4 ms·

US restaurants ask me to pay their tax and their personnel separately, and are still expensive. I get it that cheap fastfoods operate on slim margins but I have

US restaurants ask me to pay their tax and their personnel separately, and are still expensive. I get it that cheap fastfoods operate on slim margins but I have a very hard time believing the decent restaurants do. I read the article hoping to find what the hell costs 50-70 USD + tax + waiter wages (aka “20% tip that you’re a monster if you don’t pay”), found no such thing.

jjeaff 6y ago
Just because things are itemized on a bill doesn't make the total any higher. In fact, I would argue that I would much prefer an itemized bill to a black box total. It's much easier to sneak in extra charges if everything is rolled into a single total. Perhaps what you mean is that you don't like having to keep in mind that all your prices don't include tax and tip, which is so common in the US, that everyone just instinctively knows it. To the point that if you try to include everything into the price, people will consider your prices too high. It's very difficult to shift public habit.
- virgilp 6y ago
  You can say that, but there are enough hints that you'd be wrong: - Tip habits differ a lot; various online debates and movie references show that there are "assholes" that don't tip (or don't tip well enough?). From this pov serving in a restaurant is more akin to playing music in the subway than working a regular job. This is, IMO, not how things should be. - "if you try to include everything into the price, people will consider your prices too high": this right here tells you that people are not as rational as you paint them to be. Theoretically, the bill is the same whether you include & itemize all things, or not. In practice though, because the bills do not include everything, they can get higher than they otherwise would. Humans are strange and not always rational beasts - that's why prices like "$1999" exist. Because (false) impressions matter. So no, it's not easier to sneak in extra charges by presenting full price on the menu - it's quite the opposite.

jjeaff 6y ago

Just because things are itemized on a bill doesn't make the total any higher. In fact, I would argue that I would much prefer an itemized bill to a black box total. It's much easier to sneak in extra charges if everything is rolled into a single total. Perhaps what you mean is that you don't like having to keep in mind that all your prices don't include tax and tip, which is so common in the US, that everyone just instinctively knows it. To the point that if you try to include everything into the price, people will consider your prices too high. It's very difficult to shift public habit.

virgilp 6y ago
You can say that, but there are enough hints that you'd be wrong: - Tip habits differ a lot; various online debates and movie references show that there are "assholes" that don't tip (or don't tip well enough?). From this pov serving in a restaurant is more akin to playing music in the subway than working a regular job. This is, IMO, not how things should be. - "if you try to include everything into the price, people will consider your prices too high": this right here tells you that people are not as rational as you paint them to be. Theoretically, the bill is the same whether you include & itemize all things, or not. In practice though, because the bills do not include everything, they can get higher than they otherwise would. Humans are strange and not always rational beasts - that's why prices like "$1999" exist. Because (false) impressions matter. So no, it's not easier to sneak in extra charges by presenting full price on the menu - it's quite the opposite.