Went to a restaurant in LA today and when I got the check I noticed that it was a bit higher than it should be. Then I noticed this 18% service charge. So… We, as customers, need to help pay for their servers instead of the owners paying their servers a living wage. And on top of that they have suggested tip. I called bs on this. I will bet you that the servers do not see a dime of this 18% service charge. [deleted a word so it wasn’t a grammatical horror to read]
Is it even legal to force you to pay more than the menu reads? I know tipping 18% is a social norm now in the states, but you can technically say no to that. Can you say no to this service tax?
Tipping isn’t really a social norm as much as it is a social imperative-- the food is considerably cheaper than it should be because you’re expected to make up the cost difference in tips.
This is a fascist tactic to turn people against the servers and shame those who want higher wages
“fascist tactic”??? What’s up with the '70s commie speak?
Huh? It’s just greedy owners. Don’t overthink it
I thought bait and switch was illegal in the USA.
The crazy thing is, Los Angeles’ minimum wage is already 16.78, and restaurants are required to pay servers at least minimum wage in California. None of this lower minimum for tipped workers. So they are adding at least 18% to that, unless the 18% service fee brings their workers up to minimum wage, which is dishonest, but wouldn’t put it past a restaurant to do. After all that, they have the gall to sti ask for a tip!?! It’s beyond bs.
All I want to know is … What the flying fuck is a “shazzy” and is it delicious?
A list of L.A. restaurants doing this shit from a Reddit sub:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EEPzeytrva770H2xPFFPDUUNdpnL_VQL4vbzFph-jus/edit#gid=0
Of course it’s in L.A.
They definitely have it in other California cities too. And not just in restaurants.
A chain resale/consignment hipster shop in NorCal started adding a percentage service charge years ago with the same excuse, and you’d only find out about it if you looked at your receipt. The fucked up part is that they also raised their prices so high that I couldn’t shop there anymore. It’s one of those buy/sell/trade clothing stores, so the whole point was to pay less for decent clothes. But if they’re already raising prices significantly, why the fuck do they need yet another charge to pay their workers.
I also think they really must believe it makes them seem “progressive” somehow. Like “oh look, we’re on the workers’ side!” and they hope no one eating/shopping there will think about it any more deeply than that.
That doesn’t say “on the worker’s side” though. It says anti-consumer and selfish. They’re not willing to pay any more if it means they make a little less, they’re just comfortable taking more money from other people.
You realize 100% of the money they’d use to pay their workers more would come from consumers right?
Of course it would. It doesn’t have to (Dan Price is an example of a different model), but it would. At least by wrapping it into the prices consumers can clearly see that increase, instead of this shoddily hidden tactic.
The alternative is that they just jack up the menu prices to accomplish the same thing. This is just the equivalent of pricing things at $19.99 because people don’t understand that really means $20 which sounds like a lot more money.
Yeah, please if you’re going to charge me 40 bucks for a salad just put 40 bucks on the menu. Or 39.99 If you must. I greatly prefer that over listing the salad as $30 on the menu, only get blindsided by a separate $10 service charge on the bill. Matter of fact can we just go to putting the entire cost of the item on the menu?
Everything should be on the wheel and out the door pricing. Doing any other way is absolute bullshit.
You’ll get no disagreement from me!
This is just the equivalent of pricing things at $19.99 because people don’t understand that really means $20 which sounds like a lot more money.
So let’s say you checkout at the grocery store tomorrow and your $100 of groceries has a $20 “employee wellness” fee tacked on. You see that and pricing an item 1 penny below a round number as the same thing. Really?
No, you’d leave the store having paid $120 for groceries with no wellness fee tacked on.
Did that make sense in your head?
Yes, and in reality. When you charge more per item for goods and services so that healthcare is included, they cost more.
Yes, and in reality. When you charge more per item for goods and services so that healthcare is included, they cost more.
A red-herring response if I’ve ever seen one.
This has literally nothing to do with the tactic of hiding additional fees so customers don’t see them instead of just increasing prices, or the difference between pricing something a cent below a round number and adding a wellness fee at checkout.
I try to avoid playing pigeon chess, but it seems that’s what I’ve been doing.
Did they charge you 3.75 for being an LA woman? 😂😂
Are you paying your servers a living wage or not? If yes, I’m not tipping.
I tip twenty most places. Easy to calculate and fair.
I see this and they have gotten my tip. If you work there and are upset by that, then you need to find another job because the company is stealing your tips no matter what. And I personally won’t return, because it’s never the best restaurants who pull this shit.
Similarly if a company puts automatic gratuity on my bill that’s the tip as well… And usually it’s less than I’d give freely.
If Americans are supposed to tip extra it their choice. If you want to define service charges or something like this, then you’ve made your choice. Greedy fucks trying to hide these extra charges need to stop. I’ll pay more for food on a menu if that’s what it takes but trying to sneak it is bullshit.
I bet legally, the establishment owners aren’t required to give “service charges” to their staff the same way they are required to give 100% of the tips…
This is some shady shit, IMO.
Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer (so I don’t know WTF I am talking about), so if someone here that knows the law could comment on “service charges” vs. “tips” in this context, I would love to know.
Looks like a couple of their employees are suing over exactly that.
Jesus. They try to be altruistic and say that tip culture isn’t fair (and it’s not), but you know the altruistic thing would be to… Not have tipping then! I’m in Seattle and there are tons of restaurants like this that have a fee, but then tipping is genuinely not allowed, they don’t accept them. Everyone gets a fair wage.
That 18% is definitely not going to the staff.
And for the owners, here’s an idea, why not just make the menu items 18% more expensive and remove the fee altogether?? And if that means your food is too expensive… Literally yes. Why does your food cost that much?
Tyvm for finding this article!!
" The announcement and change in billing language comes after a Los Angeles Times article published on June 21 about the class-action lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court against Joint Venture Restaurant Group Inc., which owns Jon & Vinny’s. The workers claim that the company denied them tips and therefore shortchanged them on their take-home pay because of confusion resulting from the 18% service fee.
California’s gratuity law requires that tips be remitted in full to non-managerial service staff. "
SMH … What a bunch of assholes; screwed their customers and then their staff…
Hope they get fucked / hope justice is served
Even if all the money does make into into the staff’s pockets, the owner still averts financial risk by making worker pay a function of sales. An employer must have higher business risks than their staff, because otherwise the staff wouldn’t need an employer anyways! This absolutely goes against the high risk - high reward scheme that is common place elsewhere. Want to earn more? Take a risky choice! Just want stable support for your life? Get employed and earn a regular wage.
More than 10% service charge is unacceptable already where I am. Let alone asking for a tip on top.
Found it by the “helens shazzy” https://www.jonandvinnys.com/menu I don’t live in LA so everything I see is based solely on the website. I read zero google reviews.l and just dove right in. TLdr -op you got finessed. Stop eating here my guy.
It seems by their website that fee is ONLY mentioned on the wine page (also based on this receipt and op statement, this fee is EXCLUSIVE to wine buyers for some reason) where they also charge a $50 corkage fee (most normal restaurants are 20-40), and also stock rotates “so frequently we can’t maintain an updated list” which seems silly, but maybe stock at all 3 locations changes often enough that this really would would be a pain. The restaurant itself is…all over the place. Italian, and breakfast foods? But also there’s Helen’s Winery attached? And on weekends they act as a bakery? And they have “pizza classes” for $650? Idk they have several “sister” type restaurants that are either owned by the same owner or its some kind of franchising thing, but they’re all equally VERY expensive for the food you get. Very upscale. For example [buttermilk pancakes, salted butter, maple syrup 16.25] compared to IHOP “chicken and pancakes” for $14 where you get not just 2 pancakes and butter, but 2 drumsticks. ADDITIONALLY on the Wine page “Modifications are politely declined.” what does this even mean? No changes to wine? Or no modifications to your MENU? Dawg if I’m paying you 20.50 for a rigatoni, you’re not putting “broccolini” in it.This shit ain’t mom’s house where I go to bed hungry if I don’t like it. I sit at the big kids table and get a big kid fork.
For those just reading the slip, these are indeed all full dishes (not just single line items), in LA where everything costs more. Overall 0/10 I wouldn’t eat here based on all this above, before even being infuriated by the “we pass the bill to you” shtick. I’m mildly infuriated just reading through this website.
WTH is a corkage fee?
A few charged for opening a bottle of wine. It used to only be charged if you brought your own bottle to the restaurant.
How are they supposed to sell wine without opening the bottle? Is it optional? Can I open it myself instead?
In most places its not legal to serve yourself alcohol you brought to the restaurant yourself. So as a compromise many restraunt owners will allow you to bring a bottle of wine that they dont carry, and then charge you a fee to serve it to you. This means they are staying within the law with respect to liquor laws.
For example where I it is illegal to give away alcohol tor free. If a restaurant serves it to you, even if you purchased it before hand, they would be serving it for free and thus a violation of the liquor laws; hence the corkage fee which allows restaurants to so serve you your wine within the law.
Right, I finally got it now. I thought a customer had been charged this fee on top of their bottle of wine, but I see now that “corkage fee” is just something that was found on their wine menu, and then it makes sense with your context. Thanks!
How about businesses pay their fucking employees? What a concept
Isnt that what they are doing here in theory? (assuming they arent just keeping it and not paying them higher wages)
At the very least there should be no tip option since thats what the service fee should be doing, but in theory this is what everyone online appears to want… higher prices and better pay for the employees (unless everyone really just wants the same prices, no tipping, and higher pay for the employees)
Removed by mod
Not my problem close the restaurant if you can’t function without bait and switch tactics with your menu. The answer to your problem isn’t shady business tactics. Maybe due to the mismanageement of the economy and inflation restaurants aren’t viable business ideas anymore. As the country country increasingly turns to authoritarianism as an answer to it’s failing economic system you are going to see more similar things that once was viable is no longer.
Removed by mod
So it’s a mandatory tip, and it’s also suggested you voluntarily leave a secondary tip.
Tip culture in America is so aggressive.
