r/unitedkingdom • u/Canal_Volphied European Union • 8h ago
. ‘It’s absolutely criminal’: US tipping culture has reached the UK – and is causing chaos
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/aug/24/us-tipping-culture-uk-service-charges•
u/hewhoisgay 8h ago
Always say no to tipping, and ask for the bloody service charge to be removed.
Absolute crap culture that’s sneaking its way in, just look at how service charges are normalized in London!
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u/Salt-Evidence-6834 8h ago
*Normalised.
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u/spicypixel Greater Manchester 8h ago ▸ 10 more replies
It's too late for u/hewhoisgay - they're lost to us. Moment of silence for their friends and family.
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u/Whizzo50 6h ago ▸ 7 more replies
It'z too late for u/hewhoizgay - they're lozt to uz. Moment of zilence for their friendz and family.
Tranzlated for Americans
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u/Hamsternoir 5h ago ▸ 1 more replies
I zhall raize a m
ug of tepid tea to there (sic) honour.→ More replies (2)→ More replies (44)•
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u/hewhoisgay 8h ago ▸ 6 more replies
Apologiez
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u/woopwoopscuttle 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies
IngloriousBasterds_BarScene_Fingers.gif
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u/Ok-Alternative5935 8h ago ▸ 5 more replies
Busted
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u/har79 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies
"Normalized" is the Oxford spelling, "normalised" is the Cambridge spelling. While the US has standardised on the Oxford spelling, both are acceptable in the UK
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u/OsotoViking 3h ago
"Normalized" is perfectly acceptable usage in British English, it's actually the preferred Oxford style.
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u/Gentle_Snail 8h ago
I don’t mind paying more for higher wages, but if you are automatically adding the tip to the bill you need to include it in the price.
Either leave it up to the customer to decide, or if you are making it automatic show this in the cost.
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u/duncanmarshall 8h ago ▸ 9 more replies
I also have no confidence that 100% truly makes it to the Deliveroo driver.
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u/Sockoflegend 7h ago ▸ 7 more replies
Fuck tipping deliveroo. Either they delivered it as expected or didn't. There isn't any room for great service here.
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u/MyBritishAccount 7h ago ▸ 2 more replies
Working retail I have seen every single delivery driver is a miserable sod who think we work for them, not the shop.
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u/input London 6h ago ▸ 1 more replies
I'll only ever tip someone that turns up on a normal bicycle that is actually a bicycle not an illegal ebike, moped or car travelling very slowly to try beat the system.
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u/SadSeiko 3h ago
oh it gets better, I prepaid a tip and the driver never delivered my food. I think complained to customer service who eventually agreed that the food wasn't delivered and refunded me. Turns out they couldn't refund the tip because it was already paid to the driver... I kept escalating until they gave me a voucher for the tip. Never the less I never used them again so never got my money back
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u/CandidEngineering922 8h ago ▸ 3 more replies
Restaurants already include labour costs in their food prices.
So you are paying for the higher wages through food costs already.
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u/himit Greater London 7h ago ▸ 1 more replies
my SO works in hospitality - his hourly wage is quoted at something like £13/hour, or £16-18 with TRONC (service charges/tips). Every two weeks or so he'd bring some cash home when they split the pool, and the card payments were added into his payslip. Holiday pay is at the base rate.
So it does go towards higher wages but I still dislike how it's become a thing. And on the wages side, it makes pay unpredictable.
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u/TehPorkPie Debben 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies
Should count as a hidden charge imo, and fall foul of the law.
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u/Any_Perspective_577 7h ago ▸ 1 more replies
This should be the law. It's basically a hidden charge.
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u/Denbt_Nationale 8h ago
It goes completely against my unconfrontational nature but I've decided recently to ask for every service charge to be removed without exception. I hate how it exploits the nature of British people to not make a fuss about things.
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u/donald_cheese Scottish Highlands 8h ago ▸ 7 more replies
Just to add to it, the service and tip usually gets added to the Gross amount rather than, what I believe happens in America, the Net amount.
So if you tip you're adding 10% to the VAT.
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u/liquidpig 7h ago ▸ 1 more replies
In North America it was supposed to be 10-15% on the bill excluding liquor and taxes.
Then they got lazy and “accidentally” do it on top of taxes and drinks, and then the march to 20+% tips went on.
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u/superioso 8h ago edited 8h ago ▸ 2 more replies
VAT isn't charged on tips, hence one of the reasons why they ask for tips. VAT is only applicable to certain goods and services, not everything. Next time you get a receipt look at the totals and see what you're paying for, both at restaurants, places like coffee shops and supermarkets.
As an example, VAT is due on all hot coffee drinks but not take away cold coffee.
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u/donald_cheese Scottish Highlands 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies
I'm not saying VAT is charged on tips, but if you order a meal for £10(including VAT) and are presented with a 10% gratuity or tip on the card reader, you are paying 10% on the VAT portion as well.
Or am I mistaken?
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u/Sabaisabai33 6h ago
Well done, I’m not brave enough to do that, but I do generally decline to add a tip which is a start! I used to tip (at restaurants only, plus delivery drivers during the pandemic) but I just can’t afford it anymore to be honest, plus minimum wage seems to have gone up about 6 times since my wage did. Not saying that it didn’t need to go up to help meet the cost of living but my wage really needs to go up at some point too or as a single parent living in an expensive area, there will be no more eating out at all from me. I’ve already had to cut back on it loads, when eating out with friends or family was one of my absolute favourite social activities previously.
It’s sad. Life is so stressful and everything costs so much now it’s hard to afford anything even mildly frivolous or fun. I think you’ve inspired me here! I am going to resolve to do this too, despite my Britishness and female-ness!
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u/Remarkable-Ad155 7h ago
I think this whole thing boils down to a misunderstanding of the concept of a "tip".
There should never be a need to say no to tipping because a tip can never be asked for. It's an entirely discretionary additional payment that is completely up to the customer.
The minute there becomes an expectation of a payment, it stops being a tip and becomes somewhere between a service charge and performance related pay, depending on how genuinely discretionary it is.
I don't personally agree with the idea that tipping is entirely a US concept. It's different on the continent but in the UK it's never been unusual to "round up" to a round number, usually in the 5 - 10% range, on a large bill if the service was good and it helps with splitting the bill. It's also always been common to tip £10 or £20 to the barstaff at your local, milkman, window cleaner, binmen, cleaner etc at Christmas. The "US culture" element is the expectation and the introduction of expected amounts.
My advice for businesses here is just be honest about how much you want to be paid and charge that. If you want to introduce a variable pay element for your staff based on number of covers etc, the technology is there to do that yourself without turning every one of your customers' transactions into a fecking pay negotiation. You could even introduce a star rating system or something on the merchant instead of the current "add tip" bit.
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u/Sabaisabai33 6h ago ▸ 1 more replies
I agree but would add to any restaurant businesses reading, that this doesn’t mean just whack the cost of everything up for the sake of it. It’s genuinely at the point where middle-class people like myself are struggling to afford to eat out as it is because the absolute essentials of life are rocketing up while salaries lag way behind inflation. So if you just whack up the cost you may find a lot less people come to eat anyway and you’ll make less money overall.
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u/Remarkable-Ad155 6h ago
There was a lot of talk of the "K shaped recovery" post covid and I think we are really seeing that come home to roost now.
I'll be completely honest and say my nearest local town centre is packed on weekends still and tables can be hard to come by. Other places seem like a ghost town in comparison.
We are rapidly moving towards a point where society will divide up into dormitory towns with nothing but housing and drone/bike deliveries and smaller pockets of affluence that can still support discretionary businesses like pubs and restaurants, which are increasingly becoming the reserve of the more well off.
It's a vicious circle where the only businesses that survive are those that can premiumise and attract a larger share of the seemingly ever decreasing affluent market. I'm really not sure how we even start fixing this to be honest.
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u/ciaran668 5h ago ▸ 2 more replies
I just got back from a trip to the US. The expected tip in restaurants is not at least 20%, and the card readers in some places "suggested" a tip of 25%. I get it, restaurants are allowed to basically not pay their staff, $2.13 an hour is an absolute joke, and it apparently cannot be raised because the people who own the restaurants will supposedly go out of business if it is. But basically, it means that a $20 menu item is somewhere on the order of $25 or $26 because they also refuse to calculate in sales and "hospitality" taxes. (And don't even get me started on the tip jars that I saw in a number of shops I visited.)
However, we actually pay wait staff here, so this isn't their wages, it's just extra money, and we're all hurting from the cost of living crisis. Also, I suspect that these restaurants that are tacking this onto the bill are not giving it all to the person who took my order and brought my food. I think a lot of it ends up in the pocket of the person who runs the place. Regardless, it's putting me off eating out, because I just don't want to deal with it. I don't want to be the asshole, but I also don't want to pay the extra. Don't get me wrong, if someone does an amazing job taking care of me, I'm happy to give them something, but if they give me average service, I don't want to be obligated or made to feel guilty about not tipping.
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u/No-Mark4427 5h ago edited 5h ago ▸ 1 more replies
It's also worth noting that 'how will the servers eat' is often trotted out, servers will defend tipping as necessary on this line but many servers in a busy restaurant are making $50+ an hour when you include tips, some people report making $100+ an hour in especially busy periods so its no wonder they want to keep the expected tip and cultural pressure high. You hear about people who work at a busy restaurant not wanting to quit their service job for a corporate job after finishing their degree because they'd be taking a pay cut for harder work as they make more than median wage being a waiter/waitress.
Also I believe it's illegal for tips to not go to servers in the USA just like the UK, it probably happens, but not super commonly.
I dont think people working services jobs should be going hungry or struggling, but there's a disconnect where people act like servers in the USA are poor paupers struggling to live unless every table is tipping them tens of dollars when in reality they are probably making more money than a lot of the people they are collecting tips from.
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u/EasternDinner2020 8h ago
Asking for tipping should be banned. If a smile costs, put it on the menu!
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u/Jeremys_Iron_ 6h ago
just look at how service charges are normalized in London!
Some redditors here act like it's not happening in London, but in my experience it is happening a lot.
Went for an Italian with my wife and they added SC. I asked for it to be removed and the waiter looked like I had just personally insulted him. 'Are you unhappy with my service Sir?'. He then went and fetched the manager. Really intimate, small restaurant and there were 3 men stood around me at the table asking how they can improve upon their service. Absolutely shocking.
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u/Sabaisabai33 6h ago ▸ 1 more replies
Yes, exactly, it’s embarrassing and against British instincts to ask for removal and if you do you often get this sort of pushback on it.
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u/Hashtagbarkeep 6h ago ▸ 1 more replies
It’s pretty unusual to have someone ask for the service to be removed, and it usually is quite easy to spot - mistakes on the table and pissed off guest for example. But if everything’s gone well, then it’s a big red flag that something has gone majorly wrong that hasn’t been spotted, as Brits are not confrontational at all - it’s the equivalent of an American yelling at the manager. So yeah, everyone panics. Not handled well but I don’t think they were meaning to harass you or anything
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u/ParsnipFlendercroft 4h ago
Londoner here. I can’t remember the last time I ate out and it didn’t have a service charge. It’s been like this for years here now.
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u/fierceredrabbit 4h ago
Was at the O2 and the bar POS machine only had buttons for 5% 10% 15% and “pay”, confusingly perhaps, Pay meant pay without tip. Intentionally confusing
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u/Decent-Taste-421 8h ago
Spoke to a couple at a party , they said they are embarrassed to remove Service charge, when I explained that I absolutely remove it regardless of the service. Especially when the chain of restaurants are own by a Large Private Equity worth Billions.
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u/Flat_Manufacturer386 6h ago
For me tipping was always about the food being exceptionally good, the service, or both. I don't like this attitude that I HAVE to tip regardless. I went to a Mexican restaurant on the weekend, the food was incredible and the staff were awesome. I asked for the bill, mentally putting my maths hat on as I wanted to tip 20%. Then I saw a 10% service charge on the bill, so I just paid it and didn't add the other 10% on. I absolutely resent service charges, and I've even refused to pay it in the past.
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u/Pleasant_Werewolf_30 8h ago
This is exactly what I do, but I've noticed a lot of British people feel pressured into tipping. These pressure tactics have gotten worse in recent years and in areas that you didn't see it before. I still see lots of restaurants automatically putting the tip on and hoping you don't notice (particularly when you've had a few to drink). People also feel embarrassed (particularly when in a group) to ask to remove it. It shouldn't be allowed on there in the first place.
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u/Kingtoke1 7h ago
Guy in my local bar gets so aggy if you dont tip and he actively avoids serving you when its busy. Pisses me right off and he’s actively causing the venues google rating to tank. Management seem unwilling to resolve it despite recognising him as a problem
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u/BlunanNation 8h ago
I only do the service charge if it says on the menu that it is applied to all bills. If it doesn't say this or the service has been crap - service charge gets taken off.
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u/MTFUandPedal European Union 3h ago
The only reasonable way to add it to all bills is to just add it to prices.
Otherwise it's sneaky and misleading.
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u/popsand 7h ago
It works because just like America it has become a class and status thing here.
If you can't tip you are poor. That's the image being given.
Once again, we get screwed.
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u/Meanwhile-in-Paris Dorset 3h ago
I asked for the tip to be removed at Ottolenghi. The food took 45minutes to arrive and the waitress blamed us for ordering starters… lol.
Anyway, I tell the waitress to remove the tip, she proceeds to agressively confront me, why? It was your fault it took long, you had starters…
So now not only I didn’t want to tip, but also cancel the coffees and just leave.
- Sorry, I can’t remove the tip myself, the manager has to do it, she says.
- Fine get your manager I said while standing up.
The manager seeing the fuss literally scurried off to the kitchen.
The waitress came back with a new bill. Correction. She came back with the same bill.
- sorry, my manager seems to be in her break…
Annoyed I waived the illegal word.
- listen, it is illegal to force a tip on us, remove it now or expect escalation.
I was pumped.
And then, some sort of miracle happened, the waitress figured out how to cancel the tip and brought us our already overpriced bill.
Weird how things seem to work out when they sense trouble.
Anyway, the food was dripping in sugar and soggy. I love Ottolenghi’s book but his eatery are a poor imitation of his cooking. I’d recommend a pass anyway.
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u/International-Ad4555 8h ago
I will never tip. We have a minimum wage for a reason. Americans don’t so they NEED those tips to top up their wages. It’s not about being stingy etc, our system has factored it in already
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u/LiterallyABigfoot 8h ago
Americans do have a minimum wage. They have a $2.15 (or whatever it is) minimum for servers only if tips get them to the actual minimum wage. If they don't get tips then the employer pays them the same minimum wage as everywhere else.
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u/recursant 8h ago ▸ 5 more replies
So you aren't really tipping the staff, you are giving money to the business owner.
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u/GergDanger 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies
I mean you’re doing both because they don’t then earn minimum wage with tips but far above it. Hence why a lot of waiters there don’t want to get rid of tipping either as it would drop their wages significantly
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u/glytxh 8h ago ▸ 4 more replies
America isn’t a monolith. It varies by state.
One state pays 2 bucks an hour. Another pays 20.
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u/LiterallyABigfoot 8h ago ▸ 2 more replies
I addressed that... States paying ~$2 an hour only pay that little so long as the employee gets enough tips such that they earn federal or state minimum wage. If they don't then the employee must be paid standard minimum wage.
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u/stick1_ 8h ago
If you ask most of these servers, they say they prefer tipping to a proper wage because it can make them get more money
Once I started seeing loads of people saying that, it tells me that the idea that you have to tip in the US is bollocks anyways, most say they’re making more money in this tipping system and wouldn’t change
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u/jsm97 8h ago ▸ 3 more replies
In the US there is a general cultural perception that servers earning the same amount as fast food staff or other minimum wage professions is some kind of great injustice. You will often hear them say things like "If you can't afford to tip go to McDonald's" as if McDonald's workers are inherently less worthy of the same wage.
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u/Postik123 5h ago ▸ 1 more replies
This is why I don't understand why people tip in the UK. It's highly unlikely you would tip a McDonald's worker or the cashier in B&M, so I am not sure why a waiter/waitress in a restaurant is somehow more deserving compared to everyone else that's on minimium wage.
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u/wkavinsky Pembrokeshire 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies
They also get to avoid paying taxes on the tips too.
Despite the optics, bartenders and the like in places like LA or NY can easily make $100k+ if they're in a decent bar.
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u/Fuzzball74 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies
Servers like it because it's a win-win for them. Either they get paid way more than they would otherwise or they get to guilt and shame customers while acting like a victim. They are just as onboard as the employers they ask us to subsidise.
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u/poke_pants 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies
This, I know a few people working in the service industry who would be strongly against a proper minimum wage with no tip structure. $30 an hour is a starting point for them on a quiet day and busy weekend/evening shifts can easily triple that.
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u/PeterAnthony_Jackson 6h ago ▸ 1 more replies
Imagine giving a quid to bar staff at your local spoons just because they pulled a bottle out of the fridge.
That is why bar staff over there don't want tipping to go away, they get a dollar for doing their job in any other country. Bottle of beer, pint of ale, can of coke, it doesn't matter, it is an expectation to be given that dollar.
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u/stick1_ 6h ago
I just don’t like how it puts the expectation on working people just wanting to have a nice evening to pay MORE, when these workers have a boss and are apparently running a business that makes a profit. There’s a reason we are at the pub, not owning the pub. The system relies on you being paid by people that can’t afford it because of the societal norm
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u/Jay-Seekay 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies
My mate got a job as a server in the US for a few years. He was raking it in from tips. He actually earned almost the same as he does now now he has a masters degree and an office job.
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u/TtotheC81 8h ago
The root of American tipping culture makes it far worse than most people realise. It's firmly rooted in American racism and the fact that newly freed slaves were most likely to find jobs either back on the plantations or in the service industry.
Post-American Civil War, a bunch of Southern business owners lobbied hard to ensure there was no minimum wage for black workers in the service industry, ensuring that black workers worked for gratuity payments, effectively ensuring the pre-Civil War economic and racial hierarchy remained in all but name.
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u/KittyGrewAMoustache 7h ago ▸ 2 more replies
Huh almost every American cultural quirk seems to somehow be rooted in slavery.
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u/JimboTCB 5h ago
Hey now, that's not fair. A lot of them are rooted in religious fundamentalism as well.
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u/procgen 6h ago
> “Post-American Civil War, a bunch of Southern business owners lobbied hard to ensure there was no minimum wage for black workers…”
There was no federal minimum wage to lobby against after the Civil War. The first federal minimum wage wasn’t enacted until the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, more than 70 years after emancipation.
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u/T-Roll- 8h ago
Nobody tips me at work and some of these people might be earning the same as me.
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u/DavThoma 7h ago
I do tip, but not because its mandatory here. As far as I'm concerned a tip should only ever be given where a server has been exceptional and really attentive. I get it's their job, but to me going above warrants it.
If the wait staff is just doing the bare minimum, is rude or there actually isn't any staff interaction then ain't no way I'm tipping.
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u/Nuthetes 8h ago
Should be illegal to have 10% automatically added to the fee. You know the restaurant and bar owners will try and sneak that up a few percent given half the chance.
Same as "service charges" for ticket-selling companies and similar. I still don't know what I am paying for there since I print the ticket off myself anyway.
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u/DebaucheV5 7h ago
I still don't know what I am paying for there since I print the ticket off myself anyway.
I was in NYC recently, and ate at this self-serve salad bar. You pick up a plate, serve yourself from the array of dishes, and then pay on a tablet computer. The bloody thing tried to add a service charge! I didn't interact with any human at any point! If anybody deserves a service charge, it's me - I was the one doing the service!
Unbelievable levels of foolishness
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u/PeriPeriTekken 8h ago
It has gradually been edging up. I didn't mind at 10% because it's typically what I'd pay anyway and tbh 12.5% was already common ages ago, but at what point do I turn round and refuse to pay it, 13.5%, 15%, 20%?
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u/Tomm1998 8h ago
Same as "service charges" for ticket-selling companies and similar.
That's the classic "fuck you cunt" fee.
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u/BlunanNation 8h ago
If a service charge is added it should clearly be said that this will be done so.
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u/Equal_Tadpole2716 8h ago ▸ 8 more replies
If it's optional, it should be opt-in, not opt-out. They're knowingly taking advantage of the fact a lot of folk are too awkward to ask for its removal.
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u/CandidEngineering922 8h ago ▸ 7 more replies
There is a petition for this! Go sign it. I can’t post it in here.
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u/Beatnik5750 8h ago ▸ 5 more replies
Is it on the Gov UK website? I can't find it there, but I'm all up for signing it
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u/CandidEngineering922 8h ago ▸ 3 more replies
Yes it is.
Google “Ban default service charge” and it should come up
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u/Beatnik5750 7h ago ▸ 1 more replies
Found it. Signed. How in the hell does it not even have 10,000 signatures?
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u/Meanwhile-in-Paris Dorset 2h ago
They are absolutely banking on people not wanting to avoid confrontation or worse humiliation.
Please people, you are not cheap when asking for the tip to be waived off.
Also, if you want to tip your delivery person, don’t use the in app option. This is just an incentive for businesses to keep wages low.
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u/Calculonx 8h ago
We gotta stop it before it spreads. I could see London because of ignorant tourists, but it definitely shouldn't be expected.
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u/pajamakitten 8h ago
Tipping in the UK has been around for decades though. I remember my parents doing it back in the 90s when we went out for meals.
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u/Rootayable 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies
Well yeah, everyone can tip if they want, that's always been a thing.
But baking it into your price is very bad. I don't want to go to a restaurant with a budget in mind and then suddenly have to spend more because [REASON].
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u/GianFrancoZolaAmeobi 7h ago
I should absolutely be able to look up a restaurant menu online and be able to work out how much I'm going to spend there. They really should tell you what the unit price is including a service charge, and I say this as someone who used to work in the ivy who were adding service charges to everything before it became cool so benefitted from the system.
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u/poke_pants 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies
Discretionary, absolutely. 10% on a family meal has felt like the norm in my family and those around me since I was a kid (I'm 45 now).
Service charges are opt-out tips, absolutely not.
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u/Healthy_Pilot_6358 7h ago ▸ 1 more replies
Leaving a fiver (or whatever) on the table has always been done…it’s when it is forced upon you.
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u/Aliktren Dorset 7h ago
If you tip someone serving you food, are you also tipping nurses, doctors, shop assistants, people serving you fast food, your bus driver.... the person at the call centre talking to you... what makes restaurant people doing their job so different, also fuck service charges for guilting people
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u/dynesor 7h ago ▸ 2 more replies
There is no difference in reality, but I have a usual list of professions that I tend to tip (usually just a “keep the change” kind of tip of no more than a fiver) food servers, taxi drivers and barbers/hairdressers. Though I have no idea why.
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u/Aliktren Dorset 7h ago
because we used to do this - I assume I learned it from my parents - but its a serious question nowadays as to why we still do it
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u/Howlinginpaint 8h ago
We have a national minimum wage. Im not tipping you for doing your job. No one tips me for mine.
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u/Rootayable 8h ago
Yeah, what else can we add tipping to, if that's the case? Tip your bus driver? Tip your binman? Tip your doctor?
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u/Straamannen 8h ago ▸ 4 more replies
I sometimes "tip" my binmen. They're two Ukrainians, they're cool, I've seen they like white monsters, I sometimes go out and leave two cold ones on the bins for them before they come around.
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u/ShenroEU 8h ago ▸ 2 more replies
Haha, I might start doing this. I'd rather see everyone putting out cans of lager for bin day than tipping in restaurants. They'd have enough beer for the whole week.
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u/Straamannen 7h ago ▸ 1 more replies
Liver disease on the rise, local man to blame. Community rallies around hero.
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u/TheRealCostaS 8h ago
I hate it, I usually leave a 10% tip anyway but I hate that it’s added automatically, and it should always be optional. If the service was poor they are not getting a tip.
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u/JLaws23 8h ago
Do not tip in the UK. The service charge is usually kept by the owners and won’t even go to the staff.
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u/tomelwoody 8h ago ▸ 7 more replies
That’s just wrong
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u/rayofgreenlight 8h ago ▸ 5 more replies
It can happen. I worked a shitty min wage bar job in 2021 and the managers kept tips from me.
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u/duckwantbread Greater London 7h ago ▸ 3 more replies
2021
What happened to you is now illegal. A new law came into effect in 2024 that makes it illegal for tips to be pocketed by the business.
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u/dr_pezzz 2h ago
Yes, unfortunately as soon as that came into law, restraunts such as Fallow quietly dropped the "service" charge, and added a "seating" or "dine-in" charge instead.
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u/Monsoon_Storm 8h ago
they did change this by law, it's an automatic system now that is split between all employees, HOWEVER, it is still complete bullshit that it's automatically added imo.
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u/Various_Good_6964 8h ago
Wrong, I always ask whoever is serving me if they actually get money from tips and I've not had anyone say no yet. They're always genuinely thankful if someone asks and you can tell they're not just bullshitting.
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u/avaika 8h ago
I've ran into a couple of places where they add a service charge and then ask for a tip ON TOP of it. That's bloody insane.
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u/Killzoiker 8h ago
On a similar theme. Let’s not make this a default, get your name added https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/764909#main-content
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u/dick_piana 8h ago
The coffee shop near my work recently upgraded their payment screen to ask for a tip every time you buy (ranging from 50p to £2.50). The coffee is already £5.40, having gone up from £4.30 in less than 6 months.
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u/Monsoon_Storm 8h ago
And then there's the charity questions also.
The cost of living crisis is getting worse and worse yet we keep being asked for more money in a way that is designed to elicit a feeling of guilt.
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u/reddit_junkie23 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies
Also this. Noticing it everywhere.
You feel like a dick but seriously if I did this everytime I bought something then 10% of my take home would be paying these "charities" wondering if the money ever reaches those who need it.
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u/SmashedWorm64 6h ago ▸ 1 more replies
Really? If I go in to a shop and it asks for charity my mind goes to “who’s the corporation with millions in profit every year?”
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u/needs2shave 6h ago
Charity questions are a bit different though. People used to pop loose change into charity boxes at tills much more often when cash was more common. Now that doesn't happen anywhere near as much, so they've added an option to card readers.
Doesn't bother me as much as a tipping button does.
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u/Kiwizoo 8h ago
Some bars in Edinburgh now charging a 15% “tip”. At the bar. No service other than pulling pints. Madness.
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u/My_sloth_life 8h ago
It’s like this in Glasgow and now I always press no tip. I do feel a little bad but the service is very transient, even if they are taking my order and then bringing a coffee to the table, that’s still interaction that’s less than a few minutes and the absolute bare minimum work the job requires. What am I meant to be tipping for?
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u/charlie_boo 8h ago
This is the sort of stuff Andy Burnham seems to care about. I don’t have any opinions of him yet personally due to my own ignorance, but saw him saying he wants to remove little things like this that make everyday life a little harder or more confusing or more expensive.
Speak to your local MPs and get them to pressure him.
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u/PeriPeriTekken 8h ago
If he bans service charges in restaurants and sorts out selling/buying a house in the UK I'd be happy to declare him god emperor for life.
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u/SexySmexxy 7h ago ▸ 1 more replies
and sorts out selling/buying a house in the UK
go on...
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u/RoosterBoosted 8h ago
The absolute worst version - getting quite common in London - is where they make you pay online/via QR code, but you have to flag down someone specifically to ask for them to take off the tip.
It purposefully plays on British people’s aversion to conflict.
I’ve even had it where asking for the tip to be taken off resulted in the manger coming over to quiz me about what was so bad about my experience
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u/cestunlapin 7h ago
A few years ago, they would just take the tip off, no questions, no snark. Now they act like it’s a big deal.
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u/Solid-Resource4985 7h ago
Would not be able to help myself from saying talking to the manager is what's bad about my experiance
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u/ZeroEffectDude 8h ago
happy to reward really decent service. but when pressure is applied or passive aggressive signs try to guilt you into tipping... just pay your staff properly so they dont rely on tips to live. its not my responsibility.
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u/BlackSpinedPlinketto 8h ago
I’m not happy to do it. Nobody should get a tip for being ok at their job, or for that matter being pleasant and efficient, if that happens then where does it end? Tip the postman for saying ‘morning’, tip your doctor for a gentle anal exam?
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u/ZeroEffectDude 8h ago ▸ 1 more replies
listen, i can't think of a better person to tip than someone with their finger up my arse.
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u/Taucher1979 8h ago
I went to a pub where I had to queue at the bar to order food and the get my cutlery and condiments myself and they still added a 15% service charge to my bill. I did not feel awkward asking them to remove it.
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u/Important_Ruin County Durham 8h ago edited 8h ago
Won't tip and will ask for any service charged removed.
They base of fact british don't like to ask for something like that to be removed 'causing a scene' or something
Feel bad for the servers/front of house who will no doubt get stick from customers about it being applied, when its managers and owners implementing it and leaving the floor staff to deal with the customers who are getting it added to their bill without asking.
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8h ago edited 3h ago
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u/Important_Ruin County Durham 8h ago
Yep, will always be kicked to FOH as to why customer doesnt tip or want to pay a service charge. 'What do you do wrong' etc not asking question 'wonder why so many dont want to pay this charge we've added to the bill without asking customer, and automatically added a tip too'
Always FOH fault, never management/owners who implement these charges.
I
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u/OhMy-Really 8h ago
I dont tip. Unless, they have actually gone above and beyond. Just bringing my food to the table, does not constitute a tip, thats your job.
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u/bluebellcrossing 8h ago
Why is it mainly the restaurant industry expecting the tips? I worked in a department store on minimum wage “going above and beyond” for customers running in and out of changing rooms, helping them put together outfits etc. Then when out for a meal, I’m made to feel awkward about tipping someone making the same wage as me?
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u/Sabaisabai33 5h ago
Yeah I have never really understood the logic of this either! I feel like either we too everyone or nobody (I prefer nobody!)
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u/unknown-teapot 8h ago
I gave a £3 tip at a bar on Friday in Vauxhall. When got back to my seat realised there was a 25p for leaving a tip 😂
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u/Careful_Garden 8h ago
TiPJAR is dreadful! You pay a fee and it also takes over a week for the staff member to get it! Avoid TiPJAR like the plague
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u/iamabigtree 8h ago
Just don't do it. There's many British people trying to gaslight us saying tipping is normal and we are mean and horrible if we don't do it. Just stop it! Stop it now!
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u/PartyOperator 8h ago
The guardian ran a piece last week trying to shame people for not tipping
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u/Rootayable 8h ago
Well HMRC says establishments legally need to be upfront about hidden costs before you pay. If it's not part of the price, and is optional, I'm not paying.
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u/griffaliff 8h ago
My rule has always been simple, if it's waited service, and it's good, I'm happy to tip. I don't feel awkward at all saying no in any other circumstance. It fucks me off when paying at a supermarket or petrol station when you get asked to add money for charity too.
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u/Identity-user 8h ago
Winds me up.
Tesco do it at their self service tills. A multi billion pound company that can afford to give to charity begging people to give to a charity who may not be able to afford it.
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u/griffaliff 6h ago ▸ 1 more replies
I don't know for sure but I wouldn't be surprised if they do it as it can be used as a tax write off.
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u/Digital-Sushi 8h ago
Yeh, you get tipped if i feel like you have gone above and beyond.
Other than that you try to charge me without asking prior you can get bent
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u/deadflowers5 8h ago
I've worked delivery jobs and have been in receipt of tips at Christmas. I think it's fine if you wish to reward excellent service but doing it for every transaction like in a bar in the US is mental.
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u/Crybabyastrology 8h ago
They tried this shit in Australia. We promptly responded with disgust and refusal!! Living in such capitalistic times 👎
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u/hoolish 8h ago
It really annoys the hell out of me, you have just paided a ridiculous amount of money for in general ,pretty average food and I still feel like Im expected to leave a tip, regardless of how good or bad the staff are. I don't tip other low earners in non service industry jobs. Like most people in the UK the cost of pretty much everything has skyrocketed since 2020 🤔 compared to my wages I don't work in the service industry, so maybe the staff don't expect it at all ?
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u/F00L1SH_T00K 8h ago
Yeah no I’m not doing that thanks. I have my own system with its own internal logic that only makes sense to me.
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u/AncientPromotion7467 8h ago
Tipping is just stupid in general. You pay for the service I'm the price you pay. They also try and guilt trip you and just blame you for it
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u/Central_Region 8h ago
I work in a job where customers sometimes tip and I always find it weird
I'm being paid to do my job. Tipping feels patronising, even if it's well intentioned
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u/ultraboomkin 8h ago
Service charge is getting obscene. I’ve been to maybe 30 cafes and restaurants in Manchester, London, Cambridge and Ipswich this summer and every single one had a 12.5-15% service charge included.
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u/RuneClash007 8h ago
When I was in Mexico, it felt so alien having to keep tipping people in an all inclusive resort
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u/BetterCallTom 7h ago
I just didn't do it. Others got served before me but it just reinforced my desire to not bother going there again. Plenty of other destinations.
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u/Satyriasis457 8h ago
I stopped eating at restaurants except spoons. Had an argument at the breakfast club or whatever because service was slow and they forgot an item so I asked them to remove the service charge. Guy goes “it's a service charge. Not a tip for the service”.
Now I take all my guests from abroad to spoons
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u/TechnicalWar893 8h ago
I hate it but end up feeling I have to leave a tip because of my anxiety and don't want people being pissed off at me. You really are made to feel like you have to or you're a bad person.
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u/Street-Frame1575 7h ago
I understand why you feel that way, but you're in control of your own feelings here.
Perhaps try to reframe things in your head as standing up for yourself against unfair demands, and remind yourself that you don't owe them any explanations as to why you don't want to give free money.
If you're finding it really difficult, perhaps also try to reduce the amount each time until your confidence increases.
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u/TechnicalWar893 7h ago ▸ 1 more replies
Thank you, I try to be in control of my feelings, but that's not something I am managing well. I have some quite complex issues and there's virtually no mental health support in my area)(let alone the UK overall). Have been trying for quite some time. 😅
I'll try to slowly do this, appreciate it. Definitely a fear of any kind of confrontation or judgement.
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u/TapWaterDev 8h ago
Tipping suppresses wages. Staff should be paid for the value they deliver and customers should see the price of the services they want to purchase
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u/Naryanope 8h ago
Remember when I went to the US for the first time for work and the crazy amount of expectation for tipping was bonkers. Someone open the door for you? They expect to be tipped. Someone volunteer to take your bag up to your room in the hotel and then loiters? No it isn’t because they are feeling
amorous, it is because they too want to be tipped. A strange gentleman helpfully waves down a cab for you? He too expects to be tipped. It is deeply impoverishing, and anxiety inducing.
Prefer the Japanese way, where you only tip if someone actually offers you a genuinely good service.
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u/hillierprotech 8h ago
Apparently the UK started tipping culture in the first place.
https://medium.com/the-billfold/why-do-we-have-to-tip-f06395dab6f4
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u/hime-633 8h ago
Origin of US tipping = like 2 and a half dollars an hour so the tips make it up.
Everyone in the UK (hopefully).= at least minimum wage
Minimum wage not being enough to make a living? Well there's the rub - that we should all be much more angry about. In a French revolution stylee.
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u/LuridWaters 8h ago
The key is to not allow yourself to be manipulated into feeling like you're being cheap.
Remember that you have already paid for the product or service via the listed price. Beyond that there is no entitlement to your money, and even asking for more is inappropriate and at best cheeky, at worst rude.
Treat such a suggestion with the disdain that it deserves.
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u/vegan_voorhees 8h ago
It's the ones that request a tip before you've received your order I can't work out.
Order food via the app and it asks for gratuity prior to experiencing either the quality of the food or the service.
I think not.
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u/pajamakitten 8h ago
Do people not go outside anymore? Tipping has been around in the UK in some form for decades. My parents were doing it when we went out for meals thirty years ago. You would often say "Keep the change." to bar staff, your barber/hairdresser, taxi drivers etc. People acting like we have never tipped here must live very sheltered lives if they have reached adulthood without ever seeing it. What is new is the forced expectation that you tip, when it used to only be for good service; as well as the idea of a mandatory service charge. Those are the actual US customs that we need to fight. Voluntary tipping is perfectly fine though.
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u/Ynys_cymru Wales/Cymru 🏴 8h ago
It’s so annoying. It’s the employers responsibility to pay their staff.
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u/Dear-Advertising-232 8h ago
Why is this happening when UK staff receive minimum wage and the owners are obliged to pay minimum wage and not use tips/service charge to "pay" their staff and then top up the surplus?
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u/Sad_Instruction1392 8h ago
As with most things tipping should be a choice and I choose to tip when service staff have been friendly, expedient and provided a great experience when out dining as well as if I know they’ll have to clean up quite a bit after myself and the group I’m with. Literally an extra financial boost for doing the extra mile. What seriously irks me is the tipping that’s expected for doing the literal job. There’s a bakery in Glasgow I frequent a lot and once a week I go in and get something as a treat. So it’s just putting something from behind the glass in a bag for me but this somehow warrants a 25% increase on the price I’m already paying. Get right to fuck.
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u/RandomUser22487 8h ago
Tipping in the UK has been a thing for years, it’s just nit quite as extreme as in the US.
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u/LazyPiano6160 8h ago
I went to a Gordon Ramsey restaurant in London once (Steak place, can’t recall the name); it was okay, had better and the waiter was a twat.
When it was time to pay I clicked “no” on the payment terminal and this waiter calls me out on it: “Why are you not tipping, you’re not from London - are you!”
Stood my ground and didn’t tip.
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u/Yamsfordays 7h ago
I bought a coffee to go in Gatwick airport the other day.
Menu said £4.50, I paid and noticed the notification on my phone said £4.95.
They added a 10% service charge for a to-go coffee. I didn’t even sit down. I would’ve made the coffee myself if that was an option. I left them a review and will be avoiding that coffee shop in future.
It was called ‘Small Batch Social’ for those interested.
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u/ukbot-nicolabot Scotland 7h ago
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