Its probably unrelated, but this is widespread in Italy (for centuries), as "coperto" (per person fee; to pay for bread basket/silverware/tablecloth). Was orig

Its probably unrelated, but this is widespread in Italy (for centuries), as "coperto" (per person fee; to pay for bread basket/silverware/tablecloth). Was originally intended to discourage people from sitting in a place all day without really consuming much. Personally I think the concept is fine, and actually much preferrable to tipping, but it needs to be culturally ingrained/expected; doing something like this in the US right now is just scummy.