The Habit Burger Grill & Automatic Tip Charge

[cockerpunk]

1. tipping is dumb. pay people what they are worth, and skip this whole dumb system.
2. automatically adding tip as a service charge is totally fine, but honestly, just raise the price of your food.
3. your solution was selfish and foolish and your outrage is totally misplaced.

[Tidybuoy]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

Do you mean the $4.19 or the whole $32.12?

The $4.19

[KFC911]

Vern you handled it perfectly .... a lot of us thought you disputed the total, not just the bogus charge.

And yes ... it was bogus

And I agree with the consensus regarding tipping emoloyees. It's a totally BS system .... set the prices, pay them equitably, and end the nonsense.

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by Tidybuoy

The $4.19

That is not what you wrote.

" I cancelled the entire transaction with my credit card "

[Cairo94507]

With CA now requiring FF workers to get $20 per hour, the thought of leaving a tip is gone. I was fine tipping when they were making a meager wage and relying on tips to bolster their hourly rate, but now.... no way am I tipping. They should be tickled to earn $20 per hour. (Corrected the hourly to $20 per hour; they talked about $22 but that did not happen.) Here is the link: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/09/28/california-increases-minimum-wage-protections-for-fast-food-workers/

[herr_oberst]

I just found out that restaurants have discovered dynamic pricing, ala Lyft:

This and a $16 bowl of clam chowder are working very hard to keep me away from the restaurant experience permanently.

http://squareup.com/us/en/the-bottom-line/managing-your-finances/dynamic-pricing-for-restaurants

"Restaurants use dynamic pricing, in part, to grapple with the elasticity of demand. For example, restaurateurs might use it to optimize revenue by increasing prices when demand is up (during peak periods) or by decreasing prices to draw customers in when demand is down (during off-peak times). Recently, Noodles & Company rolled out digital menu boards across its locations to cope with inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain issues. "

[wdfifteen]

Dynamic pricing would work great for us. Vic and I hit the restaurants at off peak hours because we hate the crowds. Saving a buck or two would be an added bonus.

[911 Rod]

Originally Posted by Cairo94507

With CA now requiring FF workers to get $22 per hour, the thought of leaving a tip is gone. I was fine tipping when they were making a meager wage and relying on tips to bolster their hourly rate, but now.... no way am I tipping. They should be tickled to earn $22 per hour.

What? That's like $30/hr. Canadian!

[Baz]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

I'd be pissed off about the $16 chowder.

Full disclosure: there are many different brands of Clam Chowder and many ways to source it.....and even more ways to make it yourself.

But I have to say for the dollars spent.......$1.68 will get you a can of it from Walmart and it's actually very tasty!

Not a concentrate.....comes ready to eat!

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

I just found out that restaurants have discovered dynamic pricing, ala Lyft:

This and a $16 bowl of clam chowder are working very hard to keep me away from the restaurant experience permanently.

http://squareup.com/us/en/the-bottom-line/managing-your-finances/dynamic-pricing-for-restaurants

"Restaurants use dynamic pricing, in part, to grapple with the elasticity of demand. For example, restaurateurs might use it to optimize revenue by increasing prices when demand is up (during peak periods) or by decreasing prices to draw customers in when demand is down (during off-peak times). Recently, Noodles & Company rolled out digital menu boards across its locations to cope with inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain issues. "

I can tell you the $15 bowl of clam chowder at Ocean Prime in Boston is worth every penny. And the $12 bread bowl of clam chowder at the Head of the Charles regatta is similarly worth it for the surprisingly decent chowder and excellent bread bowl while watching some racing on a nice October day.

The best way to make very good cheap clam chowder at home is to get a good brand of chowder and a can of whole baby clams from Cento or ever better, fresh clams, steam and add in.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Cairo94507

With CA now requiring FF workers to get $22 per hour, the thought of leaving a tip is gone. I was fine tipping when they were making a meager wage and relying on tips to bolster their hourly rate, but now.... no way am I tipping. They should be tickled to earn $22 per hour.

Source? CA min wage is $16/hr.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

I can tell you the $15 bowl of clam chowder at Ocean Prime in Boston is worth every penny. And the $12 bread bowl of clam chowder at the Head of the Charles regatta is similarly worth it for the surprisingly decent chowder and excellent bread bowl while watching some racing on a nice October day.

The best way to make very good cheap clam chowder at home is to get a good brand of chowder and a can of whole baby clams from Cento or ever better, fresh clams, steam and add in.

Shaun, I appreciate the recipe. Good advice.

As to the $16 chowder? I know that as a foodie, you value subtleties in tastes that I never even notice - I'm sure to someone like you, paying a premium for a superior chowder is always money well spent. Myself, I'm getting so gd tired of the $19 dollar hamburgers and the 9 dollar fries that for me the better bet is to admit that I'm getting old and the price of dining out, and the nascent nonsense such as illustrated in the OP, has made the experience not as pleasant as it used to be.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

-snip-
The best way to make very good cheap clam chowder at home is to get a good brand of chowder and a can of whole baby clams from Cento or ever better, fresh clams, steam and add in.

Good tip, Shaun!

Need equal parts clams to potatoes. Heavy cream to make it richer. Splash some Worcester sauce and a dash of butter for the full flavor then fresh ground black pepper to finish it off.

[Steve Carlton]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Source? CA min wage is $16/hr.

$20/hr

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=ca+minimum+wage+fast+food

[A930Rocket]

I had a coupon for a free pizza at Domino’s and ordered it the other night. There was a delivery fee of $4.99, $.27 taxes and a tip for $4. So my free pizza was $9.26 cents.

The good news/bad news is it took so long for them to get it to me, they sent me a link for a free pizza. Again!

[jcommin]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

100% agree ^^^

Ms Rocket recently went out to eat with a couple of friends and the restaurant, tacked on a kitchen administration fee of 5%. I would have deducted that from the tip, but she didn’t notice it.

Question: the one dozen for $34 is that for oysters or something else? If it is oysters, there is no way I would order that. Oysters used to be reasonable. Whole Foods has $1 oysters every Friday. Before the pandemic, they would shuck them, now I do it at home.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Baz

Full disclosure: there are many different brands of Clam Chowder and many ways to source it.....and even more ways to make it yourself.

But I have to say for the dollars spent.......$1.68 will get you a can of it from Walmart and it's actually very tasty!

If you add a teaspoon of sherry, it will transform a can of clam chowder

$20 an hour? Tip is built in to the price. I wonder if they still make waiters claim a percentage of total sales as tip income still.

Last Tuesday, friend of mine closed the restaurant his parents opened 50 years ago. Best won ton soup I ever had. I need to hit him up for that recipe before he moves to Texas

[john70t]

Dinner was half a 1lb fifteen buck steak($7), a quarter head of lettuce($1), a tomato($1), red onion($.2), bread sticks($2).
For $12 I fed myself and the dog well.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Tidybuoy

I believe the cashier took it upon herself to add the tip and not say anything.

I also went to The Habit last night and ordered the exact same thing but I was at a different Habit. I just found my receipt from last night and no tip was added. This tells me that this was done by the employee and not the establishment.

Yep. And she probably does it a lot when she figures the customer won't notice.

[Jeff Alton]

Originally Posted by Tidybuoy

Actually, I ate the meal, paid the unauthorized charge, filed a complaint with the company, and then requested the unauthorized/fraudulent charge be removed by my credit card. I have not heard back from the company yet.

Interesting.....

Give us the details of the complaint filed with the company. Sounds a bit different than your first post.

How did you contact them? Phone, email or in person? Contact the manager of the location directly? Did not give them much time before you started a charge back on your CC? In the 4:48 between paying and posting you told us the Charge back process was started.

Anyways, would not be happy about the for 4 bucks either, or the way it ended up on the bill.

Cheers