You know how sometimes when you get your bill at a restaurant and at the bottom it says 12.5% service included. When you see this you think “They’ve added the tip so that the staff don’t get stiffed by tight people” but actually the majority of the time this 12.5% is actually going to the establishment and will not be seen by any of the staff.

Often you will almost be tricked by adding a tip ontop of the 12.5% (or whatever it is) because when you pay by credit card you have the option to add a tip, well this is actually the tip that will go to the staff (service and bar) . This is a complete exploitation of people’s understanding of service charge.

The only solution is to do this: (exactly what I did last night in fact)

1. Ask the staff if the service is the tip and if the recieve it and also check if they recieve credit card tips. If yes, sign away. If no, go to step 2.
2. Askt he waiter to remove the service charge from your bill.
3. Leave a cash tip or sign a credit card tip onto the bill assuming they will get it.

Remember this when you visit a lovely restaurant called Crazy Bear in town and the staff are lovely and take care of everything.