimes ends with them double tipping more than they would have liked.
The problem I have with restaurants, bars and whatnot is when they add gratuity to the bill. A lot of people don’t understand that just because the tip is added doesn’t mean that they have to pay it. They have no legal, moral or ethical mandate to pay a forced gratuity. If they don’t like it, take it off (of course that doesn’t mean you should be a cheapskate).
But most importantly, don’t pay the gratuity even if it’s on the bill when your service was horrible. Nothing annoys me the most about dinning out is when the waiter or waitress aren’t attentive to their customers’ needs.
 DamnBlackHeart · Wed Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:24pm · 0 Comments |
