Customer refuses to give tip after being charged 18 percent gratuity

A customer at a restaurant refused to leave a tip after being hit with an 18 percent gratuity on their bill - and people are fuming at the story.

The post, which was shared to the End Tipping Reddit forum, was shared by the customer, who posted their receipt clearly stating that they were charged an 18 percent gratuity on a meal that cost $73.94.

It's not the first time people have kicked off over an automatic service charge being added to their bill, and it's led to diners complaining about being put in awkward situations with waiters.

The diner wrote: "An 18 percent gratuity was ‘voluntary’ yet automatically added to my bill for 2 guests.

"Swipe left to see the choice I made."

Clearly irked by the gratuity, the Reddit user posted a second photo showing that they'd opted out of paying it and, to top it off, didn't tip their server at all for the meal.

Reddit/fuck_tipping

The fine print on the receipt from the restaurant reads: "Please note that an 18 percent gratuity has been added to your check. Please feel free to increase, decrease or remove the gratuity.

"This gratuity will be paid to your server, is voluntary and added for your convenience. Thank you for your business!"

Fellow angry Redditors expressed their outrage in the comments.

"People shouldn’t have to ‘opt out’ of anything," said one person. "There should be no tip line, extra buttons to click on or push, and no cashier standing there watching if you are tipping or not.

"If they want to tip, they can do it like it was just a couple of years ago. The customer simply told the cashier to add so much for a tip."

Another mentioned how the option to remove the gratuity is stupid as it leaves the customer in an awkward stand-off situation with the member of staff who served them.

A third said: "So it’s not forced on you, right? I mean, you can tip what you want...as long as it’s: (a) 18%; or (b) having an awkward conversation with the server telling them to adjust or remove the tip."

Reddit/fuck_tipping

"Just add it to the menu items already," another furious user interjected, while a fifth called the adding of gratuity a 'ridiculous arithmetic test you have to do at the end of every meal,' urging restaurants to 'just add it to the ****ing prices, y’all do anyway so just do that and be done.'

However, these automatic gratuities are often seen as service charges, not tips, meaning that they might not always go directly to the server who brought your meal over.

In the UK now, it's seen as customary for most restaurants to apply a 12.5 percent service charge on their bills.

Unfortunately, during the current cost of living crisis, this can lead to people not wanting to go out for fear of not having enough money to cover the tip. Plus, asking for the tip to be removed can often leave both parties feeling awkward.

Should gratuity be automatically added on bills?