At some point surely the nation has to say 'enough is enough'? You'd have thought, wouldn't you? Instead we got fawning sycophancy from the media claiming that the entire country was obsessed with the wedding of two dull but rich and, (one assumes) pleasant creatures. No. Let's put a stop to this myth now. Most of us weren't even very interested. Most of us have better things to do with our time than consider what type of dress a stranger is going to wear to her wedding.
And then we move to the bigger picture: whether or not the state should have paid for this wedding given that it wasn't technically a state occasion (which is how they got away with not inviting either Tony Blair or Gordon Brown). And then we move to the even bigger picture: why on earth, in the twenty-first century, do we still have a monarchy in the UK? How does it sit comfortably alongside our idea of a thriving democracy where every citizen (not subject) is equal and everyone can aspire to hold the highest office in the land?
As a feminist I want to care about primogeniture, truly I do but why should I care what happens in one family? How does it truly change the chances of British women rather than one or two women in one family? Instead of concerning ourselves with whether a Catholic can be king/queen or whether a first-born daughter can rule we should be pondering the bigger question of how suitable the monarchy is for Britain today.
I don't think I've heard a single decent argument for retaining the monarchy, certainly not tourism (the Palace of Versailles is one of France's most visited sites and I'm pretty sure there's no one living there anymore) and the individuals themselves don't lend themselves to the argument of their continued elevation: Andrew and his dodgy dealings? Charles and his meddling ways and lack of belief in science? Harry and his ill-thought through escapades? And now Kate with what appears to be a well followed plan to snare the country's supposedly most eligible bachelor. I am not sure I understand how William doesn't worry about this - I wouldn't want to marry someone who had planned his/her life around trying to get close to me because of my position (I know, no danger there).
I wouldn't go so far as to proclaim 'off with their heads' but I am with Sue Townsend when she suggests sending them to live on a council estate if they insist on continuing to live off the state.
Monday 2 May 2011
Sunday 10 April 2011
Service charge or tipping?
If I sit at one table and order a burger and fries and you sit at the next table and order a lobster meal we will both be expected to leave a 12.5% service charge. How is this sensible? The same amount of work may have gone into the preparation and the waiter's job was no more difficult for you than me, so why should you have to pay more service charge than me?
Since when did we live in a world where it was perfectly acceptable for restaurants to merrily add anywhere between 10 and 15 percent to the bill and call it service charge? As far as I am aware this is the UK, not the USA: waiting staff are paid minimum wage (whether or not minimum wage is a living wage is an another argument entirely) and the government doesn't tax them on assumed rather than actual wages.
So why do we have this charge snuck on to our bills? Why is it no longer acceptable to give customers the choice whether they tip or not? Why does the restaurant get to decide how much we should leave as a voluntary payment? In fact, why is it no longer even called a 'tip' but a 'service charge'? It sounds so much more official, so much more of an obligation that comes with eating out and now we're being either bullied or eroded into coughing up. British people are known for their reticence and their preference for shying away from an argument, which makes the insidious charge
If a meal is truly excellent or the waiting staff helpful and kind then I am delighted to leave a tip, but a tip of my choice, in cash so I know it goes straight into the hands of the individual at whom it is directed (and yes, you can ask for a tip to go to kitchen staff). But every time I receive a bill with a 12.5% service charge added to the total I want to rage and yell and not leave a tip at all, no matter how outstanding the dining experience might have been. If restaurants really think it is legitimate to add such a hidden cost to the price of a meal, then why is the disclaimer always hidden away in the menu in tiny, faint writing designed to be missed?
We thought we had come up with a way around this nonsense. As soon as the bill arrives we ask for it to be recalculated without service charge and we explain that we will leave a tip on the table instead. Until recently this was received with gratitude by waiting staff who appreciated customers wanting to ensure the restaurant owners are not able to consume their hard earned tips. Suddenly this has changed. Instead of gratitude the response is a panic stricken look and 'why? was something wrong? I have to ask my manager'.
No. No. No. Listen to what I am saying: 'I. Will. Leave. A. Tip. On. The. Table'. Even in restaurants that claim to give all of the service charge to staff I hear this response. The only reason for this can be that restaurants include service charge in their profit calculations. Why not simply charge more for the food and be done with it, customers would be none the wiser?
It is telling that some foreign waiting staff in the UK have no clue that service charge is not obligatory. In one restaurant my friends and I were actually shouted at and told we were obliged to pay the 12.5% (again, we had said we wanted to leave the tip in cash rather than pay on credit card) on the bill and that we couldn't leave until we had paid it! In another restaurant a waiter told us that if we refused to pay the service charge then it would come out of his wages. Either he was extremely cunning or he was being taken for an incredible ride by his boss.
People of Britain, stand up and take back the right to tip or not, join my call to abolish the service charge and bring back tipping.
Since when did we live in a world where it was perfectly acceptable for restaurants to merrily add anywhere between 10 and 15 percent to the bill and call it service charge? As far as I am aware this is the UK, not the USA: waiting staff are paid minimum wage (whether or not minimum wage is a living wage is an another argument entirely) and the government doesn't tax them on assumed rather than actual wages.
So why do we have this charge snuck on to our bills? Why is it no longer acceptable to give customers the choice whether they tip or not? Why does the restaurant get to decide how much we should leave as a voluntary payment? In fact, why is it no longer even called a 'tip' but a 'service charge'? It sounds so much more official, so much more of an obligation that comes with eating out and now we're being either bullied or eroded into coughing up. British people are known for their reticence and their preference for shying away from an argument, which makes the insidious charge
If a meal is truly excellent or the waiting staff helpful and kind then I am delighted to leave a tip, but a tip of my choice, in cash so I know it goes straight into the hands of the individual at whom it is directed (and yes, you can ask for a tip to go to kitchen staff). But every time I receive a bill with a 12.5% service charge added to the total I want to rage and yell and not leave a tip at all, no matter how outstanding the dining experience might have been. If restaurants really think it is legitimate to add such a hidden cost to the price of a meal, then why is the disclaimer always hidden away in the menu in tiny, faint writing designed to be missed?
We thought we had come up with a way around this nonsense. As soon as the bill arrives we ask for it to be recalculated without service charge and we explain that we will leave a tip on the table instead. Until recently this was received with gratitude by waiting staff who appreciated customers wanting to ensure the restaurant owners are not able to consume their hard earned tips. Suddenly this has changed. Instead of gratitude the response is a panic stricken look and 'why? was something wrong? I have to ask my manager'.
No. No. No. Listen to what I am saying: 'I. Will. Leave. A. Tip. On. The. Table'. Even in restaurants that claim to give all of the service charge to staff I hear this response. The only reason for this can be that restaurants include service charge in their profit calculations. Why not simply charge more for the food and be done with it, customers would be none the wiser?
It is telling that some foreign waiting staff in the UK have no clue that service charge is not obligatory. In one restaurant my friends and I were actually shouted at and told we were obliged to pay the 12.5% (again, we had said we wanted to leave the tip in cash rather than pay on credit card) on the bill and that we couldn't leave until we had paid it! In another restaurant a waiter told us that if we refused to pay the service charge then it would come out of his wages. Either he was extremely cunning or he was being taken for an incredible ride by his boss.
People of Britain, stand up and take back the right to tip or not, join my call to abolish the service charge and bring back tipping.
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