Many restaurants don’t even offer the 15% option tip option any longer on the credit card receipts and show 18%, 20% or 25%. I typically leave at least 20% but not everyone can afford that option.
What really annoys me is the “fair wage” surcharge being automatically added to bills to reflect higher “minimum wage” requirements or in some jurisdictions, a requirement to pay the standard minimum wage rather than relying solely on tip income for wait staff. Others are adding a surcharge for those who work in the kitchen who might not be directly “tipped” or where tips are not pooled among all the Staff.
Why are labor costs treated differently from rent, food and beverage, utilities, insurance and other costs which have ALL increased substantially in recent years but there are no special surcharges for those items. A surcharge might make sense if there is an expectation that the costs (e.g. fuel costs) might go down and the surcharge would then be eliminated. Labor costs are NOT going down. Restaurants should simply update their menu prices periodically to reflect their total costs. With computerized printing, it takes literally a few minutes to print out new menus every few months and slide them into the menu binder rather than alienating customers with these “surcharges” in addition to tips.