A woman is calling out a restaurant in Dallas, Texas after she received her bill and was shocked to see a ridiculous service charge regarding a common drink she’d ordered from the bar.
In a TikTok video, an influencer who makes food content with the username @blondeswhoeat claimed that she had never seen a service charge for a drink that required a shaker before, and she wondered if it was a new thing.
In her video, she explained that she’d just gotten home from a restaurant, and while the food was exceptional, she wasn’t happy with the unnecessary charge on her bill. Normally, she admitted, she doesn’t really look at the receipt after paying for a meal, but during this latest experience, she had.
“In my head, I knew we’d gotten $150 worth of food,” she recalled. “So how did we get to $530? Let me tell you.”
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Reading the receipt, she noted that she and her friend had gotten margaritas, which were $14 each. However, along with the price of the drinks was a $3 “prep” charge for the bartender to shake them.
Moving down the receipt, she and her friends ordered another kind of margarita at $32 a pop. Much to her horror, the prep for those specific drinks was $13, just to shake the margarita and pour it into glasses. It didn’t stop there. She and her friend ordered three more margaritas, which were significantly more expensive than the others.
The prep for those margaritas ended up coming out to $15, and because her friend got a double, that one ended up being $22.
All in all, she and her friend were charged $400 extra just for their drinks and for them to be shaken by the bartender. With no choice, she and her friend had to pay for the service of having their drinks made, even though they really shouldn’t have had to.
If a restaurant is going to have such an absurd service charge, they should make it known to the customers instead of springing it on them after they’ve ordered rounds of drinks.
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According to Investopediapeople are often charged a service fee as a way for the seller to collect payment for a service or product. Many companies, including restaurants, banks, and hotels, have been and are increasingly including them at checkout.
In some cases, especially in restaurants, it’s to ensure that the entire staff is paid gratuity, and customers can sometimes be waived of leaving a tip.
It does seem to be happening much more frequently, though, much to the dismay of customers who are asked to pay this service charge in addition to leaving a tip. According to a recent study by the National Restaurant Association, fifteen percent of restaurants are charging customers a service fee.
The study, which was obtained by Restaurant Business Onlinestated that 13% of fast-food places rely on these surcharges. Sit-down establishments are even higher at 17%. Delivery apps are also known for tacking on charges.
When providers were asked how long they planned on keeping these service fees around, per the study’s findings, 81% admitted that they would be keeping them for around a year, meaning until 2025.
The best way to ensure that you’re not caught off guard by them is to definitely ask the server and check your receipts to see what additional charges have been added.
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Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.
