Woman furious over “appreciation” fee added to her restaurant bill
Woman furious over “appreciation” fee added to her restaurant bill
by CommonAd9608
44 Comments
Flickr_Bean
Newsweek. Things escalated quickly. RIP Paperboy.
covid401k
These fees are a joke in fairness.
Like as the business manager, you seriously think adding a 3% additional charge after the fact is a better idea than upping the prices of the items by like 5c.??
It’s short term thinking, treating your customers like idiots
reddiwhip999
Meh. It’s printed on the menu.
Also, Newsweek, hire people who can write.
kilog78
Paperboy’s justification seems sincere and is a very positive sentiment. Law prohibits sharing tips with BOH employees, and they are trying to overcome that.
ses267
lol journalism is dead.
android_queen
> She said that $20 is her breakfast spending limit, adding: “It’s deceptive—the item should have been listed as $20.60 on the menu. If we had seen that, we would have chosen a different place, but I guess they got us with that trick.”
Didn’t stop her from spending $6 on OJ and ordering 3 entrees but ok.
HillratHobbit
It’s changing the transparency of pricing. When you see the price you expect tax and expect to pay the tip. This is setting a precedent where we will end up with multiple fees attached at the end. We see it at airbnbs, delivery and the airline industry and it’s stupid and we don’t want them with our restaurants. Put it in the price.
Halloweenmelee
Lol this article made it a point like 2-3 times to call her a “30 year old woman.”
stonedbirds
So furious she paid it and had to complain on the internet
AusStan
Odd…she didn’t sound furious.
FoldedKatana
We got Paperboy already listed on [nosurpriseeats.com](http://nosurpriseeats.com), feel free to add any more!
queerpoet
Love this journalism where any reddit post makes an article. Her frustration was justified.
titos334
If they’re having trouble paying their employees and need to add a fee then how come they’re expanding and opening a new spot? Guess all these 3% customers are lowkey investors
diduknowitsme
Lost my business
jillian512
Nobody wants to feel like they’re being nickel and dimed to death. People in the industry know these fees are income for the business, not tips. They could just as easily be labeled “decor & vibe appreciation”. So what’s the point? Raise the food prices or adjust costs and pay the BOH what they deserve.
Do away with that, and the entire industry has to correct for wages with their prices.
As it is, some do this… some do that… some do nothing… all in the name of “staying competitive” with respect to pricing.
Meanwhile, consumers have predominantly saying they’d happily pay higher pricing for live able wages. Great. So let’s push to end the Tip Credit and let the market correct for those prices & wages.
Ends the out of control tip culture. Ends the suspect fees at the bottom of menus & receipts.
Puts employers of any industry relying on tips for wages on an even playing field within that industry: pay your employees for the work YOU want done. Period.
Then I’ll tip them if I want. I’ll do it in cash too, and they can decide what they wanna do from there. I don’t care.
the_beeve
The tip calculators typically are based on the price including the tax. I’ll pay on the food and beverage but not the tip
TurdMcDirk
> “The 3 percent kitchen appreciation fee is clearly stated on the printed menu, encouraging guests to ask their server if they have any questions about it. **Guests may request to have it removed at any time, and we will do so without question or hesitation.”**
But they don’t put that in the fine print informing you of the 3%.
Both_Statistician_99
$6 for a glass of OJ?! That’s where all the rage should go.
EggandSpoon42
We went to the sushi place next to target – 2 kids plus me, 3 lunch specials and 3 boba teas = $75 before tax/tip. That was discouraging. Until yesterday when I got an old favorite from casa marias – menudo, which was $8 not long ago, then $10, and now $17!!!! That plus a kids meal plus tax and tip = $45 and that’s the last time we eat out on a whim for a while.
Service fees like this added would make me crazy
BpBpRbyRby
Except the photo that “she” posted with “her” story is actually from a super positive review by beerchronicle a few weeks ago. Ragebait for all.
austinoracle
A breffus that’s bordering on $70? Dios mio man.
texaslegrefugee
If you’re not tipped, you deserve a living wage that is INCLUDED IN THE MENU PRICE.
WTF is next…Electric fees? Water fees? Fees to pay for new paint?
fartwisely
I just laugh when people complain about going out to eat. Wednesday I bought $40 of groceries (not junk food) and that lasts me til the next Wednesday trip. That’s $5.71 a day.
Eating out is a choice and a premium. I appreciate their place in the locally based restaurant landscape, their staff, the food and happy to pay extra once in a while so my lazy ass didn’t have to cook or thaw out left overs.
gregaustex
She’s right. Shit business practice, deceptive, dishonest and petty.
Also, if you can’t pay your cooks with $17 hash and $20 chicken and biscuits, find a new business to be in because you suck at it.
There was a time where just looking at a place you could generally estimate what it was going to cost, and that’s over. Austin is now a place where you have to do your homework before you pick a restaurant. This also means in you’re one of the many places whose on-line menus don’t have prices, you’re never going to see me.
zydecogirlmimi
Omg this made national news!
SadPeePaw69
Place is mid anyway lol
banyan78741
the statement from paperboy is an insult to their customers. all they’re doing is taking it from your left pocket instead of your right pocket. why not put it as an opt-in thing instead of forcing the customer to request it be removed. they are being incredibly disingenuous about it.
orthaeus
America should catch up to the rest of the world and just have the price be what is paid, tax and all included.
The way pricing is done in this country is beyond insane.
BigTownW
So if I cross it out and subtract it from the total, and write the new total…that’s perfectly legal isn’t it?
Moose_Maple
I’d be madder about the $5 “hot tea”
RusticCat
Reduce the amount of “real” tip by appreciation fee & note it on merchant copy. Cost of breakfast is outrageous amount anyway.
greatestcookiethief
when i see honest mary’s wellness fee, i stop going, cause i don’t want to someday has to pay for their college tuition
MeganShorts
I said this a couple days ago and only got slightly roasted for it but between restaurants, short term rentals, anyone who runs credit cards… they are trying to pass the fee to the consumer so it doesn’t come out of their total return. Typical is 2.8-3% depending on the card.
I don’t disagree that places could up the price minimally but not everyone is a savvy business owner and still sees that cut off their bottom line regardless
BlacksmithFeisty5296
Restaurants and service workers are struggling in this economy with supply chain demands and higher food costs. If you can’t afford to dine out, cook at home.
Theonethatgotherway
Lucy Notarantonio why are you focusing more on the fact that she’s a woman and thirty? Like what in the Hippocrates is going on with you? Hidden fees are a mutually hated thing. Go work yourself out.
wrbear
My maximum tip is 20%. This adds into that tip. I see no problem.
BrownWallyBoot
Definitely goofy but just take the 3% out of the tip and move on.
Realistic_Author_596
Being overseas and coming back, you start to realize that tipping culture here is so dumb and f*cked. Employers need to start paying a fair wage. It’s not up to the consumer to pay it. Nobody here in the comments can tell me that they actually WANT to tip; we do it because we HAVE to. I tip btw — just saying how stupid it is.
andytagonist
She complains to Reddit, but not the manager?? 🤣
And by the time this is picked up by Newsweek, the restaurant clearly states they will remove the fee if the customer asks—which is exactly the case when I’ve asked wait staff about this exact same thing. It’s kinda shitty the restaurant is claiming they’re unable to tip their kitchen staff legally…considering I was always tipped out when I worked in the kitchen, and always tipped out the kitchen when I worked the front.
gkcontra
This makes it easy, they just made the entire tip that 3%. Anytime a restaurant forces a tip, that is what they get unless they have been over the top good.
ralian
These fees are deducted from my original tip
Aggravating-Net2416
Furious over $2 ?
Infinzero
Those prices are like Silicon Valley prices . 12 bucks for OJ?
44 Comments
Newsweek. Things escalated quickly. RIP Paperboy.
These fees are a joke in fairness.
Like as the business manager, you seriously think adding a 3% additional charge after the fact is a better idea than upping the prices of the items by like 5c.??
It’s short term thinking, treating your customers like idiots
Meh. It’s printed on the menu.
Also, Newsweek, hire people who can write.
Paperboy’s justification seems sincere and is a very positive sentiment. Law prohibits sharing tips with BOH employees, and they are trying to overcome that.
lol journalism is dead.
> She said that $20 is her breakfast spending limit, adding: “It’s deceptive—the item should have been listed as $20.60 on the menu. If we had seen that, we would have chosen a different place, but I guess they got us with that trick.”
Didn’t stop her from spending $6 on OJ and ordering 3 entrees but ok.
It’s changing the transparency of pricing. When you see the price you expect tax and expect to pay the tip. This is setting a precedent where we will end up with multiple fees attached at the end. We see it at airbnbs, delivery and the airline industry and it’s stupid and we don’t want them with our restaurants. Put it in the price.
Lol this article made it a point like 2-3 times to call her a “30 year old woman.”
So furious she paid it and had to complain on the internet
Odd…she didn’t sound furious.
We got Paperboy already listed on [nosurpriseeats.com](http://nosurpriseeats.com), feel free to add any more!
Love this journalism where any reddit post makes an article. Her frustration was justified.
If they’re having trouble paying their employees and need to add a fee then how come they’re expanding and opening a new spot? Guess all these 3% customers are lowkey investors
Lost my business
Nobody wants to feel like they’re being nickel and dimed to death. People in the industry know these fees are income for the business, not tips. They could just as easily be labeled “decor & vibe appreciation”. So what’s the point? Raise the food prices or adjust costs and pay the BOH what they deserve.
It’s way past time to have a discussion about the [Federal Tip Credit](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-tipped-employees-flsa) employers have.
Do away with that, and the entire industry has to correct for wages with their prices.
As it is, some do this… some do that… some do nothing… all in the name of “staying competitive” with respect to pricing.
Meanwhile, consumers have predominantly saying they’d happily pay higher pricing for live able wages. Great. So let’s push to end the Tip Credit and let the market correct for those prices & wages.
Ends the out of control tip culture. Ends the suspect fees at the bottom of menus & receipts.
Puts employers of any industry relying on tips for wages on an even playing field within that industry: pay your employees for the work YOU want done. Period.
Then I’ll tip them if I want. I’ll do it in cash too, and they can decide what they wanna do from there. I don’t care.
The tip calculators typically are based on the price including the tax. I’ll pay on the food and beverage but not the tip
> “The 3 percent kitchen appreciation fee is clearly stated on the printed menu, encouraging guests to ask their server if they have any questions about it. **Guests may request to have it removed at any time, and we will do so without question or hesitation.”**
But they don’t put that in the fine print informing you of the 3%.
$6 for a glass of OJ?! That’s where all the rage should go.
We went to the sushi place next to target – 2 kids plus me, 3 lunch specials and 3 boba teas = $75 before tax/tip. That was discouraging. Until yesterday when I got an old favorite from casa marias – menudo, which was $8 not long ago, then $10, and now $17!!!! That plus a kids meal plus tax and tip = $45 and that’s the last time we eat out on a whim for a while.
Service fees like this added would make me crazy
Except the photo that “she” posted with “her” story is actually from a super positive review by beerchronicle a few weeks ago. Ragebait for all.
A breffus that’s bordering on $70? Dios mio man.
If you’re not tipped, you deserve a living wage that is INCLUDED IN THE MENU PRICE.
WTF is next…Electric fees? Water fees? Fees to pay for new paint?
I just laugh when people complain about going out to eat. Wednesday I bought $40 of groceries (not junk food) and that lasts me til the next Wednesday trip. That’s $5.71 a day.
Eating out is a choice and a premium. I appreciate their place in the locally based restaurant landscape, their staff, the food and happy to pay extra once in a while so my lazy ass didn’t have to cook or thaw out left overs.
She’s right. Shit business practice, deceptive, dishonest and petty.
Also, if you can’t pay your cooks with $17 hash and $20 chicken and biscuits, find a new business to be in because you suck at it.
There was a time where just looking at a place you could generally estimate what it was going to cost, and that’s over. Austin is now a place where you have to do your homework before you pick a restaurant. This also means in you’re one of the many places whose on-line menus don’t have prices, you’re never going to see me.
Omg this made national news!
Place is mid anyway lol
the statement from paperboy is an insult to their customers. all they’re doing is taking it from your left pocket instead of your right pocket. why not put it as an opt-in thing instead of forcing the customer to request it be removed. they are being incredibly disingenuous about it.
America should catch up to the rest of the world and just have the price be what is paid, tax and all included.
The way pricing is done in this country is beyond insane.
So if I cross it out and subtract it from the total, and write the new total…that’s perfectly legal isn’t it?
I’d be madder about the $5 “hot tea”
Reduce the amount of “real” tip by appreciation fee & note it on merchant copy. Cost of breakfast is outrageous amount anyway.
when i see honest mary’s wellness fee, i stop going, cause i don’t want to someday has to pay for their college tuition
I said this a couple days ago and only got slightly roasted for it but between restaurants, short term rentals, anyone who runs credit cards… they are trying to pass the fee to the consumer so it doesn’t come out of their total return. Typical is 2.8-3% depending on the card.
I don’t disagree that places could up the price minimally but not everyone is a savvy business owner and still sees that cut off their bottom line regardless
Restaurants and service workers are struggling in this economy with supply chain demands and higher food costs. If you can’t afford to dine out, cook at home.
Lucy Notarantonio why are you focusing more on the fact that she’s a woman and thirty? Like what in the Hippocrates is going on with you? Hidden fees are a mutually hated thing. Go work yourself out.
My maximum tip is 20%. This adds into that tip. I see no problem.
Definitely goofy but just take the 3% out of the tip and move on.
Being overseas and coming back, you start to realize that tipping culture here is so dumb and f*cked. Employers need to start paying a fair wage. It’s not up to the consumer to pay it. Nobody here in the comments can tell me that they actually WANT to tip; we do it because we HAVE to. I tip btw — just saying how stupid it is.
She complains to Reddit, but not the manager?? 🤣
And by the time this is picked up by Newsweek, the restaurant clearly states they will remove the fee if the customer asks—which is exactly the case when I’ve asked wait staff about this exact same thing. It’s kinda shitty the restaurant is claiming they’re unable to tip their kitchen staff legally…considering I was always tipped out when I worked in the kitchen, and always tipped out the kitchen when I worked the front.
This makes it easy, they just made the entire tip that 3%. Anytime a restaurant forces a tip, that is what they get unless they have been over the top good.
These fees are deducted from my original tip
Furious over $2 ?
Those prices are like Silicon Valley prices . 12 bucks for OJ?