BPR: The notion of imposing one’s will on others is seldom popular, especially in the restaurant industry.
Pho Ha Noi, a Vietnamese restaurant in California, is feeling the heat after being exposed for mandating an 18% service charge “for parties of one or larger,” according to a receipt shared online by a customer.
Automatic service charges are common in the food industry when it comes to large parties, but the Reddit user who shared the photo of the receipt wasn’t too happy with the extension of that policy.
“I’ve seen restaurants include gratuity when it’s a large party but never for parties of 1!” the patron wrote.
The receipt showed a subtotal of $49.50 for the meal, but the $8.91 service charge and sales tax pushed the total to $62.93. more
Let’s see them try that for my party of 0.
““for parties of one or larger,”
That’s almost like everyone.
AND, who eats that shit?
^^^ PROBABLY ONLY LIBA, BRAD
INCREASE THE FEE TO 25%!!
F ‘EM
@Brad — I do! Vietnamese cuisine was fusion before fusion made the scene. It’s a blend of French and Southeast Asian and can be absolutely terrific. Just stay away from the duck blood crepes. (-:
^^^ LIBERALS, NOT LIBA!!
Uncle Al
I use to employ, on average, about ten Vietnamese. Great people. Awesome work ethic. But the very last thing on the face of the earth you’d want to do is follow them into our lunch room. You just can’t disguise the smell of rotten fish.
No wonder they’re in the BAY AREA SHIT HOLE! Probably trying to keep their heads above water. Tango Sierra!
@Brad — The smell is from the fish sauce which is common in SE Asian and southern Chinese cooking. It’s made from, among other things, fermented fish. It smells terrible but when added in small quantities to other dishes is very good. Lots of umami.
Uncle Al
I’m sorry buddy, but you lost me at fermented fish.
@Brad — I’ve no interest in trying to talk you into eating anything you don’t want to eat, I’m just trying to explain what’s what, if not to you then maybe to others reading my crap.
BTW, do you eat pickles? They’re fermented cucumbers. And soy sauce is fermented soybeans.
But, yeah, the idea of fermented fish does take off into another dimension!
When presented with a portable device to make payment, and if there are gratuity buttons displayed, I always push “none” or “zero” for over-the-counter takeout. I explain that I’m “old school” and don’t tip for what is basically self-service. Why should I tip someone for putting my already too expensive food in a bag and taking my money for it? That’s just as ridiculous as tipping the guy at an auto parts store or the drug store. Stupid. Most restaurant workers now have a minimum wage of $15/hour and going up, and now they want to force me to pay them for the privilege of buying their food? Nope. Nope. Nope.
I only give good tips for good, real, service. And bringing me water and telling me your name so we’s can be good buds isn’t going to cut it. One of the last fine dining experiences I had the waiter didn’t know what aoli sauce was. At a seafood restaurant! Then he wanted to argue with me.
^^^ WTF IS AOLI SAUCE??
I don’t even like having fish sauce in my refrigerator, but if you seal the cap well it doesn’t smell. My wife knows how to use fish sauce. I haven’t figured it out and I probably won’t try. She puts it in curry, maybe other things, it’s damn good if you know how to use it.
Winco has just recently started carrying Riga Gold, smoked sprats (sardines) in oil imported from Latvia. I love smoked sardines, and these are some of the best sardines that I’ve ever ate. I know that it’s an acquired taste, but these sardines are good. They also have them packed in olive oil which is even better. I like kippered herring as well but not pickled herring which is something I only ate once and really didn’t like. And Walmart of all places also has small, canned octopus which is really good as well. My son was the one who told me about the octopus, we both got our liking of sardines and such from my dad who introduced us to them.
wait! … he paid $49.50 for ONE meal??
then a 20% service charge …. AND sales tax???
oh yeah, all THAT was ok, right? …. but 18% gratuity ….. OH NO! …. wtf?
Uncle Al
Taking me down memory lane. We employed Vietnamese as metal finishers. A job nobody with white skin would do. Basically they’d remove all the sharp edged off the part and make it look pretty. It didn’t take long for the wife and I to really appreciate these people. A shop of fifty if the wife had some spare time you’d find her in the deburing room laughing her butt off with the Vietnamese. One December 7th I walked in the deburing room, I asked, do you know what day today is? Today’s the day the Vietnamese bombed Pearl Harbor. Hilarity. If I did that today I’d be sued five ways from Sunday.
There was a young guy that we hired that was a real stand out. Brilliant guy. His brain worked. So we appointed him lead. It didn’t take long before we met his family. Wife and a young daughter. My wife’s a freaken kid magnet. One Xmas party that kid never left my wife’s lap. One day he walks into my office and says, I’m not sure how much longer I can work here, my wife wants to start a nail saloon and it would require my help. Dudes wife was hell on wheels too. So I ask him, what’s keeping you from starting. He says, in short, money. We wrote him a check for 20K, then we laid him off so he could collect bennies. He paid us back with in a year. Last time I talked to him they were up to three stores and making bank. I lost touch with him during the cancer thing. Awesome Americans. I doubt what’s coming across the border will measure up.
Inflation is no joke, and it’s going to break us – just like the swamp plans.
If the 3 meals, taxes, and the gratuity are more than the meal is worth to you than skip that place next time and hit the Chinese place next shopping center or taco bell . If the total cost is worth it then enjoy. I think taxes on tips are handled differently.
Ever buy anything on e-bay where the item was $0.01 buy it now and shipping was $49.99?
$49.50 would feed me for 2 weeks.
Breakfast of 1/2 and apple and 1/2 an orange, roast beef and potatoes for dinner.
No tip. No surcharge. Taxes paid at checkout at the grocery.
I was a plumber – I’ve worked in kitchens and cafeterias – won’t eat in a restaurant.
People be spoilt an shit, yo.
mortem tyrannis
izlamo delenda est …
Do you understand how Asians operate? All the “servers” are indentured “relatives fresh of the boat”. All “tips” go to the proprietor.
There is no real “tipping” so why not surcharge it abd let the relatives eat the taxation.
The one advantage of soldiering is cultural awareness. “Tipping” is an American thing. It’s considered an insult in Jaoan BTW
BTW if you see abd instead of “and “I’m using my Andriod’s microscopic keyboard.
Takes ne 10 minutes to edit as every word is a typo. Big Chief Injun fingers…
Asian fish? Try Lutefisk.
I rarely go to restaurants but I never go alone…
FJB
Years ago we were at a restaurant outside of Seattle. The menu said that a service charge would be added to all bills so they could pay their staff a “living wage.” My question is: what is the difference between paying $12.00 for something or paying $10.00 with a 20% service charge? It looks better that they only charge $10.00 for the item?
I have read that such policies cost good servers money. Whereas people might be inclined to pay 25-30% for good service, they are likely to just leave it at the required 20% and call it good.
In a “tough love” sort of way, it is probably beneficial to the servers to have the required service charge. Many people figure that if it is cash then the IRS doesn’t need to know about it. Unfortunately, the IRS assumes that servers make a certain percentage of their paychecks in tips. If they don’t declare tips around that amount, they are likely to be audited. There is no way to get around the required service charge because there is a paper trail.