Happy Tax Day for those in the U.S. and also U.S. citizens who live abroad and get no services from the U.S. but still must pay taxes (consider the U.S. citizens held hostage by Gazans, for example).
How about a new 3 percent tax from a restaurant on the restaurant and kept by the restaurant, couched as an “Admin Fee” on the receipt?
One of my companions asked what it was for. The waiter responded, “It’s a fee that we incur to keep our prices competitive.”
Charging the Credit Card fee back to the consumer…?
Bet you could avoid that with cash.
Only Greenspun pays $17 for yellow death. So lucky to have only 6.25% sales tax.
That’s hilarious. Who is the administrator who is providing those services? I guess that’s no dumber than software vendors charging 20% for “support”
How do you expect the software company to fund support and future upgrades?
Yesterday, I was at a local no-name, no-fancy restaurant here in the the state of Maskachu$etts. When I got the bill, there was an automatic 17% tip added to the bill. To tap it off, I was given an option to increase the tip, but no option to decrease it or change it. The service was sub-par and I would not have tipped 17%. How sub-par you say? We asked for additional chips, but never got them. We asked for an appetizer, but never got it (thankfully, it was not included on the bill). We asked for additional drinks, got them after the 3rd ask and took almost 15 minutes.
If this becomes a trend, and it will, don’t expect the good service. Why would a waiter even bother to check on your table when s/he knowns will get a tip?
Also, automatic tipping, if not disclosed on the menu (I didn’t check if it was) in clear prints, wouldn’t that a be illegal? Same question goes to the “Admin Fee” that Philip run into.
Hahahahahaha point for honesty. The prices are definitively more competitive when they are false. Why stop at 3%, price everything at half and make it up with the fee.
Agreed. $5 entrees (reflecting the cost of the ingredients) on the menu. An 80% “cuisine fee” and then a 78% “admin fee” on top of both (reflecting the cost of real estate).
This kind of fees started during covid.
https://youtu.be/SeODA4NxiPI?si=Cgqr5230Y1nGyLvi
Only in the USA is such bullshit possible. With that amount of food, you were lucky they did not add a mandatory 17% or 20% service fee.
Meanwhile, in Europe all prices need to be shown including tax, and all charges need to be spelled out in the menu. If it is not in the menu, you don’t need to pay it.
I prefer the tax being on a separate line. It lets the customer know the government’s take. Why hide it?
I was just in Munich airport the other day on my way to Graz (next to Arnold Schwartzenegger’s home town, little just 20 mins away on the edge of town) and the damn tipping requests on the card readers have appeared here as well. In Europe… in Germany… where tipping is not expected at all! This is all getting out of hand.