My mother-in-law just had dinner at a restaurant in my town. For a sandwich and piece of cake she was charged $24. Then she looks at her bill and noticed an 18% “service fee”. She doesn't like being forced to tip a certain amount so she asked her server about it, and they went and got the owner. The owner told her that the service fee isn't a gratuity, but IT'S A WAY FOR US TO PAY OUR WORKERS A LIVING WAGE.
My mother-in-law replied back if you guys can't pay them a living wage, you shouldn't be in business. DAMN STRAIGHT!!
Edit: ok some of you didn't read what I wrote evidently. I never said she didn't have money to pay for the meal. She's a big aupporter in our community. The service was bad tonight and food wasn't very good. That was the whole she didn't understand the service fee, thinking it was a forced tip.
Edit 2: I know some restaurants do these fees now. I also thinks it's a poor idea to do a forced tip for any parties because it gives the restaurant an excuse to not provide the best service always.