Being "RIPPED OFF" at restaurants..

Have you noticed when you go to restaurants:

~If they ask you if you want "extras" ie: "Oh, would you like meat sauce on that spaghetti (or bread with that, or cheese on your potato)?", they ADD $1.50 (or more) to your bill?? I NOW say "Whatever is free" or "Is it an extra cost"? They are very good a non-disclosure.

~If there are 8 (or 10 or whatever) or more in your party they ADD 18% gratuity AFTER the sales tax? This is WRONG! We should NOT pay a gratuity on sales tax!

Ladies.......be on the lookout for being FLEECED everywhere! The last restaurant who "added" the gratuity incorrectly, I "corrected" the bill and told the manager. She pawned it off with "I'll tell the bookkeeper", when in fact, their registers are pre-programmed this way!

Think about it: Even if it is only 35 cents they are overcharging...100 times .35 is $35 someone is pocketing!!

OPEN YOUR EYES!! WE are getting ripped off! Check your receipts everywhere you go!

The sales tax and the gratuity are not the same thing at all. The gratuity is the tip for the server. A lot of restaurants have added this practice, which I know is unpopular, because large parties have a bad habit of stiffing their servers. Or leaving a $5 tip on a $150 bill.

I thought most places were upfront about publishing that larger parties did the automatic tip thing. You certainly have every right to either announce that you're not tipping or to go someplace else.

I do agree about the extras on the food, however. It's easy to wind up with a larger bill without thinking about it.

I recall the first time our gratuity was added without our knowing. We were in Disney with our son's baseball team. There were many of us! They added the tip and we were unaware. The father who figured the bill added another tip and the waitress didn't speak up. While leaving, one of the dad's thought the bill was rather high and questioned the father who paid. Turned out, the tip had already been included. Now that waitress was wrong. This was about gosh, ten years ago, or more, when this was a rather new practice. We've become wiser.

I beleive that's why regular restaurants are suffering here in town and the Vegas Buffets are more popular than ever before. One cost, usually quite reasonable, and you eat as much of everything as you can hold! NO ups, no extras... Only alcohol is extra. You leave the server of your beverages, extra napkins or whatever, a tip, an amount of your choice, or nothing, that's up to you...

chatty, we don't have nay good buffets in our town. I wish we did. I think they are more popular in tourist areas.

Probably Dotsie! I never saw many if any before moving here to Vegas and then there they all were. We went nuts our first year here, my sons and I! Didn't miss a one...You could say we ate our way through town. I still prefer a good buffet for my money but have learned to eat slowly and not everything in sight!

That's why I get it to go! My favorite place is Moes! I can get a veggie Unanimous Decision w/ chips for like $2.90! Don't go to buffets (unless at Church) b/c I'm afraid of the germs.

The place I'm most ripped off is Wal-Mart. I purchase my groceries there b/c of the lower cost and I don't have time to drive around town. Last few times I was overcharged and caught it b/4 leaving the store; yet, had to wait in line at customer service for my refund. Also, somehow I walked out with missing groceries and the cashier did not know what happened to them! I think my groceries ended up in someone elses bag.

Well, the "Someone" who is pocketing your 35 cents is the waitstaff. My mother and my DH were waiters. It's a difficult, tiring, and HONEST job. You'd be surprised how many 'nice' people stiff or deliberately short the waitstaff.

Me - I overtip by your standards. When I get good service - and we go out a great deal, living in a restaurant town like San Francisco - we tip around 25%. My DH used to cringe, until he actually worked as a waiter for two years while going through hotel and restaurant management school. Once he experienced what it was like, he wholeheartedly supports rewarding good service. It's expensive to live where we do, and only those rare times when we receive bad service, do we tip lightly.

My baby sis was a waitress at one point in her life. One night, I visited her and sat at a table waiting for her to get off. I've never been so impressed with her work ethic, even when people were being rude, trying obviously trying to get something for nothing. She handled it all with grace and charm. I watched the other workers there and they too took great pride in their jobs and you could tell they "owned" them. I've never forgotten the scenes there that night. From that day forward, regardless of the service, I give more than is called for, traditionally.

We never know what battles someone else is fighting inside. You know? It cost ME so very little to extend kindness to strangers. So little.

In my estimation, a job is a job, is a job. NO job is fun at least not usually but to short a waitress or waiter truly frosts my butt. That has to bo one of the hardest and most thankless jobs out there. I tip well no matter where I go. If the food is bad it's not the servers fault but many use that as an excuse to stiff them...

chatty, er are also good tippers, and we've found that most wiaters/waitresses are fun people who work hard for a living. And as you say, bad food or slow kitchens are really not their fault.