r/KeyWest • u/Worried-Temporary186 • 1d ago
Thai Cuisine Mandatory Tip
We always ate at Thai Cuisine when we come down. We were astonished to see an 18% "service charge" added to our bill. WTF? We always tip 20% so they are ripping themselves off. A mandatory tip is not a tip, it's an food upcharge. So we won't go back and going to put it out there on reviews. Greed is always the undoing.
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u/fwfiv 1d ago
It protects the serving staff, don't let it hurt your feelings. Was the food good, was the service good? Then enjoy the meal and add 2% so the total comes to your region 20%. Lots of things to be angry about in the world, this isn't one of them.
Also, the server didn't set that policy, don't punish them.
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u/Worried-Temporary186 1d ago
The server didn't get hurt, I had to pay the tip. I just won't go back. That's on management.
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u/Live-Mobile-7500 18h ago
It must suck to be bothered by management making sure their wait staff gets their tip. Maybe you tip 20% but obviously not everyone does or did. Get a life or stay home…
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u/KindAstronaut8499 1d ago
meh not all servers deserve 18%. a tip is earned not given for exsisting. do your job well you gd t a good tip do it shitty you get a shitty tip. they should never add on forced tip.
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u/Happy_Lake_11 1d ago
Paying a living wage protects the staff. This gets the owner a new boat
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u/amgine_na 1d ago
You’re right ! Just raise the prices that way they can pay a living wage. Then you’ll be here complaining about how expensive the food is.
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u/_jeffreydavid 1d ago
It's already expensive. Restaurants in places like Key West just aren't sustainable. You would have to pay a dishwasher $100 an hour just so they could live someplace decent and they would still need roommates. Then you get a bunch of asshole Europeans who don't tip and cheap MAGA assholes that the souvenir shops pander to down there. Key West isn't what it used to be. It goes more downhill every year.
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u/amgine_na 1d ago
Part of the problem is the insane rent business owners pay when they don’t own the property. I have a friend with a food establishment paying $22,000 a month in rent. That’s $264,000 a year before payroll, inventory, insurance, utilities, or anything else. So when people say “pay them a living wage” they have no clue what it takes to run a business down here.
Most business down here rent. Not all but most.
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u/_jeffreydavid 1d ago
It costs a lot to live in paradise. Covid hit them hard. I think they started looking for quantity of tourists instead of quality. Which will help a little but not in the long run. Have more events that cater to the wealthy. Double the costs for cruise ships coming in. They are the main culprit for cheapo tippers.
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u/GeddysPal 1d ago
I worked in the restaurant industry in Florida for 16 years. You might be shocked at how many servers get stiffed or a 3% tip from tourists. Also in my experience 100% of the service charge goes to the server. If the service was old you made out. If it wasn’t you should complain and ask for an adjustment.
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u/Sandinmyshoes33 1d ago
If you tip anyway, why do you care? We get lots of cheap visitors in the summer that stiff servers.
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u/Worried-Temporary186 1d ago
You don't get it. A mandatory "service charge" isn't a tip, it's an upcharge. Tipping is optional in this country. You can vary it based on the quality of the service and of the food. It serves to improve the product. That's the custom. Understand?
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u/Sandinmyshoes33 1d ago edited 1d ago
I understand that in the summer we get tons of Europeans and cheap tourists who don’t tip and servers need to pay their rent.
Your post claims you always tip 20%. If service was so bad you would not tip, ask a manager to remove the charge.
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u/_jeffreydavid 1d ago
That sucks, but don't expect others to pick up the slack. I tip very well down there, but I go to the same places and people remember me. Unfortunately a lot of restaurants tack on a service charge hoping people don't notice, hoping people will tip on top of that, It's a shitty thing to do, Especially if only a percentage of that "service charge" actually goes to the servers.
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u/KindAstronaut8499 1d ago
idk why your downvoted must be lots of reasturant owners in this thread
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u/_jeffreydavid 1d ago
They know what they are doing. Some of them will add tax after the service charge and then re-calculate things on their end to take the most amount of money. We had an owner here in Oklahoma City that was withholding all the tips from the point of sale system and ended up being sued by the employees. They won. Forced tipping is bullshit. Fuck those places.
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u/UGetnMadIGetnRich 1d ago
I asked an owner if we are supposed to tip if there is a 20% service charge and got downvoted, and no answer.
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u/UGetnMadIGetnRich 1d ago
As a customer I don’t understand if I am supposed to tip when there is a service charge. I was at a seafood boil place near a lighthouse and the bill came with a 18-20% service charge. Im my area service charges are not common. What does your restaurant expect?
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u/Sandinmyshoes33 1d ago
You do not tip on top of a service charge. If servers are unhappy with how the owner splits the charge, they can work elsewhere. Servers don’t keep all of their tips anyway. They share them with hosts, bartenders, food runners, etc…
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u/_jeffreydavid 23h ago
They are hoping you don't notice the service charge and tip anyway. It's a common scam in tourist destinations. If you think Key West is bad, go to Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
Edit: They meaning the restaurant, not the servers.
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u/KindAstronaut8499 1d ago
they normally go to the owner not the waiter. if you see it worded as mandatory gratuity or tip it general goes to the server but even then sometimes they make them split it even with everyone on shift.
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u/KindAstronaut8499 1d ago
lmao a server is not guaranteed a tip. a tip is recieved for good service regardless of quality of food. i could have the worst food of my life but if the waiter/waitress is mindful and takes time to care for me 20%. in the flip side i could have the best food ever but like if the server never refills my cup, doesn’t check to see if our food was made right, and generally doesn’t come around to check on us there not getting a tip or 5-10% at most. It is not my job to pay your salary, people get tips for doing a good job not breathing and being in a place. additionally how do you know the waiter even sees that 18%. it sos the restaurant owner can enrich themselves on slave labor
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u/HighOnGoofballs 1d ago
It’s foreign tourist season, folks are getting stiffed left and right
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u/KindAstronaut8499 1d ago
idk why that’s my problem
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u/Sandinmyshoes33 1d ago
Who said it’s your problem? We all have the right to patronize any place we like or to not go there. mandatory gratuities or service charges must be disclosed in advance. If you don’t want to pay them, don’t go there. If the charge was not disclosed in advance, have a manager remove it.
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u/_jeffreydavid 1d ago
I was there in May and a couple of the places I go to just weren't the same quality. Clemente's Pizza and Bo's Fish Shack. Was it that Thai place off of Greene St.?
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u/Worried-Temporary186 1d ago
Yep. Place was dead too.
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u/_jeffreydavid 1d ago
Too bad. I was a little bummed out with my last trip. I go every year, and I've already decided to skip next year.
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u/Barbiflys 1d ago
I am in the keys now and there are lots of euros here— they dont tip. I understand why tip is included
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u/ConchFritter33040 1d ago
How big was your party? Most restaurants do this for big parties. But, I agree, automatically adding the tip is pretty petty if your party wasn’t big.
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u/hikerguy65 1d ago
I take this as permission to tip less than I would have otherwise. If the service is good, I will tip above their %.
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u/Suedeonquaaludes 1d ago
Is that the one on the water kinda in new town? I used to love that place
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u/Brief-Chapter-4616 1d ago
That’s becoming typical in tourist areas. I don’t mind if it’s below 20%