People divided over customer’s reaction to restaurant adding automatic tip to bill

A customer was left shouting 'who is gratuity?' after noticing the Sugar Factory restaurant she was dining in had added an automatic tip to her bill.

TikToker @binkssofamous was fuming when she noticed that the Sugar Factory had added a $44 (£34.50) tip to her bill after she visited the chain a few weeks ago.

But after posting a video of what happened on social media, followers were divided over whether service charge should always be automatically added.

Sharing a video on TikTok - which has racked up over four million views - the woman could be seen clutching her receipt and asking the waitresses: "Who the f**k is gratuity and why is it $44?"

Half laughing and half feeling awkward as hell, a waitress is seen responding: "It's a tip."

In the caption, she added: "Nahhhh the @Sugar Factory got me a lil TIGHT !!!!! Tf is GRADTITY !!!!!!!!"

In both the US and the UK, many restaurants will add a tip automatically to the bill at the end of a meal. Meanwhile, others will only add it for larger parties.

It's often referred to as a 'discretionary service charge' and while it's totally legal to add it on automatically, diners don't legally have to pay it and can asked for it to be removed if they wish to.

Although doing so is pretty mortifying, let's be honest.

After sharing the clip on TikTok, other posters were divided as to whether gratuity should be added automatically, or whether diners should add their own tips and choose how much they want to give.

Some admitted they always remove a tip unless they've had great service, while others said the clip proved that it needed to be automatically added.

One person said: "If you have a party of 6 or more, gratuity will automatically be on there. Waitress work for their tips... paycheck would only be $100-200 [every] two weeks."

Another added: "Working in this industry I totally understand. Gratuity is split between servers, runners, cooks etc."

And a third wrote: "I never thought they should add it but now seeing videos of people not tipping?? Just add it!"

But others weren't having any of it, with another admitting: "Any place that automatically applies gratuity I just have them remove it. Tips are based on service."

"That fact that they force a tip is crazy," said another.

And a third said: "Most restaurants don’t tell the customers that TIPs are included. If they said so this would save embarrassments all over."

UNILAD has reached out to Sugar Factory for comment.