Friday, March 26, 2010

Is this a new trend?

I eat lunch every now and then at a restaurant called Roxx on Cheshire Bridge Road. It’s a bit pricey for an every day lunch; but, the food is always very good. The service is good, though it can be annoying. The servers follow what is apparently a required script, not listening to what you say (or your body language that is screaming stop, I know what I want) reciting the script as fast as they can get it out of their mouth (kind of like a kid reciting the poem he just memorized).

But, that’s not what the post is about. The last couple of times I’ve been there, the server brings back the change in the little booklet as always. But, the change is rounded up or down to the nearest dollar. If the bill is $10.24, you don’t pay the 24 cents. If it’s $10.76, they charge you $11.00. (I’m don’t know what happens to a $10.50 bill.)

In the scheme of life, it isn’t a big deal and when leaving a tip, I factor the overage/underage into the tip; but, for some reason it annoys me.

6 comments:

Sonja's Mom said...

Is this even legal? Is there some statement on the menu that lets you know they will do this? I know they have to tell you up front if they are adding a add a gratuity to the bill. I would find this annoying also especially since I may need that little bit of change at my next stop.

Anonymous said...

That's not something I've come across before. I don't think I like it.

I don't think it would really fly in Texas. We are a penny-pinching people.

Dave said...

My thought is that it's a sophisticated kind of thing - we don't worry about the small change, we're not going to deal in things not made of paper. We're sure you'll do right by us when it comes to the tip.

Beyond that, I don't know.

A story that I don't think I've told here. Years and years ago, I was visiting my parents and took them, my brother, his wife and their then tiny little girl out to dinner at the local bar/restaurant.

It was the Friday night fish fry. All you can eat for something like six or seven bucks. Little girl spilled her milk a couple of times, we all had several second helpings and the waitress dealt with it all with a smile.

I left a round, fairly large, amount of money on the table. The waitress brought the change back. We continued to talk for a bit and then made moves to leave. My father, sitting next to me, elbowed me. "Your change." "That's her tip." "That's over 20%, you're going to spoil her." "I'll never see her again, have fun."

Jeni said...

Hmmm. Sounds a bit like a new, somewhat convoluted bookkeeping method to me. Frankly, I think I would feel like you though -not quite keen on that type of operation even though I can't really put a finger on it as to why it bothers me.

Sonja's Mom said...

I just came back from shopping at J.C. Penny's. My bill was 23.53. I gave the clerk $24.00 and she said "would you like to donate your 47 cents change to After School Care for children"? How do you say no to that? Sonja said "well, at least she ask and is not just keeping it as a tip".

Dave said...

"How do you say no to that?"

Yet another thing I don't particularly like. Kroger here in Atlanta always seems to have a "round up your bill" charity that it's pushing.