Service charges

[gareth]

i stay in samui often and i like going to good restaurants to eat but what pisses me off is when the restaurant has a service charge , where have these places come up with the idea of a service charge because it is not a thai concept , and when your bill comes to 1200 bht and then there is a service charge of 10% and tax of 7% on top then you have got to wonder where that tip is going in a big hotel do the tips get divided between all the staff ( so am i tipping the room maids & receptionists ) and if so why or is that money being used by the management to pay the waiters instead of being given as an extra , and of course the big question is what do you do when you get crap service as there is less incentive from the waiter to give good service because he gets his money anyway . and this is not only in samui , i was in a small indian restaurant on soi 8 in pattaya and had to pay 10% service charge 60bht and the service was crap , and as with 1000bht a service charge of 100bht . who gives a 100bht tip in thailand that is about 50% of a waiters wage in thailand .

before anyone says i dont understand , i am a waiter been in catering over 20yrs and i am still against it , a tip is and should be a freely given extra as an appreciation of good service not a given in the price of a meal because the boss is too stingy to pay a decent wage

[gogo dog]

The cheeky buggers at Hopf even put 7% tax on top of the service charge. I'm sure it happens elsewhere as well.

[dudebrah]

if there is a Service charge i definetly dont tip , i could be wrong but i feel that a tip is for Servie so if there is a service charge there is no need to tip . When I stay at hotels in other countries ( china and USA mainly ) if there is a service charge and the service is lacking I ask for the service charge to be removed from the bill , quite often it is

[bad bob]

GENERAL OF THUMB SERVICE CHARGE VOIDS TIP BAD BOB