I agree it for sure sucks - its kind of like hidden fees at hotels. I think from a game theory perspective it makes rational economic sense in that if all of y

I agree it for sure sucks - its kind of like hidden fees at hotels. I think from a game theory perspective it makes rational economic sense in that if all of your competitors are going the tipping route and you don't, then you will appear to be 20% more expensive than the competition to people who are walking by on the street. A nice way to handle this would be to heavily advertise that gratuity is included on the menu and spell out per item what the pre-charged gratuity is. In order words instead of just showing the price+gratuity on the menu: Hot Dog - $12 show the breakdown: Hot Dog - $10 + $2 Gratuity