obinice , 9 months ago

I recently had a pretty crappy experience at a restaurant for a few reasons, the last being their tipping system. You won’t believe how they asked me to tip, it was mad.

1. There was no menu, I had to Google their name and find their website (which was some obscure subdomain on some obscure food payment site).
2. Their site didn’t work in Chrome (on any of the phones we had with us), luckily I had a backup browser installed that worked.
3. I had to order and pay on my phone, unable to use the cash I had budgeted and brought with me for the meal.
4. It asked me how much I would like to tip, but this is paying DURING MY ORDER, when I had not yet received any service or food. I chose not to tip.

Tipping, here in the UK, is only something you do when you were very happy with the service (and have the extra cash you don’t mind giving away as charity, basically). Our waiters, as with every worker in the country, are paid a real wage that isn’t designed to be subsidised by begging.

So, being asked to tip for the good service BEFORE receiving the service? That’s INSANE.

Due to the various ridiculous issues we had just trying to order food and pay for it, and the audacity of being asked to tip that way, I will not be going back there again.

What’s wrong with the tried and true system of a waiter taking your order, you eat, they take your payment at the table either with a normal wireless chip-and-pin machine or by cash, and then you leave? It’s simple, easy, smooth and fast 🤦‍♀️