To TIP or not to TIP

As a kid every time I accompanied my dad to good old humble restaurants, I would linger behind a few seconds till he left the table, to quickly grab the coins that he would place in the sauf bowl (I thought he forgot the money & once when I reminded him, all he said was ‘that’s ok’, so I ensured his money was safe with me, you see). So this assured source of income for my piggy bank continued, till the day he caught me picking the coins (damn my timing!!).That’s when he introduced me to the concept of tipping, that we should leave behind some money for the waiters who served us. However, the last couple of years, our bills have seen a 5 to 12 per cent ‘service charge’ added to it, leaving us confused with the question ‘to tip or not to tip’. Some say its goes to the Government and some say it doesn’t. So here in my next blog, I decided to decode the mystery of the Service Charge for you.

Your bill will predominantly contain VAT and service tax (which is applicable to restaurants having both air conditioning and alcohol license) both of which go to the government. The third item, the ‘service charge’ is imposed by a restaurant for the services rendered - in short, it’s a complusory tip that one needs to pay. What exactly happens to this amount isn’t very clear, as few, rather most restaurants divide this entire amount amongst their staff as a variable pay. Some hold back a percentage of the amount and divide the rest amongst the staff.

Now coming to the golden question of the blog; a survey conducted by TOI-Crest, indicated that majority, will check the bill for the presence of any service charge. If service charge is already included, then usually no tip is left behind, unless they are mighty pleased with the service. My research landed me on a quote by Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India, stating that, if service charge is levied at the discretion of the management then tipping is strictly forbidden at restaurants that take this charge. However I don’t think that there is any law or legal stand point backing this statement.

Can you refuse to pay Service Charge? Well, yes you can. If there is no such mention of a service charge in the menu or in the restaurant, then you can legally refuse to pay that amount. Else you may need to be prepared to wrestle some muscle for it and fight your way out.

'TIPS' read as ‘To Insure Prompt Service’ & usually tipping is something that’s voluntary, and its a reciprocal act appreciating the quality of service. But most Indian restaurateurs’ believe that when it comes to tipping, Indians are little less generous and so to keep up the zeal of the staff and correspondingly the quality of service, a guaranteed tip is taken from the guests.