Okay, short story: My friend just posted that they were traveling and they stopped at a bar for a drink. The bar charged them for a wedge of a lime! Fifty cents! Who divies up the cost of a lime for a drink???
Are there other ridiculous charges out there that I’ve never noticed?
Maestro’s Steakhouse charges $5 for 3 pieces of bread and butter that is free at most restaurants.
That is NUTS!!! I can’t stand any place that nickels and dimes.
This reminds me of a classic training video Give 'Em the Pickle by Bob Farrell - Customer Service Training - YouTube
Restaurants are likely wiser to simply increase the total cost of the item rather than isolate the lime slice. Good will of customers counts and it is logical to anticipate seeing more challenges in these times of high inflation. Bread customs vary by restaurant. I don’t expect anything to be free. Paper napkins? Cost has to be accounted for somehow. I get that some ways of charging are more provocative and now ‘everything’ seems headed upward.
After years of visits, a local Chipotle rang me up for substantially more a few months ago. They explained (and not nicely) that “new management” considered “double rice” to be a side order, to be charged for. This, of course, was not documented or explained anywhere.
With another restaurant 1.6 miles away (4 minutes, per Google Maps), I have not been back.
A lot of the restaurants around here are starting to charge a 20% service fee. This is not for the wait staff but for the back of the house. They SAY leaving an additional tip is optional, but it doesn’t feel optional. So now there is basically a 35-40% charge, as well as many prices having been raised, so meal/drink that was $25 can now be closer to $35.
Someone recently posted that they’d had a drink at a bar downtown. The drinks were $7 for a beer and $14 for a mixed drink. With the fees and tax, the bill was $28, not including the tip. I sure hope the lime was included.
Fifty cents for a slice of lime is ridiculous. But growing up in Europe, these add-ons are common. Want a mixer for your cocktail? That’s extra. Want bread? That’s extra. Want ketchup for your McDonald’s fries? That’s extra.
True. I remember being completely shocked and appalled when I first went to England and had to pay 10p for a packet of ketchup. They don’t do that much anymore, btw, at least not that I’ve seen.
A 20% back of house service fee is absolutely ridiculous. Aren’t you paying for service when you dine out, full stop? That is why I am willing to pay extra for a meal, so I don’t have to cook, serve, and clean up after myself.
I also hate resort fees. Unless I am on vacation, I will choose a Hampton Inn or Best Western over a hotel with resort fees every time.
I was just perusing the menu for a Mediterranean restaurant we were thinking of visiting. I noticed that if you wanted anything spicy, it was a dollar upcharge.
A Chinese restaurant in NYC charged me $2 for white rice. I was deeply offended by that.
A Brooklyn added credit card fees to my bill (they took it off after I said I was going to report them to my credit card company).
While I completely understand needing to pass along additional costs these days, the approach is not a good idea. It’s all about marketing, and marketing is all about psychology. Better to increase overall pricing slightly than individual “upgrade” prices. It just turns people off, which means less upgrades purchased & less revenue
local cafe, just charge $3.50 for cup of coffee that used to be free when getting breakfast. No mention of this, waitress poured cup as usual when everyone sat down, but got a shock when looked at bill - which was much higher than usual. Won’t be returning as I feel these things need to be mentioned by servers when a change in charging practices happens. Inflating the bill this way also leads to a need to leave a bigger tip. This just irks me to the point where I will choose to go elsewhere.
The prices should’ve been clearly posted; I don’t understand why businesses would think surprising customers with higher prices or extra costs would be a good idea. Better to be upfront with an “apology”-esque explanation, than price slamming them. As you experienced, the likelihood to return is very low.
The tip line added to fast food restaurants. New around here since Covid. We switched to using cc almost exclusively and now I’m asked to add a tip which I always feel obligated to.
The price of soft drinks at restaurants has risen. I usually drink water but my husband likes a Diet Coke and some places are $3.50 for something that literally costs them pennies.
I’m a tipper but we’ve found that we can eat cheaper at local restaurants than fast food places. And I tip very generously at the local place.
I also don’t mind tipping but it starts to feel out of hand at “fast food” where they basically spent 90 seconds attending to me/my order. And an awkward moment for both the customer and the worker when they flip the digital screen around for you to do their thing and they look away like to somehow be making it all private!
Our local sports arena went to cashless concessions this college BB season, and most servers flip the screen and direct you to hit the “no tip” button----I figure it’s built into the software and they’re not trolling for tips when selling a bottle of water or a pretzel.
But hey, I guess if you think the service getting those nachos was superior…then go for it!
Everywhere has seemed to add a tip line for pick up/fast food orders. I will say, pre-covid, I just ignored that line and didn’t feel badly about it. Now, I do add a tip every time.
I’m also in the camp that I’d rather the prices go up a bit than be nickel and dimed for every little thing. Psychologically that feels better.
The new thing by us is a surcharge in restaurants to help offset staff insurance.
Between all the taxes and surcharges, and slightly higher prices now the bill is usually double what it used to be.
As someone who worked in fastfood during high school & college, without any expectation of a tip, I feel no obligation to tip in all these instances. This new push to add tip to absolutely every service job is ridiculous. In most cases, there is nothing personal or exceptional about the service in any of these instances - people are just doing the minimum required for the job. If someone goes above and beyond-different story. They are not waiting on me - I still have to fill my own drink at the soda fountain, get my own plastic utensils, and clean up after myself. I don’t feel guilted into tipping at fast food and most quick service restaurants. The reason for tipping at a sit down restaurant is for the additional service provided in my opinion.
Regarding the tipping, I’ve had multiple workers at fast food places tell me not to worry about adding a tip because they don’t actually receive it. I do not tip for fast food. I tip generously at restaurants and dine in movie theaters. The tipping requests are out of control.